Imo there were three mistakes made on the goal. All three were small mistakes. Cooper could have pushed up with the line. It may be that the instruction is that Cooper is the last man at all times. If that's the case then it exonerates Costa positioning. Usually the line should move as one. It did with the exception of Cooper. It was marginal but a mistake nonetheless. Costa moved up with the line but the flukey ball in beats him. I've no problem with Costa position. If I could place him somewhere I'd probably put him where he was. Costa problem was his lack of reaction to the ball in. He could have made up that ground but was caught a bit flat footed. He should have reacted quicker. Third mistake was Meslier. He was slightly slow coming off his line. El Ghazi first touch was behind him. If Meslier charges out quicker he could have smothered it. Kasper Schmeichel for example would not have conceded that. All small errors. All contribute to the goal. At a push I would say Costa has to carry the majority of the blame but its marginal. We are now in the PL. Small mistakes get punished. As for Costa starting the game. Harrison was poor for two or three games whilst Costa had come off the bench and looked impressive. With Poveda injured I suppose it was an understandable decision to make. Oh and you don't have to apologise for disagreeing Shako. I'm no snowflake. I enjoy reading other people's opinions. I used to play centre half a bit towards the end and I just can't see where else I would want Costa positioned. I'd still bollocking him for not reacting quicker like....
Agreed, no problem if 90% of the forum thinks that Costa, Roberts or whoever are/were pants. That's why I enjoy coming here to debate the football and it's all about opinions and no one is right or wrong...apart from WJ that is
The only bloke who’s right is Bielsa and he doesn't bother popping in here for advice. My view is that Costa for some reason has lost it he started the season well but I think Raphinah has taken his place and hes sulking. I was exited about Roberts when we paid a big fee for him but that was in 2018. He arrived injured and we had to wait for months to see him. He has 6 poor performances to every one decent game. He had one decent game in last seasons run-in and that was it, hes only played in a third of all the games since 2018. Hes had 3 decent games in the 23s and a few decent minutes in the last couple of first team games, sorry but if he cannot grab his chance by now even when picked ahead of Pablo I dont think he ever will get it here. Bielsa however thinks he knows better than me, but he darent come in here and face me
I actually think Roberts has found a bit of form lately. He looks like he wants to play and works hard for the team. I'd love to see how much distance he covers to confirm this BTW. He laid on a goal for Bamford vs Southampton and with a bit more luck/quality could have had 4 or 5 goals to his name recently. He seems to fade out of games as they go on and looks a bit heavy too. I hope he seizes the chance and kicks on but on current performances he will be back on the bench when players return from injury. He definitely has something about him but he needs to put it out there more consistently.
Why was there no mention at all of the Bamford potential penalty incident, it was so clear and obvious that the Villa guy rugby tackled him. What is the point of VAR ffs? Also the studs up 'challenge/tackle' by Taggart was a straight red (I mean Targett! )
Could have done with the points against villa, next two away games are in London, one of which is Fulham and we all know we can’t seem to win in London. Chelsea at home in between. So it could get a bit tighter.