He entered the field of play without permission during the game. I’m not 100% sure here but I think that contravenes a rule. and before anyone says, I know Maureen did it.
Completely agree with you on this point SS. He was making such good darting, incisive runs, and was open several times but our players failed to spot the opening. It was a dreadful miss after being put through, but his overall performance, including tracking back, especially in the last 10 mins was exemplary.
Still feel happy that we got the point, especially as we had quite a few players not quite on their best game. Carragher gets a lot wrong, but his analysis of their equaliser was correct. I said at the time that we had given them too much space, and reruns showed Vestergaard to be about 5 yards behind the back line and not coming out quickly enough to close the shot down. I’m not looking to criticise Vesty, as he did well enough against a quick attack, but possibly something the coaching team will have a word with him about. Minor criticism of the team, as a whole, was (IMO) some poor first touches that stopped us from transitioning more quickly from knocking the ball around to attack, with the poor control often leading to loss of the ball and creating a bit of a scramble to get back into shape. Having said that, some of the one touch passing moves were excellent. Roll on Sunday. Hope the ref is strong enough not to give United free kicks for fun, especially in the box.
Moussa had a couple of opportunities where he was in space and not spotted either. They weren't the easiest passes, but they were passes you would expect the likes of JWP etc to spot and complete. It was one area that I think we missed out slightly - the wide forwards (and on occasion the full backs) were finding a little bit of space to run into behind their full backs, but we didn't quite have the nous on this occasion to exploit it. I'm sure if I spotted it, then Ralph did too, so really not too concerned! Haven't seen it mentioned, but I though KWP had another very solid game. More I think about it, the more I think this was a very good result against a very good team.
Why? What difference would it make? It’s easy to put on a big show of frustration when you miss a chance, but how many points do you get for that? Or do you think angry people achieve more? Not sure there’s any evidence for that.
To be fair to Vesty, too many times in the minutes before and after their goal, there was huge space in that big square between our midfield and left side of defence. I was trying to work out why. Was it it Oriel or JWP being too far right/forward, or Bertie and Stu being too far left and forward? A few times they found space there running at our defence on that side. The chance where KWP made that block started in a similar manner. I wonder if we were a little wider than normal on that side to get close to Trarore?
No disrespect mate, but I’d say that’s bollocks. You think Walcott doesn’t work as hard in training as Ings or Kane? Or that he doesn’t want to keep on improving even at this late stage of his career? The evidence appears to suggest otherwise, he clearly hasn’t come here for a holiday.
KWP lost possession once last night - I noticed because he very rarely does, even in very tight situations. Excellent player.
Its alright chaps. Theo has just messaged me with an Insta clip of him flogging himself with a stick to show me how pissed he is at missing that chance. It was so strong and emotional that I now think he’s been too tough on himself and I’ve told him to go back to being nice Theo. We’ll see next interview. I’ve forgiven him now anyway. * some of the above may not be 100% factual
Yep - that was a classic case of 'small margins decide games at this level'. Thankfully on this occasion they didn't capitalise, but it was a heart-in-mouth moment.
I think Wolves gave us a lot to think about, regarding our positioning. We tried to get numbers around Traore throughout the game, something I think they used to their benefit in the second half by trying to switch the ball quickly to the other side of the pitch, especially at the beginning of the half. KWP found himself in a lot of one on ones in the second half, which maybe led to a change in the positioning of the midfield to give him more cover. If I had to choose why they were creating those spaces, I would put it down to something you mentioned earlier in the thread. JWP being a little les influential, maybe because of tiredness.
Agreed. We've always known that there are some very good players who don't score the number of goals they should. Even Mick Channon missed as many as he scored. There is a reason why so-called 'natural goalscorers' like Kane are worth shedloads of cash. They are rare. Interestingly, goal scoring didn't seem to be one of Danny Ings' natural strengths before he started banging them in for fun