I agree we need a left side specialist. We might have tried Spence in last night’s game but he had to come on for Porro. VdV also short of pre-season minutes or we could have maybe shifted him to LB and used Dragusin in the middle.
I don't understand why Postecoglou prefers literally nobody to Reguilon as backup. He's not perfect for the system, but he's better than someone out of position entirely.
Bonkers decision not to start him after the pre-season he had. He takes too many touches at times for my liking but he was still clear of anyone else throughout the tours and friendlies.
He looks a different animal playing centrally since last season. Should be starting the next game with Bergvall IMO. Still don’t like him on the right.
Depends on the player you get on the right, the one in the first 6 months of Conte's reign was an animal. We've seen it very sporadically since but that version of Kulu is miles clear of any other wide player at the club bar Son. Centrally, you'd pick him over Sarr at the moment all day long. Not sure about a Bergvall start just yet though, he was promising when he came on but did also nearly cost us a goal. I think both he and Gray need easing in but wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the season one or both are regular starters.
Any views on Winks? I thought he played well and made some good progressive passes. It will be good to see him and Skipp develop a good partnership.
At the risk of jinxing it, our U21s are currently demonstrating the advantages of playing with no fear around the opponent's penalty area in a way our first team did not last night
Moore - unsurprisingly - has been a cut above. Olusesi showed some bright touches but has just been subbed off along with third scorer Ajayi for Irow and Black. Just like the first team however we can’t defend to save our lives. Seriously though Mikey Moore is just a different breed. Has to be in the squad over Werner on the weekend. Edit: Looks like Lankshear has pulled his hammy
On the other hand, Dante Cassanova still being at the club mystifies me, given it feels like he's had trials with every Championship club within the M25 in the last eighteen months
It was the sort of game that suited him to a tee. Funnily enough, the more Leicester pressed up the pitch, the less visible he became and their need for him dwindled. Pretty much sums him up as a player tbh.
Passmap time please log in to view this image Well there's the obvious issue: the ball is doing a lot of sideways work between Maddison, Johnson and Sarr - but what it is not doing is going forward to Solanke - so, of course, Sonny having an off day and Johnson seemingly taking a bet to make all the wrong decisions when he gets forward came back to bite us in the GF column Looks like the belief that Bentancur was far too conservative with his passing is also proven, as he's basically laying it off to Udogie and little else, when surely moving it on to Maddison was the best choice The fact Porro is pretty much piggybacking on Johnson also happened to bite us in the GA column, too
The positioning on the right looks off. Porro is very high and Johnson could be a little higher and wider. I suspect it’s because Sarr isn’t as good on the ball as either of them, as I mentioned the other day, so they’re coming to the ball more when he gets it in advanced areas to make it easier for him.
I'd love to see the difference between the first and second half passmaps for our team. That looks exactly what I saw and mentioned in the first 45 minutes, including the balance issue on the right. I wonder if it could be as simple as replacing Sarr with Kulusevski against teams parking the bus? Risky.
The faintest of lines through the central channels remains an enormous concern. We have too many CMs who play in bits and bobs, but none who are able to seize control of a game and dictate play. Maddison at least tried doing this and his effort was to be applauded, but: a) he needs to be much quicker in possession, and b) he shouldn't be doing it on his own. The best teams have two players dictating things, one deep and one further upfield (cf. Rice/Odegaard, Rodri/De Bruyne). Ostensibly the deeper one should be Bentancur but he, like Sarr, so often looks confused by his role and ends up ambling around hoping to be in the right place at the right time.
This was the moment I discussed in an earlier post - just what is he doing/ thinking? Almost the whole wing is there to attack... I’m not sure if it’s a tactical thing because similar to Pep’s style these “pass, pass, pass” systems take away a lot of individual brilliance which is fine as long as it works but surely his first thought should be getting down that wing and then having a decision to make, whether it be cross or shot? He’s got pace to burn yet never seems to want to use it. I know next to nothing about Odobert but if he has the confidence to run with the ball and take his FB on, I hope we see him quicker than expected, likewise Moore. Aaron Lennon would be fuming watching this.
He just slips. Good tackle to win it initially, but his passing angles are all cut-off, so he tries to cut back and pass into space. He slows down to give it to Maddison in the middle at first, in my opinion. Chris Kavanagh neatly blocks that pass off, though.
