Match Day Thread Match Chat

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Well, the positives from the game was that Lookman & Anguissa are definitely PL class. Adarabiayo had a good debut and Ream looks better when he is not next to Hector. Robinson has great energy down the left and Areola/RLC were solid. Even Lemina looked good when we were playing on the front foot. We looked like we could score goals and win points in the PL and we do look like we are improving.

The negatives are that Cavaleiro looks a class below Lookman (and really looked like a Championship player yesterday), Cairney has really slowed down (with far too many backwards passes) and Aina looks very raw. And of course, there's Mitrovic - he missed several good chances (including the penalty) and dropped us 2 points. We should have won after that second half and we need to win when we have a chance in this league.
 
The Club have today submitted a squad list for the 2020/21 Premier League season.

The squad contains no more than 17 players that do not fulfil the ‘Home Grown Player’ criteria out of the 25-man roster.

Our 25-man squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers
Alphonse Areola
Fabricio Ramirez
Marek Rodák
Defenders
Tosin Adarabioyo
Ola Aina
Joachim Andersen
Joe Bryan
Michael Hector
Terence Kongolo
Maxime Le Marchand
Denis Odoi
Tim Ream
Antonee Robinson
Kenny Tete
Midfielders
Tom Cairney
Mario Lemina
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Harrison Reed
André-Frank Zambo Anguissa
Attackers
Ivan Cavaleiro
Aboubakar Kamara
Neeskens Kebano
Ademola Lookman
Aleksandar Mitrović
Bobby De Cordova-Reid
 
Are these squad lists set in stone or can they be changed if players get injured etc? Or is it a case of if you're not named in this squad list then you basically can't play?

Also, whats happened with Onomah? He's not even been on the bench recently and now he's been left out of that squad list.
 
Fabulous Fabio said:
Or is it a case of if you're not named in this squad list then you basically can't play?
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Yep, only under 21s can play if they are not in the squad.

Apparently Onomah is out until December, hence his exclusion. I wonder whether we should have included StefJo over MLM as that midfield list looks a little light, but maybe Odoi could play in midfield if needed.
 
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Page 2 already ! We were unlucky on Sunday, played some good stuff. I think for a first game that they have all played together that is a really good sign. I watched Palace also on Sunday and they didn't look up to much, hopefully we can build on Sunday's game which would be a major positive.
 
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Surlyc said:
Yep, only under 21s can play if they are not in the squad.

Apparently Onomah is out until December, hence his exclusion. I wonder whether we should have included StefJo over MLM as that midfield list looks a little light, but maybe Odoi could play in midfield if needed.
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I suspect the likes of Tete, Aina, Robinson, Bryan, depending on formation, could fit into midfield slots.
 
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I suspect for the Palace game, the starting team might be very close to that started the Sheffield Utd game. May be Cavaleiro might be on the bench with Lemina in to free up Cairney and Loftus-Cheek a bit more
 
Feeling quite optimistic about today, I think we are starting to find our feet in this league now. The performances have been there the last few games, now we just need to start finding the results, and these are the sort of games we really need to be winning.

Hopefully Mitro has his shooting boots on today and can put last week behind him with a goal or two! Hopefully see a bit more from RLC today too.
 
Aina looks so uncomfortable playing at right back, when we're going forward and he gets the ball his first instinct is to stop and pass backwards, he slows us down so much. You compare him to Robinson on the other side who just strides forward at every chance and swings the ball in, its night and day.

Lookman again the only one looking likely to make something happen, unlucky when he hit the post too, should Mitro have done better with the rebound??
 
FT 1-2, to be fair 2 good goals from Palace but we had our chances. Great goal from TC at the close.
We are not getting much from VAR, AK sent off as ref views the screen slow mo time after time, to finally decide he made a bad decision. Had AK been playing for a TOP 6 team, that wouldn't have been the outcome.
Heads up, we can still survive.
 
Just watched the highlights & goals, there seems no structure to our defending, no awareness of through balls, no defender taking responsibility of looking after each others back, players are allowed to run through with no one tracking them. Lookman unlucky with the two that struck the posts. Cairney's goal was a belter, but too little too late in the end. Don't think Kamara tackle was viscous, but clumsy, only a yellow.
But a statistic that we had 612 passes to Palace's 332 will please Scott :emoticon-0127-lipss:steam: obviously not incisive passing in the opponents half, otherwise we'd be making more chances.
 
