Not at all, these lads have been trained well into these ways. Walter wants risk taking as you saw today too many moved the ball too slow. Slater was ****e, he’s probably the safest player in the squad. It’s not a coincidence
Say what you want about Oscar a striker who finds those gaps behind the defence will score a lot of goals if you get the service to him. Not much luck today but fine margins could easily have been a hat trick. With Giles putting those deliveries in he will have a good season. And surely we’ve all had enough of strikers who do everything well but never get the chances in front of goal. He will be exciting member of the squad I am sure even if the rest of his game isn’t that great.
He put a big shift in today, needs to do better as an outlet but in the box he’s always a threat. Need more than Giles as a threat
Macca just takes too many touches on it and then gets caught, but he used to do that in his early days too. Jarvis was so improved today, it's like Exhibit A as to why the standard of football you go to isn't that important, but playing regularly is. The LOI is a NL standard but he did so well. We've always known he's good enough technically but his defensive game was extremely good, he got caught on it the odd time but I'd put that down to the increase in standard. It's a shame bridges have been burnt with Shelbourne as Vaughan could do with 12 months there.
I don't like this eagerness to pile on Jacob. He did some bad things but also some very good. His defending of crosses at the back post is brilliant, he makes big blocks and tackles and he's as committed as anyone. He used the ball poorly at times today, but that doesn't mean he was a total disaster. Alfie Jones showed his class again. That bit of defending on the 2v1 was brilliant, and he fully deserved his name being heartily sung afterwards. Pandur was good too. Mehlem looked tidy, I'd like to see us get him on the ball more, same with Ömür. Hopefully that happens as we get better at the system. Speaking of which, we really obviously struggled with playing out today. It looks like the point of passing out that way is to drag people about and cause a bit of chaos, but they were in total control of it, and pressed us into dead ends over and over. It looked inevitable that we'd concede eventually. I'm sure we'll get better at it (like we did in time with Rosenior's similarly risky way) but right now it's a tough watch and it's hard to see what the reward is for the risk. Subs were positive, early and changed the game. Good stuff.
You can see his scoring instinct. A couple of times he was involved in a challenge in the buildup, away from goal but then got up and sprinted to the area to be ready for the cross. You could see he knew he had to be there. He'll score goals in any half-decent attacking side.
Slater was anonymous today and anonymous in every pre-season game. I actually think he’ll struggle to adapt to Walter’s football more than the other midfielders because he lacks bravery on the ball.
i agree about piling on jacob, hes a city player, and shouldnt be a scapegoat or anything of the sort and he does put absolutely everything into it but for him to have a 6/10 game, he needs to put absolutely everything in, and a fair bit of luck, his ability is not at this level in my opinion hes quite far off it and we can praise him for making a tackle or a clearance, but they are basics of the basics, he is a professional footballer
I do really like how when Jacob and Coyle would play long balls down the line we’d have midfielders ready to pick up the second balls when the defenders heading it down, happened loads so was clearly planned rather than lucky
Obviously you don't know him, the Goolie one that is. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
Exactly, I'm not sure it's the style that's wrong it's the speed in which the do it. Tim seems to want faster build up which is great and I'd love to see it but Coyle, Jacob and potentially McLoughlin just don't have enough.
Coyle I can excuse because defensively he is top drawer. But McLouglin has convinced himself he’s the next coming of Beckenbauer and Jacob is a walking accident
I think it's harsh to say he only does the basics of the basics. His defending is very good. He's very reliable defending a cross under pressure at the back post. That saves goals. Giles, although better at other aspects of the left back role, doesn't do that so well. Not saying Jacob is our best left back or anything, just saying he has some very strong sides to his game as well as some limitations.
