I think we'll give him one more season to prove his fitness and if he can't, we'll look to sell him next Summer. Similarly to Tomiyasu, Calafiori is such a good player and it'd be a shame if injuries ruin his career. It's not looking good, though.
Currently 0-1 down to Spurs in pre-season. Pape Sarr scored from 40 yards as Raya was miles out of his goal and MLS lost possession (fouled by Richarlison) near half way line. I don't think that would have counted in an actual game, but whatevs. From what I've read, our dynamics are still clunky, we're playing exactly how we did last season and we are still very slow/laborious in build-up. This is not encouraging and doesn't give me confidence that much will change heading into next season. Our tactics don't maximise the player's capabilities and, until we find a way that platforms them in the best way, we will continue to suffer against the same sides/teams who employ similar tactics. Also, that LW position....bloody hell man. We desperately need that position to be upgraded.
I remember when a Pre-Season friendly was exactly that and fans didn't start loosing their minds over a result. Gyokeres played 30 mins has only had ONE proper training Session and he's already getting written off.. Football fans are truly the worst.
I am seeing fans saying our season is over. We do actually have the worst fans in the world, but it’s a minority who ruin it.
I thought that was a fairly poor game from us, we looked at bit slow and couldn't really find the right passes. Also the amount of changes made us a bit disjointed. Would have liked to have seen Gyokeres get 45 mins, but at least he's had a few minutes. Spurs looked more organised that they did under Ange, so that's an improvement from them. They pretty much shut up shop against us and it's something we're going to have to break down against teams that set up to defend. The goal was an abomination, MLS was blatantly fouled. But what was Raya doing playing it to him there, when he had two other options either side of him. Anyway, hopefully games like this blow out the cobwebs and iron out the mistakes before the proper games start.
My main worry is players just don't have any rest. These games are just setup to make money and expand a market. But the players have barely had any real down time to recover. Perhaps this is the reason were getting more and more injuries at the top level.
Never thought that rest had anything to do with much, either injury or performance. My observation today is that we conceded another stupid goal. It happens a lot. We can’t continue to gift goals and it’s something where Raya and Saliba are the biggest culprits. Both need to make better decisions if we are to play out from the back.
Saka injury is a worry He’s starting to get some sort of niggle almost every game now. Needs to toughen up IMO.
