Yeh.. dunno… he wouldn’t be my choice for sweeper keeper! At the other end of the spectrum at Burnley you have Muric… signed by kompany specifically for playing out from the back. His goalkeeping fundamentals have been questioned by Burnley fans regularly… but kompany doesn’t care… he can ping pretty triangles with the best of them.
No that must be a mis-quote somewhere mate. I thought that Mendy was wonderful with the ball at his feet at ER
I remember when we brought Meslier in and Bielsa said he had brilliant distribution. Then we saw his first game against Arsenal in the cup down at their place. Our Championship side battered millionaire Arsenal in the first half and Meslier was pinging the ball around and getting attacks started by being a sweeper keeper. Where has that Meslier gone. His keeping has improved but his distribution is dire, why. We need to ask Marsch why, but he also went backwards distribution wise under Bielsa last season, is it pressure and not trusting his defenders
you’re absolutely right Doc… that Arsenal game remains the only Game where any of us were impressed by his distribution. It’s a strange one. He did that pass it short to the opposition down the middle thing a few times and then it seems he was just told to hump it. Obviously sides with bigger guys up front have the best completion rate for keeper clearances, so it’s not just him, but ours is staggeringly bad. 2nd worse in league 27%, Leeds 18%.
Ayling and KP they were the main two who offered him outlets, the amount of times he would find Ayling wide right hugging the touchline around the half way line was great
Sorry Ristac but it’s the Ayling pass midway in his own half I hate the most. If it was fizzed, great but it’s the floated lifeless pass that is just ridiculous. What is Ayling supposed to do? Facing his own goal, the ball is in the air for an hour while someone is bearing down on him. Pass it backwards or slide it inside for one of their players to intercept is the usual result. The number of times I go to do something else and suddenly the commentators get excited about an opposition attack just after Meslier had the ball is ridiculous. I look up to Ben and just shake my head now. It isn’t necessarily Meslier either. Watch the Brentford goal at their gaff the year we got promoted just before (thankfully) the Spanish goalkeeping impersonator got banned. It was the other side of the pitch and Dallas receiving the pointless pass but the principal is the same. It’s horrific and has to be what they are told to do. How many times do commentators say “all teams like to play it out from the back these days”? That’s fine if you have the players to do it, and I’m no Bielsa but, Robin Koch and Coops? They don’t even look like they want the ****ing thing. FA Cup upsets are generally caused by players putting their laces through the ball and sticking it in the onion bag, not tippy tapping it around the pitch. If (as they are) some of these teams are so much better than us, why play them at their own game?
Till all the oppo coaches knew that tactic and it failed. The biggest problem we have is no cohesion between defence and midfield. Who do we have with the potential to become our midfield General. Greenwood looks scared stiff when he takes a free kick at prem level yet shone in reserves.
Patience Wakey, patience. Jimmy took about 10 games to look like he even enjoyed it in the first team. Now he looks like one of those new signings people bang on (and on) about every day
Playing out from the back is great if your midfield are creating space and that’s what Bielsa got in the main. The idea is to draw the opposition in therefore opening up gaps…. Man City can play around at the back for hours and no chance of losing the ball, but as Marcos says lumping it to Ayling with his back to goal or humping it to nobody upfield just means the ball comes straight back at us. If we have to play long Meslier or a defender needs to aim for wherever there are a couple of of our players. Coaches used to call it grouping the ball, because you have more chance of competing for possession. Sometimes it’s like we don’t know how to play easy football
So, we can’t pass it short because we don’t have the players. When we go long our chances of retaining possession are 18% according to the stat I showed yesterday. Doomed I tell ya, we’re all doomed!
I have memories of it working great in the Championship, okay I wasn't at the games like you were but we were on TV nearly every other week and although not perfect I do seem to remember it working well at first. Maybe anything seemed better than Kiko, maybe it was fortune, I know it seemed better then that it does now. If we get a huge fee for Meslier this window and we can bring in a decent replacement I am all for it, whoever offers the most strike a deal that we take their number two plus cash. Meslier is not going to stick around at Leeds, once we start getting to the refusing to sign a new contract stage his price will drop, if we get relegated we'll be giving him away for peanuts, sell him in an inflated January window We're a PL club scrapping near the bottom and that is where we will remain until sold and I gave up the hope that we would slowly add quality every season and challenge the top 6 within 2-3 years long ago. I agree but I was answering the question regarding Meslier and his distribution getting worse. We miss the things KP did off the ball, his reading of the game, his positioning and making himself available for the keeper and back four. For the last year of Bielsa and under Jesse it's like the team can't think for themselves or are scared too. It's like they go out with a set of instructions and they are not permitted to deviate no matter what. The opposition have us beat on a certain tactic, rather than think "this isn't working they have us sussed and we are predictable" we continue to play the same way hoping it will change next time. Got to blame the coaches I guess but we do seem to lack an intelligent player who can think for themselves Our defence has been shocking for too long, we have lacked quality in the middle or a Pablo for too long as well. We spent two season signing wingers then sack the coach and bring in someone who doesn't use them
Surely as we managed 63% possession overall against West Ham it's only a minor concern that we don't retain the ball when Meslier kicks long ? Better safe than sorry and all that, as perfectly demonstrated by the 2nd goal conceded when Meslier rolled the ball out to Koch and 10 seconda later the ball is in the back of our net.
