Ayling and Dallas yesterday both looked poor. Were they any better when Phillips came on?. Surely we must sign a left back and a quality mid. Forshaw is ok for the bench but that's his limit. We do not seem to be able to keep the ball.
@ellandback. Watched Southampton highlights. Ward-Prowse got another assist. Headed it straight over his own centre half in to Werners path. Then he failed to track Kante for the 5th goal and he was closest to Mount for the 6th goal where he just let Mount run past him.
Both full backs struggled yesterday but I think part of that is we play so narrow. When Watford sprayed it out wide, we don’t really have wide players so they have all the space in the world. The full backs then have to sprint out and it's one vs one with the attacker carrying the ball already having the momentum. Full back looks like a tough position to play under Marsch. The best way to counter us is to play it out wide, it's our weak point. However, the weak point being out wide is far more desirable than the weak point through the middle as we were in the latter part under Bielsa. We certainly need a left back. I like Aylings leadership and he doesn't panic at RB. Dramah seems to be doing well at Cardiff but I don't know if his one v one defending is that good. We know he can bomb forward well.
I think we are slowly starting to see which players Marsch favours Bielsa would have swapped James to the left and brought Harrison off, he was regularly subbed under Bielsa, it is the other way around with James, same with Klich he never lasts 90 minutes. I felt Koch was terrible in the middle yesterday, much worse than Klich and it would seem where Bielsa favoured including Struijk Marsch likes Koch better. It's all good as he needs to know which players are going to take us forward under him and where we need to strengthen. He had a lot of good words about Harrison and Cooper yesterday, in training he has mentioned Greenwood a couple of times, Summerville and Kenneh too. I'm ecstatic about the three points but I am under no illusion, Norwich and Watford the two worst teams in the division by a mile, Wolves a red card turning point, there is a long way to go before I start relaxing with the thought about remaining in the PL
Klich can't last a full game anymore. Leaving koch on gave the coach the option of moving him to defence if we needed to. Then a fresh Player could have come on in midfield.
I don't buy into that mate (cover for defence), Koch was very poor, Klich was the only midfielder at the time going in for the 50/50s. We had Struijk, Hjelde and Cresswell available if we needed another defender I've not been the biggest fan of Klich this season but he really was getting stuck into the tackles not pulling out of anything, the others in midfield and that includes Rodrigo for the first hour looked scared to get hurt if they tackled. The only other player putting his body on the line was James and it was him getting stuck in that lead to the goal BTW that wasn't a suggestion that James didn't deserve to come off, he was poor up front and we all knew he was going to be before a ball was even kicked
Hodgsons tactics weren plain ,He singled out that our keepernwas poor on free kicks so he instructed his players to go down and getba ree kick blatant cheating in my book
Lets forget the rest and concentrate on our own. Clubs,Managers,Players on rule say 40 points is that magic number to stay up but stats say other wise. On Premier League history 31 points once, 34 points were needed on four occasions, 35 on four occasions, 36 once, 37 five times, 38 once, 39 twice. This works out at an average of 35.7, so essentially 36, points needed to stay in the Premier League each campaign. So on stats we are 1 win away from safety. let's keep it simple let's not worry about others. what we need to worry about is getting 3 points from a possible 18 points in our last 6 games. A win and a draw will probably cement it. Chelsea Home City Home Brighton home Palace Away Brentford Away Arsenal Away The win and draw is there to be taken against Brighton or Brentford or Palace Chelsea,City,Arsenal are free hits and any points would be welcome and would take pressure off the 3 above
I noticed on motd last night (I think it was Danny Murphy) said how marsches tightened up with playing two centre halves llorente/cooper with two centre midfielders kock & klich to tighten up the middle giving no room where we were getting badly hurt under Bielsa. But I guess It’s just a matter of time like some have mentioned we could get hurt if teams play very wide, however if this happens the big difference is Marsch will attempt to counter this.The big test is when we come up against teams with a lot of heavy firepower, Liverpool/city and see how many we concede and if there is a massive improvement, I personally think their will be, and am quitley confident they will be both know they have been in a game. Another Thing I picked up on motd last night was the Harrison interview, when he said I think the lads are enjoying the game now, then quickly added not that they weren’t before. My conclusion is we will be safe this season, as for the next it's been a big learning curve for everyone connected with the club, and quite a few changes will be made on the field to take the club forward.
Pete the mod Townsend. Couldn't give a **** regarding anyones sexuality. But I will say that all this trans bollocks is strange. Morning by the way.
Southernwhite is correct regarding Koch/Klich as DMs, and the improvement for the rest of the season is now having Forshaw and Phillips in those roles, so see more of a wall in front of the defence and more of an outlet for offensive play. I believe we will coast over the finish line…
