I don’t know why Lees-Melou has already developed the scapegoat role for fans to criticise one player. Admittedly I didn’t watch the game today, but in both the games I watched before that I thought he was very good, not perfect but threatening going forwards and pressing hard in midfield, tidy on the ball and tall enough to add a bit of strength to our midfield. He seems to be the new man to blame now though.
Totally agree. This was Arsenal away and they beat us by a fluky two deflection goal that was questionable offside. There was much to praise in that performance as my stream commentators kept saying. We were in the match all the way and the midfield 3 were at the heart of that with Lees-Melou and McLean top of scoring with 7.0 on WhoScored. Had Normann been available instead of Rupp we could have had a result from that. Watford lost 2-0 at home to Wolves and the others at the bottom also lost and they'll all have to play these 4 top teams. A win against Watford at CR and we're right back in the mix.
Different points of view. I thought Lees-Melou and Rupp did OK. I agree we didn't look too much like scoring. Pukki may need some time off to recharge his batteries. I don't think Sargent is more capable of scoring than Teemu, but he might be able to get an assist or two. Yes, I want to see Normann at dm, too.
Iv watched every game and he has been poor. Yes, a couple of decent touches here and there but he gets the ball passed around him a lot, isn't particularly strong in possession, not very quick and generally doesn't seem like a Prem level player. I've said before that he probably needs time to get up to speed, but we haven't loads of time. I said last week. He reminds me of Stiepermann. Will occasionally do something, will work hard, but ultimately isn't quite good enough for the Prem. Will be decent if we go down perhaps?
Unfortunately, OK in a game where we needed players to step up and take the game to a struggling team isn't enough imo. I don't like to be doom and gloom. Im just upset that we didn't really take an opportunity to go out and suprise a few people by attacking Arsenal today. Nevermind. On to Watford
Totally disagree I’m afraid Rowdy. I think he’s been the standout midfield player to be honest. Which probably bears out why he’s kept his place. And interestingly WhoScored seems to agree with me if RER is right. But people see different things. I think Lees-Melou will look best with an out and out defensive midfielder behind him so he can be a hybrid - getting forward (he has a good scoring record).
Agree to disagree i guess. Id say Kenny has been our best CM. He is the one iv seen with most quality on the ball and he is a threat in the air. At least we all agree that the sooner Normann gets in behind LM and KM the better! Lets hope he is all we think he could be!
I still think it's way too early to panic; if we can beat Watford next week, we are equal with them on points, possibly off the bottom, and neither Watford nor Brentford would have played anyone expected to end up as the top five. Newcastle look as defensively fragile as us, and Southampton could be dragged into it. Lose to Watford, though, and it starts to look like a long, hard season.
In WhoScored's final ratings Aarons (7.1) just edged out Lees-Melou (7.0) and McLean (6.9) and Hanley and Williams were both 6.8.
Agreed, and I for one am not unhappy. Our approach was pretty much as I've been advocating, i.e. don't chase the first goal, stay solid and wait for the opportunities to open up. If we take the same approach next Saturday against Watford, I'll maybe have to revise my prediction for the season I also agree with GozoCanary about Krul. We weren't undone today by poor refereeing or bad luck, but by Krul's poor judgement and execution playing out. He put Max in trouble totally unnecessarily, wrong footing his teammates and presenting Arsenal with the opportunity from which they scored. Yes, he pulled off some good saves, but they didn't make up for that gratuitous error. I'd like to see Gunn given his chance.
Interesting to hear re Krul. Duncan raised replacing Krul with Gunn I think after the Man City game and I think I said I agreed that for all his efforts there are still question marks for me - in particular around his shot stopping. But that discussion slipped by the wayside until now. It sounds like he wasn’t entirely at fault for the goal (right? As in there was a bit more play than just the hospital pass) so it’s probably still too soon to drop him. Especially given the opposition. But we need to improve the goals conceded stat and no-one across the back line should be overconfident of their place. (Aarons perhaps aside…)
Watching the game I thought Lees-Melou played well and has an impressive range to his passing. Krul needs to get a bollocking about his distribution, it's going to give me a heart attack! (as well as cost us goals). It's not that it's always bad, it's just he needs to make better decisions about when to play it short and when to play it long. He did launch one counter attack with a very good kick. The goal.... seriously did we forget to transfer some luck this year or use it all up last year? Both Hanley and the Arsenal player lose the ball after the tackle only for it to squirm right into the arsenal foot. Krul makes a good save and the ball pinballs around straight into the Arsenal player who may or may not have been offside. I think next game we are going to take Watford apart and thrash them 3-2 (it would be 3-0 but for 2 lucky ricochet goals). Our counter attach was good and threatening, they were having to use 2 on Pukki all the time to keep him quiet, even then some of his turns and shots were impressive or runs were stopped by a foul. I thought Farke set us up well, a very threatening counter attacking side, I think when integrated Normann would take Rupp's place, but is there a place in the side for the Scottish great new hope? On this display unless there are injuries I wouldn't have thought so.
