The above brings into question signing Zirkzee over Toney. At the time, the Zirkzee signing looked good, and Brentford wanted £60 million at that time iirc, but Toney i think would have buried a couple of our chances on Sunday, and has proven premier league experience. Zirkzee looked raw and definately not used to the aggression of the PL. Hindsight I guess, but they both ended up costing the same, Toney would have been better.
So 3 more shots on goal for the away team is not so bad? I guess it should been 8 more than us for it to back the point. The reality is that we had no control of that game. And the fact the we were two goals down in the first half should have triggered a response by testing Liverpool’s goal. We barely saw that. After the first goal was conceded, you just got the sense that Liverpool would score more.
I suspect Toney is not exactly the ideal professional the club wants. No one really put in a serious bid for him. At least we’ve lowered the United tax on transfers this term. If the midfield can start controlling games, anyone at the front will get chances. That’s a big “IF” for me though.
No not really, it's three off target shots in a whole 90 minutes. It proves not a lot. As it goes, touches in the opposition box, almost equal. Possession, almost equal. Shots on target, equal. I'm not into stats by any means but this tells me what my eyes saw; Liverpool were more clinical final ball and finishing and gave away far less ball, that's where the differences are and that's also what my eyes told me watching. Both things can be worked on, and are in fact, a work that's hopefully in progress.
I hope you were watching the same game. Or more likely, I think you’re a way too soft on your analysis of how ineffective we were as a team against Liverpool. Our chances were scrappy at best. The midfield was dysfunctional and always looking to hit on a break which Liverpool quickly nullified as they were setup to do just that. The best chance fell to Zirkzee and we forced their goalie into making three goal-bound saves all game even though it was a game we were chasing for most spells and needed to force more action from their keeper. They effectively controlled the tempo from the middle of the park.
