Couldn’t agree more. I love that we’re not just ****ing about with it at the back for 5 minutes for no reason. Seeing the wingers attack the fullbacks and Slater and Puerta driving forward with the ball is brilliant.
Football as it should be played and what we've spent most of our lives watching and I'm all for it. Plus a manager who puts results before some obsession with his own "style".
I’m not bothered about possession stats but the amount of floaty long balls Jones and Macca were punting to Pedro was a bit of a joke. He’s not a target man nor is he quick. Those long balls just hang in the air waiting for the other team’s centre-halves to clear it. I don’t have a problem with us being braver in possession and taking more risks but those long balls were crap and 90% of the time you’re going to lose the ball and put yourself under pressure.
I think the aim is that Puerta and Slater pick up the second balls. We also forced them to play long a lot too of which their strikers didn’t do anything with either
We played 45 champ games in 2024 Scored 51 conceded 59 Won 13 drawn 14 lost 18 53 points Puts us 15th Top doesnt matter
I agree with the sentiment, but fans had every right to question the performances of the mentioned pair. Younger much less experienced players have got absolute dogs abuse alongside whilst they’ve been consistently sub par. Slater bounced back today with a decent showing, full of energy with better end product. Coyle got a well needed rest, Drameh showed his class today though particularly in possession (daft back heel aside)
Finally had a chance to watch full game, what I like is the opportunities we found after the goal, we were always on back foot so we could always attack on counters, but somehow first 77 mins we were not in the game besides Alfie's couple of miracle block shots. After goal, everything is different players have created more chances on counter attacks. So this situation makes me think that most of the issue in team is confidence related, that goal made wonders in their confidence, finally they were able to play more lively which made the difference. Positives aside, we should not get ahead of ourselves though, Blackburn clearly deserved the game, still a lot of work to do, we will play 2 games at home against top 6 teams, so I am ok with 2 draws, a win with min 3 points would be more than I expect.
Well, that was just the sort of win we needed, Gritty, took our best chance, defended well with a clean sheet, had a bit of luck, and ground out the win. We look much better organised under Ruben, players in a style they are comfortable with. Much less faffing around at the back, and getting the ball forward quicker. Jones & Puerta the standouts for me, though no one had a bad game. Matty Jacob's struggled a bit against Cozier--Duberry who was very tricky, but other than that everyone handled the situation well. Credit to Ruben for the substitutes, Coyle helped to shore up the LB position, Alzate made a difference controlling the midfield, and Longman with a well taken goal, delighted for him. I thought Pedro had another good game, works his socks off, and he didn't look offside to me when he headed it back for Kamara to put it in the net. Drameh did well at RB and was a good call to rest Coyle. 3 points and a clean sheet as well as out of the bottom 3, a good day all round.
We lost the ball playing the other way as well, only we lost it in our final third dicking about with it rather than up the field.
Here’s a thought , we have the ability to counter with busy players like Puerta and Slater etc and we show it- this sews doubt in the opposition , backs don’t push up quite so much for fear of being caught out - it creates space for both teams - it’s positive and effective IMO
