Yes jones was dross. The problem is carragher rimmed him live on sky so now everyone says he must have been good. He wouldn't pass it simple. He'd hold it til.close then not pass it far, just close enough so we had to go back again. He lost the ball by making stupid passes to a plauer in tight space or being closed. It all looks great. Short pass. High completion rate but when you team is going backwards or losing the ball in a tackle a second after the pass completion you are putting us under pressure.
No 100% it bought us nothing. We were passing it about aimlessly at times last season and doing thst again. When you have to dig in and defend like mad like last night you will be tired. 2-0. Could have gone to 3 or at least kept them in their half while we k locked it about with intent. Instead we are defending defending defending. It does catch up.
It's an indictment of this current defence/midfield, though, that even with a 2-goal lead in the last two games (and against 10 men, even), that we can't relax and save ourselves, and our opponents know it. We need a CB AND a DM more than we need Isak, tbh, and does anyone know why we're not in the discussion for Hincipe as well? If we can get rid of Konate in this window, that would be a big plus, but we can only do it if we get 2 CBs now that Quansah has gone.
Oh, theres definitely problems. I don't think we need a DM, maybe a tweak to playing style. We absolutely need a CB though.
I'm gald my eyes weren't deceiving me. I think he was trying to be a slim Jan Molby and ended up being a Scouse Christian Poulsen.
You rest by pinning them in and moving it. The more they clear anywhere the easier it is get it back and pass it high up. There were stretches in thst gsme newcastle.were not pressing and vvd and konate were quite high just knocking it about. Then jones comes back and the ball ends up at alisson having to clear it long. You have to still move, you.cant just sleep. The difference between moving at half pace and sprinting and tacking and blocking. You.can move all day at half pace knocking ot about as long as you've an intent and an outball. It's a lot harder work when the forwards stop and theres no out. A lot of the time yesterday I was begging them to put it down the line wide to gakpo and salah but they wouldn't. They would just then go back but at least its will up the park.
Yep, that was my impression, the Ray Wilkins' school of possession football - sideways, sideways, sideways, then back to the goalie (and that's from the days when the goalie could pick a pass up).
Problems, problems. yet here we sit with 6/6 points after two tricky games played without out normal first midfield and then without a RB yesterday for 70m. nice problems to have - patience is the word of the day
fair enough, and God knows, if we beat Arse on Sunday, it will be an incredible start. Of the new guys, Ekitike is fabulous, Frimpong, imo, was fine if unspectacular, Wirtz is looking uncomfortable with the system, