Yes the defence is excellent. I watch them when they are not in possession and they way they work in sync - also the little angles they create in possession when under pressure. It truly is superb to watch. They are also physical. Best defence we've had since the famous back 5...maybe even better.
Ah sorry - misread your rating of him against City. He does have time. To me it looks like he isn;t playing with confidence and that might be to do with the step up in level. I've seen him take touches before trying to get shots away - he needs to just start hitting it first time and also being more aggressive in his running into space - especially through the middle. Probably my biggest concern is that he he doesn't really look that strong against the best defenders. Goes to ground a lot.
Yes, that is a pet peeve of mine too. I think he's still not fully adapted to the type of contact/physicality you get in the Portuguese league compared to the Premier League. Although what I will say is that he was being manhandled at times against Olympiacos and the referee was just letting play go on. It was infuriating. Even Ally McCoist on commentary was saying that he wasn't getting given fouls that should have been fouls. But broadly speaking, he does need to do better against top quality CBs. His movement needs to be a bit better too. For me, Haaland makes the best attacking runs in the league and I thought Gyokeres would be in a similar mould. But he's not. Let's give him a bit more time, though.
I think he probably needs a few games on the bench as a sub - he could probably influence games where we need to try something different to grab some points (drawing or losing with 30 mins left). My preference right now would be Martinelli through the middle or Merino.
This is proof that we need to start finishing our dinner. But I'm glad we're seeing us create more chances, especially from open play.
To give praise to the team and manager, this was a pretty tough week of games. We had Newcastle away last Sunday, where we struggle in recent times, and deservedly won. We had Olympiacos in midweek, who had beaten us in their last 3 consecutive games at The Emirates, and we won with a clean sheet. We had West Ham at home, who had beaten us here in the past 2 consecutive seasons, and we won with a clean sheet. A good week heading into the international break.
The extra positive thing is that we're joint top scorers in the league - albeit with City and Liverpool still to play their 7th game.
Thought that was a reasonably comfortable win today. I'd like to see us finishing more of the chances we create, but Calafiori was really unlucky not to score and it could have been 3 or 4 today Never really needed to get out of 3rd gear today.
