Just shows you can't judge by one game....Hojbjerg and Tadic have been better; Targett played well, but has been poor. Jose and Virgil seem consistent....though in different ways.
Give the guy a break! He didn't plan for Jose to give away a penalty. He is new to the Premier league. There are 4 managers below him in the table with a lot of Premier League experience.
If Fonte doesn't have a 'mare, that would have been an easy 1-0 or 2-0 win for us. Unlike the first two games, I thought we had decent scoring chances. Austin was a threat when he wasn't forced to play in his own end. I thought some of the offside calls were questionable but even still, it's just a matter of getting the timing which shouldn't be hard. Austin hasn't had a chance to play that much. I didn't find our possession that "ponderous" at all. I mean, yeah we had a lot of possession where we passed back and forth, but that's part of possession football. You lose some efficiency. You pass and pass and pass and hope for the striker to just create a little space. And I thought our strikers did that. Second half, Redmond looked pretty good replacing Tadic at the top of the diamond. I felt like a goal was coming, and it did come even despite us giving up a goal on the other end. Put Boufal in at AMC who can operate in tight spaces and I think we're alright. 2 points from these first three games is still awfully frustrating. I could see us going to 4-2-3-1. But not because of space on the flanks, or inability to attack through the middle. I just think if our defending does not improve, we'll have to have another DM for help. Or go 5 at the back.
Hojbjerg: Most passes completed: 60/67 Most passes in final third: 20/24 8 recoveries He wasn't as bad as people are making out.
Yep Hojbjerg actually played well. He is going to be another Wanyama. Were people don't see what he actually does.
Thought he quite neatly matched our game as a whole, started pretty well, fizzled out and then just made a couple costly mistakes. If not for those think he could have got away with it. Definitely going to suffer from high expectations though.
Little harsh on Tadic, too. He had a quiet game and was a little disappointing, but 2 is over the top. He was definitely not close to as bad as Fonte who gave up a penalty needlessly and it could easily have been two. Plus the other one where if Dafoe hadn't slipped it could have been a goal. Tadic just had your standard bad day. Fonte had maybe the worst game of his career.
A formation rant is starting to take shape in my head. Hopefully coherent. Will probably write it on Monday,
I think the international break will be the chance for Puel to show us what sort of manager he really is. He's had 3 competitive matches now (I don't count pre-season) to get a feel for the league, and enough information to go away and properly analyse what to do going forward. I know none of us are managers, but if the general opinion is that the diamond just doesn't work, then we can't all be wrong.
Yeah but he won't be will he. Puel isn't just going to put his feet up and wait for our players to come back. I've been inside training grounds to know that they have more than enough tactical staff to analyse teams in a functional manner without players being there (I had an interview at Chealsea during international break and I can tell you the wheel doesn't stop turning).