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I think we have the makings of a good team but we just can't seem get results in this league with them. In forward positions the likes of Mitro, Lookman and RLC are more than good enough for this league, Anguissa is an absolute monster in midfield, probably our best and most consistent player so far. Adarabioyo looks decent so far, Robinson is very good at left back, Areola is a very good keeper. These aren't players that should be playing for a team bottom of the league.

I hate to keep mentioning him as if I'm picking on him but Aina isn't the answer at right back for me, he just doesn't look comfortable there at all, I'd rather have Odoi there until Tete is fit again. I don't think Ream has been particularly bad or anything recently, but surely the minute Kongolo is fit and ready he will be in beside Adarabioyo, Ream gives me the fear in this league. Mitro hasn't been himself the last few games either and while he's like this we're basically playing with a man down. Not saying he should be dropped but the fact theres no obvious replacement for him is another problem.

The West Brom game is massive now, very early in the season but already you'd have to say its a must win, otherwise you have to wonder where the wins are going to come from? A first win and some confidence with something to build on and hopefully our season might turn around.
 
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Fabulous Fabio said:
I think we have the makings of a good team but we just can't seem get results in this league with them. In forward positions the likes of Mitro, Lookman and RLC are more than good enough for this league, Anguissa is an absolute monster in midfield, probably our best and most consistent player so far. Adarabioyo looks decent so far, Robinson is very good at left back, Areola is a very good keeper. These aren't players that should be playing for a team bottom of the league.

I hate to keep mentioning him as if I'm picking on him but Aina isn't the answer at right back for me, he just doesn't look comfortable there at all, I'd rather have Odoi there until Tete is fit again. I don't think Ream has been particularly bad or anything recently, but surely the minute Kongolo is fit and ready he will be in beside Adarabioyo, Ream gives me the fear in this league. Mitro hasn't been himself the last few games either and while he's like this we're basically playing with a man down. Not saying he should be dropped but the fact theres no obvious replacement for him is another problem.

The West Brom game is massive now, very early in the season but already you'd have to say its a must win, otherwise you have to wonder where the wins are going to come from? A first win and some confidence with something to build on and hopefully our season might turn around.
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FF I think you sum up a lot of our views here, certainly mine. I'd be a little less critical of Aina but the return of Tete is needed. Added to Kongolo we also have Anderson, perhaps back 3 may be in Scott's thoughts and plans. We did hit the post twice, so margins are small, the difference in the points on the board. I think TC's goal will also help, the commentator on the stream had just said we could play for a further 90mins and not score. Confidence will come from that goal, well I dearly hope so. Although we conceded 2 goals, both we well created and even the top teams don't have a clean sheet every week.
I still believe, the project is still under development.
 
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I don't think Aina is any better than Odoi. Tete looks a class above both of them.

Our defenders need time together, most of them had never spoken to each other as of 3 weeks ago. I hope that some consistency will gradually start to reduce the unforced defensive errors.

As with every season in recent history, we rushed in a whole new first team and it takes time for them to gel. Unfortunately for us we had an easy start and we are wasting it waiting for our team to come together. There's a good chance than when they do come together, it'll be too late. Perhaps we might finally learn our lesson and get our recruitment done earlier?
 
That was to say the least disappointing. Once Palace scored it was always going to be a very difficult task.

The fixture list was kind to us for our first few games so only accumulating one point is worrying. I do believe we will get better but as Surley says will it be too late. The West Brom match now is crucial. If we have learnt anything, our tactics must be to use the advantage we have of all this possession and convert it to more shots on goal. Cairney took a shot yesterday from outside the box and guess what, it went in.

I'm behind Parker, I want him to succeed but I wasn't that impressed with his match report in which he said we have to understand what we're up against, 10 players in front of you, bring the players from one side to the other to create gaps - Well that is all well and good saying after the game but it is his job to coach this into the team so they do it. He seemed frustrated and knows what the issues are but implementing them is our problem.
 
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