Tough result after I thought a pretty good performance from the yellows. I think the criticism of Krul is harsh. Couple of wayward passes but it's clear DF has asked them to play out from the back. There's the obvious possession benefit, but it looked to me like they were actively trying to pull Arsenal's attacking mids into committing themselves forward for the press to stretch the midfield before Krul or a CB eventually went longer. It certainly looked like we got our fair share of 1st and 2nd balls from clearances. Very impressed with Williams. He had a stellar game. I thought much more so than Aarons who interestingly got the higher Whoscored figure. I was pleased to see Dowell start but don't think he had much impact compared to Cantwell who looked hungry. The other mids, i'm a bit unsure about. McLean looked really comfortable and patient on the ball. I thought PLM did alright to be honest. He always seemed willing to run with the ball, some decent passing and a busy tackling afternoon. I'm not sure what else people on here are expecting from him? So good to see Omobamidele lock in a starting spot. I thought he had a great 1st half. Some worrying positioning in the 2nd half on a couple of Arsenal's counter attacks allowing Aubameyang to drift away from him into dangerous space. Nothing came of those incidents but i'm sure that would have been noticed. It's all learning at this stage I guess. We don't look out of place in the PL. We can do this!
Fair assessment, but Krul's distribution when he is rushed does make me panic (more than a bit). I watched the goal again on super slomo on Youtube the ball appears to strike Saka's hand when he and Hanley lose the ball after the tackle. Then I also wonder why it is not offside after the tip onto the post and it comes back across unless Williams touched it onto the post? I thought it came off an Arsenal boot therefore it would be offside. I didn't think Idah did much when he came on, but you're right Cantwell looked raring to go. I wonder if Dowell will start when we are away due to his free kick taking ability? Either way we have lost our first 4 games in the league and I haven't become doomcaster yet!
I was extremely despondent yesterday as for 42 Premier league games in a row we have lost after conceding the first goal . I just checked and excluding Lewis and Buendia scoring 1 each and Pukki's 3 penalties you have to go all the way back to January 2020 for a current player to score in open play spanning 21 games. Of course you shouldn't judge us against the previous Premier league season but not much has changed results wise . Excuse time . Pre season was disrupted with covid Opening fixtures from hell New players still settling in International break Bad luck VAR decisions So onwards to Watford who coincidentally were the last side we beat 43 games ago from a goal down winning 4-2 I believe so that ma be an omen. We have Ozan and Norman training with us this week and everyone back from International duty , no serious 1st team injuries . At this stage as someone else mentioned all the places are up for grabs. I think Gunn deserves a chance, Williams looks our best left back he was brilliant yesterday and extremely unlucky against Leicester that his block went perfectly into the corner . I would like to see Kabak start he's probably very expensive and we need to throw him in.had we kept a clean sheet then perhaps don't change it but we did. Hanley next to him. Rupp as the holding midfielder didn't work put Normann in there , Gilmore needs to start to and Cantwell and Rashica on either wing . Pukki has been on a very very long run without a goal in open play and doesn't look sharp so his time is running out as first name on the team sheet regardless of past heroics. He's not been the same since before the Euros so try Sargent or even Idah and get crosses in , he's in dire need of a goal too. There us a winning combination in there somewhere and Farke needs to find it soon before we are cast adrift . The one criticism I would have Is not bringing In a new striker with a good goals record but I'm realistic enough to know how much they cost and perhaps it's more difficult signing players as they have to be Internationals . Watford will be a very good test as to where we are , promoted above them and we have strengthened on paper considerably. As predicted last season I thought Watford would be more suited to this league as they are a big bulky side that prefer the physical elements and know how to defend a lead . We need a good performance against them or we will be scratching our heads as to where our first points will come from . If Kenny had scored that early header or VAR saw Saka's hand ball or a player standing behind our keeper as offside them we would be feeling much better this morning.
My gripe with Krul isn't that his kicking is sometimes weak; it's unrealistic to expect any goalie to be strong in every aspect of their game. What bugs me is when he starts farting around with the ball on the ground, allowing an opponent who was 15 yards away to get to within 2 yards, and then he is forced into a panicked delivery - he simply does not have the footwork to get away with those kinds of risks, and he seems unwilling to cut out this part of his game. (I know Farke is probably telling him we play out from the back and he must be like a fifth defender in this aspect, but I doubt if Farke is telling him to faff about and take unnecessary risks.)
