Thought at the time that Virgil had dodged a bullet but I'll also add that Firmino went down like Bambi on ice. While talking about Virgil, his lazy running style hides it but he's bloody fast. Faster than Mané on more than one occasion. Vin
Yes, that initially caught me out too. In several games last season I allowed myself to slip back to my previous opinion that Virgil was a little slow. I even consciously thought it today as I was working on some flooring, before I dismissed the idea. A great example of his speed came in the recent Inter match at St Mary's, where he took the ball off Icardi, who's not slow, pushed the ball past him and lazily blasted by him, gaining a couple of crucial yards in nearly as few strides. Icardi tried to keep up for a few seconds, then realised it was utterly futile. So whenever I think VVD is slow, I think of that moment.
Managed to catch up with the highlights. Alan Shearer had to say it, Liverpool had a bit of an off-day because of all the air-miles their players have suffered. And ours have all been sat at home with their feet up, have they.? Which squad is contesting in Europe.? Hmm...
Is that the same as never will be good enough? Bold forecast if thats what you're meaning. Still a young lad with plenty of improvement to be had.
Struggling to find match reports amongst all the Virgil must go to Liverpool articles. I'd venture that was a credible point, our dangerous free scoring form of past seasons which was intermittent, is thoroughly absent now isn't it.
VVD is faster and more coordinated than he looks. But a big part of it is he positions well, reads the ball well and knows the angles that cut people off or get him to the ball quicker. Plus body position. There is no way VVD is faster than Mane, for example. But Mane could not get behind him.
We're very committed to easy math, though. Twelve goals for and twelve against in twelve games...even Beddy can figure those ratios out.
Good strikers bury those types of chances; that is the problem with Austin; he needs too many opportunities to put one of them away. He is not a bad player but neither is he a quality finisher.
There wasn't much that Charlie could do yesterday, given the lack of chances created. However I've got to say that even before the Liverpool game I was starting to have doubts about him. But also I don't know if this is because he is playing alongside an unproven strike partner in Redmond. Having Long beside him might be a nice change. On the game, you can just see clear as day that teams are terrified now of the reputation of Liverpool's attack. Our players couldn't relax and get into their own game at all. So many uncharacteristic hoof-balls and mis-placed passes. But what a very good defensive display. Cedric and Fonte in particular were excellent, considering their ropey starts to the campaign. Hopefully now Cedric and Long have had a little rest, we'll have a few more attacking options because honestly I think its gonna take Boufal a while to get used to the Prem. Ultimately I'm a fan of football, and whenever a team comes to St. Mary's and blows us away, I am always very impressed and a small part of me wants to see that same team go on to success. In the past few weeks I've seen both Chelsea and Liverpool play better than any team has played down here perhaps since we got promoted (and thus since our last stint in the prem over a decade ago). Chelsea - even though I dislike their money and their fans - impressed me to a point that I am now hoping they win the league. But then Liverpool yesterday. Again of course I dislike them for the obvious reasons, but it is hard not to like the way they play football at the moment. It's going to be an excellent title race.
Right. Also, Austin has been flagged offside an awful lot this season too, and I wonder whether that is because he has lost a bit of pace, or whether he is just dusting off the cobwebs of a season away from the top-flight.
Hey guys, just a quick question I'd like to ask you. As a Chelsea fan how did you rate the Liverpool team in comparison with our game a few weeks back? They are clearly a good team but was just interested in your views.
I do agree with some of this. Defensively we have come on massively since last season, which is ironic given the orevious manager's background. And it's a shame we couldn't cap a masterful defensive display with more threat on the counter. But I think it's stretching it to describe our style under Koeman as "swashbuckling". I think in the balance of the season so far, & it's still very early days, we are playing much better and more entertaining football than last season. We need to find a cutting edge, sure, but I have faith we can do that with the personnel we have. I wouldn't judge any of our strikers on yesterday's game; over the next 5 maybe. I hope Puel stays for some time to come. I have no interest in a "big name" manager, the last one couldn't run away fast enough.
You are better organised and have better individual players. They are more entertaining and more creative as a team. You have Hazard, who is unplayable at his best. Bit hard to judge though, as the early goal vs you lot undid us really.
Absolutely. So many fans complained that Koeman wasn't playing exciting football. Fans are fickle or very short memoried.
I have read in here and on another thread that Fraser is back in form or back to his best. What? I don't get this. He had two shots on target against him. He made one routine save and one excellent save.... Personally I think it is more a case of he was never off form, just conceded a couple of goals in other games. It does baffle me when fans make comments like this when there has been no real change. Keepers concede goals sometimes.
Up early again fats....or late to bed?........in answer to the Chelsea fan. In truth there is not that much different between you and Liverpool. If either team is on song not many teams will be able to stay with you........except us of course........ ........Liverpool with half our old team playing for them may just about edge it but I wouldn't like to place a bet on the difference.
