The problem is ptc, Hutchinson is most dangerous from the right, he is half the player when playing central or on the left. For me, I would rather have Hutch in his best position!! Maybe switch burns to the left and let him cut in on his right. That way you have options on both wings, the wingers can cut in and shoot or the wing backs can overlap and whip crosses in
After watching that yesterday, I do now think that we need another 9, Al Hamadi is nowhere near ready imo. Anyone else think that maybe play someone else LB and move Leif into a more attacking role?
And we can and will tighten up our midfield as they waltzed thru us 2nd half. Assuming Luongo isnt a starter, who would we like to see firing all guns & energising our midfield at Man City, or soon after once the new players have bedded in. Morsy - Phillips & Cajuste comes on around the hour mark perhaps, assuming he has signed up. Or even all 3 pending the oppo. And who do we rate as Vice capt taking over 2nd half, wen Capt fantastic leaves the field either thru exhaustion or too many yellows! Morsy means so much to our team but we do need a leader on the pitch in case.
Disagree slightly, in that I thought a lot of Hutchinson’s best performances last season came from the number 10 position. I’d also keep Burns down the right. I don’t believe he’s played left wing before, might be wrong. Opposition defenders will be told to keep Burns from cutting in and to keep him out wide on his uncomfortable left foot. I think Burns will improve - he was just unfortunate going up against arguably one of the division’s best left backs in Robertson. He’ll get opportunities in future games to take his man on and play to his strengths. Valid question over what is our strongest attacking trio behind the centre forward this season. I think Szmodics on left, Hutchinson in middle, and Burns on the right is probably our strongest combination.
I agree Spanish, as we all know, while he does his damdest to get back and defend, he is, was and will be found out against top Prem players. He is better playing more forward and using his wizardry fire in crosses.
I agree with Nuggets, I think I've seen Hutchinson have good games centrally and actually wide left, which he has played a couple of times. He played it last season in our final game against Huddersfield. The front 4 was the same with the exception of Hirst and given Burns and Hirst were out a long time before that reminded us of how much they bring to the team in terms of physicality but also movement and getting in behind which allows the space for quality players like Hutchinson and Chaplin. Without Burns and Hirst in the team the balance isn't the same, there's less space in front of the opposition back line and as we saw yesterday it also stops the opposition CBs and LB moving forwards on the ball. I've seen Hutchinson have quiet games on the right wing, I think he tended to be better coming on as a sub on the right after Burns had run at the full back all game but better starting in the 10. Still think he's decent on the left and in some games we may need him to stick out there and provide a bit of protection for Davis as he's our only natural left footer who can play in that position.
I agree with you that we need another no.9 but I've been quite impressed with the impact Al Hamidi has had off the bench at the end of last season and to be fair I think he showed some decent things when he came on yesterday. Last season when we lost Hirst I felt we needed Moore to come in as a replacement but actually when Hirst came back felt I'd prefer Al Hamidi over Moore as the sub to bring on because of the energy he brings. I'd be more than happy to see Al Hamidi as a regular sub this season I'd be concerned if we were in the position due to injury/suspension where we probably had to start him. For me yesterday Al Hamidi was probably the least concerning sub, I thought the game changed when Burns went off, Robertson was worried by him and started to get more into the game when Johnson came on, who looked a bit out of sorts. Also the fact we brought on Harness and Taylor on to change the game in a game of this quality was concerning, I think with both there's a decent enough player in there but I don't think McKenna has found a position with either of them which suits their strengths. Agree we need to consider the left hand side. Last season we were so open but the risk outweighed the reward after yesterday I'm not sure it does and we may need to look to tighten up a bit.
I thought first half yesterday Luongo was outstanding both on the ball and defensively, he probably had a better game than Morsy. Where he struggled was when our press wasn't as tight and the gaps started opening up particularly down that left hand side, with Leif being a bit too gung ho, losing his man and Hutchinson wandering. Think we will need to see a bit more solidarity down that side. I'd imagine it'll be inevitable that Phillips will come in for Luongo eventually but all I can say is write him off at our peril, he's been outstanding since he came to the club, people wrote him and Morsy off last season saying they wouldn't be able to make the step up to the Championship but they did, I think it'll be the same this season.
We were really good in the first half and matched them in every department, however in the second half we lost mid field and even Sam Morsy went out of the game and when that happens it's bad news for us,they gradually took over with their quality and experience and deservedly won the game. Did anyone see Joe Hart on MOTD last night ? He said we didn't lose a game at home last season which was totally wrong and most people in the stadium was expecting at 1 point and probably 3 points, what a knob I don't know any Town fan that expected to beat Liverpool and a draw was the best we could hope for.
I’m happy with Hutchinson either on the right or as the 10. Doesn’t play as well on the left for me. Think I mentioned when we signed Townsend, that he could play LB with Leif moving to the left of the attacking positions. I think almost all fans see Luongo as a squad player this year and either Phillips (when he is up to speed) or Cajuste will play alongside Morsy. Certainly feel there were more positives than negatives yesterday.
I did enjoy seeing us back on Match of the Day, after such a long absence (Gary Lineker told viewers it was a 23 year absence, cheeky sod!). I thought Alan Shearer was fair to us and, overall, they did a good job breaking down how we were pressing Liverpool players in the first half. They explained how Liverpool changed things up and exploited us when we tired. The downside is that we will see a few pundits lazily comment on us without doing their research. Joe Hart was one - as Stretchy mentioned above. Another was Jermaine Jenas on co-comms for TNT, who said we weren’t “used to playing out from the back”. If he’d bothered to watch us under McKenna in the previous two seasons, he’d know better than to make such a stupid, ignorant remark.
We played far above my expectations and I’m sure we will do more than survive on that evidence. Walton was clearly lacking sharpness but he was a credit to himself under the circumstances. Al Hamadi actually had a superb touch in the opposition box that would have probably led to a goal against weaker opposition. There were other times that we’d have got in easily against Championship defenders. Telling was that Burns never once managed to get to the end of the pitch on a run to cross or cut back without a challenge. One of the big surprises, the attacking player who looked most comfortable and penetrating at this level was Harness. Quick thinking, quick feet and no fear. The level of the Liverpool players was clear - the pace they move the ball and how the ball sticks to their feet. It’s the first time this team has come up against that and they acquitted themselves superbly. They will be back in training this week trying to sharpen and start on the journey to bridging that gap and the brilliant thing is that they can test themselves again against the very best next Saturday.
Again, good to see lots of positive comments on here. Our season wont be defined by these 2 opening games. Welcome to the school of hard knocks!
I saw the subs yesterday as more about getting that Premier League debut out of the way for as many as possible rather than trying to affect the game.
