For me I think what we should learn today is we just need to get Diame, Joselu and Manquillo away from the match day squad. Rafa needs to swallow some pride on these players to give us a good chance of surviving, in my humble opinion. I can see the point of Perez, front foot defending is a 'thing'. Mbemba is a solid defender and under-used. Shelvey can and should play with Merino, both can and should play with Hayden. We're well stocked on the wings, set plays are also a 'thing'. Mitrovic looks far better than any other striker we have. Lascelles is a miss, neither keeper is awesome. Next game is a defeat regardless but let's at least look like a Premier League club.
I think we will either get humped five nil off Chelsea or sneak a 2-2 draw. That has seemed to be the way so many times at Stamford bridge.
Didn't see Mbemba to be markedly better than Manquillo, and I prefer him!. The problem remains to be Yedlin's side. Whether that's him bombing forward or Ritchie leaving gaps, there appears to be one apparent issue from match to match I think Elliot would have done better with the goals, but saw a looping header saved by Darlow that I'm certain would have gone in with Ells Bells. In defence, midfield and attack we have glaring errors so course it's the same in net. I didnt see much to suggest mitrovic, formerly known as missrovic, to be any better than Gayle on the pitch either. We're just pretty pathetic all round like. I loved the end and it's something to build upon. Obviously not at Chelsea but soon. That crowd was ****ing beautiful, didn't shut up at all. 2-0 down and they're chanting louder than the opposition, loved that and it seemed to spur the lads on. To be fair away crowds are like the niche of PL's pull. It exists elsewhere in Europe, but maybe not like this. It's not about chikcing a load of ****ing flares around, it's about supporting your team relentlessly. All these players had some epiphany after that second goal where they just clicked. Merino, Perez and Ritchie had looked so ****ing bad in particular, but looked effective afterwards (Ritchie especially). Even Shelves came on and looked positively composed. I was scared at Half time for the whole season, not so worried after the end. Get lascelles back and the defence sorts itself, then we're back to hoping for set-pieces and lucky attacks. We should avoid relegation. We're ****ing screaming for a player like Aarons though. Never claimed he was perfect but his delivery remains the best I've seen from the other options on the left. Totally rate him over Murphy, he's had **** all time on the pitch and created the best chance of the match (clearly ****ing on-side!!). Right now we have a team that wins together and falls apart together. Aarons looks like a lad that plays for himself in the way his confidence is related to his own performance. We're going to require something like that now, flair players that can make a goal. I like Murphy but a few promising runs is meaningless with no final product.
Missrovic has been usurped by Tosselu. Look, Mitro is still not THE answer, I'm not suggesting he is - he's just clearly a better answer than Joselu. We do not have any players likely to score from open play but need to play to whatever tiny strengths we do have. Gayle is a Championship striker, his movement gets him goals at that level, but the PL is a different animal and he just doesn't fit. Add to this the fact we need to have a target man who can keep the ball and Gayle as an option is even worse. The players seemed to improve with Mitrovic ahead of them - I genuinely feel that the players also despair at seeing Joselu up top as they know that a) the ball won't stick, and b) the fcker won't score even if they get the ball to him. That "header" from Mbemba's cross (something Manquillo seems incapable of) was woeful. Murphy has shown flashes but I agree from what we've seen Aarons seems the most likely to create from the left. Aarons is also more direct and likely to come infield which would help Shelvey when looking for options. I almost feel like we'd do really well to set up with 3 at the back, Aarons one side and Yedlin the other. With Clark or Dummett as the left sided CB it would offer that bit more cover for Aarons, whilst Yedlin will naturally track back a little more almost forming a fluid back four. You could then pack the midfield with Hayden sitting, Merino and Shelvey passing and this adds another dynamic - when it's just Shelvey, the opposition tactics are obvious - swamp him, don't give him time, force him back to try his Hollywood passes. With Merino on the pitch, you can't just leave either alone so inevitably they'll get more space which is exactly what happened last night. You can then keep Perez and Mitrovic up top to press hard from the front, which is one tactic that noticeably works for us - 30 mins v Man U, the wins we did pick up earlier in the season, we followed a similar pattern. Either way the fans were absolutely mint. They really get it, that this season will be tough but stand behind the team. I honestly think it was the fans as much as anything got us that point, they never gave up any more than some of the players did.
As much as they were c u next tuesdays.....I’d love if we had another Remy or Ba, one of the problems we have is our oppositions defenders have ff all to worry about from our centre forwards. If we had a guy who was somewhat capable it would give the likes of Perez & Ritchie more confidence too. I doubt any of the Chelsea defenders will be too worried when Joselu inevitably starts at the weekend, all Chelsea will be thinking is, do our job at set pieces and that’s the clean sheet in the bag.
we looked so much better when Aarons, Mitro and Shelvey came on....all 3 have to start on Sat for me without question. If mitro was spanish he'd be a shoe in. Joselu has pissed on his chips now for me, at least 3 games back now so it's time to drop his ass. Maybe if we can start the game 1-0 down we can have a full 90mins to have a go at Chelsea as we seem to have to concede first to get our ****ing arses in gear.
Hew man. You cannot fail to spot me in the Milburn in my Mustard Chinos. Even Stevie Wonder can spot me ffs.
Liverpool fans will know better than me, but I'm sure Rafa has always been a real stickler for favourites and players he chose to bring to the club. It's more a bit surprising that he doesn't seem to know the best eleven to put out. Genuinely can't put my finger on why that might be. Not blessed with options, sure, but as I said before I'm yet to see a Rafa PL team sheet and feel comfortable. The Joselu decision was just plain ridiculous last night.
