I think you’ll a find that a game lasts longer than one tackle and over the course of 90+ minutes he has sorted out far better defenders than Firpo. The problem for both their goals was you can see that Sam plays with two banks of four and the scorer moved between the lines and no one tracked him.
Yet Firpo didn't get an assist for heading it to Rodrigo ? Ridiculous stat at times. So you don't think our three central midfielders were at fault for the leaving the edge of our box unprotected ? Gundogan even had time to take a touch for the second one ffs. Plus as stated earlier it's a recurring theme and needs addressing immediately.
You've got to show them on to their weaker foot. Look what happened when he did 2nd half at one point. We got a goal kick, not conceded a goal. It's really basic stuff.
I’m happy with the scoreline, I’m pleased we never threw the towel in after the second goal but damn, they missed some great chances. I’m not sure how I feel about l it overall, my optimism hasn’t got any better, I think it’s a wait and see
Good to see Sam had the bottle to drop Meslier and now I will believe in him more if he drops Bamford and starts Rodders.
Unless I've missed something inverted wingers in the £50M + range don't exactly allow themselves to be forced onto their weaker foot. If they did then they'd soon be bombed out of their team for being inefectual. Also it's a team game so when the defensive shape is set and you allow tricky wingers to make passes to the outside of your penalty box I'd say you've done ok and it's then down to the rest of the team to stop or block any shots.
Just because someone is good doesn't mean you make it easy for them. Firpo did. And when he put him on his weak foot, Mahrez couldn't do anything. Then we look at Struijk. Another error for the penalty. Sick of seeing him in a Leeds shirt. He's non league level this season.
Yes a very poor challenge and Big Sam won't stand for **** like that. We're still going down but at least it now looks like we're going down fighting
If we do I wouldn’t be opposed to big sam building a championship side and having a go next season. Forget this dof nonsense. Sams forgotten more than orta ever knew about football
Forum thoughts on Kristensen at centre half? He looked a bit clumsy but I thought he held up quite well.
Maybe people forget that Big Sam was a no nonsense centre half back in the day and if anyone can help us defensively then it's probably him. Would love to know why he dropped Koch today and played Kristensen in there instead, especially as Koch has been a permanent fixture in our back four all season Regarding Rasmus then I'd say he did ok today, but nowhere near well enough to think he's the answer.
Koch is too quiet. He's a better version of Struijk. Neither are aggressive. Neither are good communicators. Neither are leaders. Both make regular mistakes. Neither have any pace. At least Rasmus was aggressive today. Him, Wober and Forshaw were pretty good regarding getting stuck in and putting bodies on the line.
Please no, the guy is a dinosaur, I didn’t see anything today to convince me he is the long term answer. Remember you don’t get a lot worse than Gracia and Jesse, anyone after those two would look good. He dropped Meslier, who on here would not have dropped him long ago and we’re not coaches. It wasn’t a hard decision and he still bottled it with Bamford If we played that game again, we’d lose it by 5-6 goals or more, we were fortunate today. They had 81% possession, I think today was the get it out the way and use the flattering score line to boost the confidence and judge things more over the next three games
Apparently Kristensen and Wöber are former teammates of Haaland at Salzburg and maybe there was a feeling that knowledge of him might give them a slight edge.
This ^^^ Yes, they could have scored 5 or 6. Yes, they dominated. That was to be expected. When you play the best teams you need to find them on an off day, they miss chances and somehow you take the few chances that come your way. That's kind of what happened. The main thing I wanted yesterday was going back and doing the basics well and not getting smashed by 5 or 6. I thought the players showed signs of a good reaction to Big Sam. They ran, and tackled and more importantly didn't give up at any point. That, to me, is worth it's weight in gold. The players looked reasonably happy at full time that we are heading in the right direction and most importantly the fans engaged positively. The players went over as a group and gave shirts away and that was well received. To get out of this we need everyone pulling in the same direction and being positive. This set of players are the weakest I've seen to be honest and they WILL down tools again in the future and give up but if we can get through 3 more games before they give up again we might do enough. Good signs yesterday if not the best result. We won't play a team as good as that again this season. If we can somehow get something from Newcastle, or even give them a tough afternoon, then I think the other two games are winnable with a little luck.
It’s only two weeks since city annihilated the second best team in the league. And they are second best by a country mile
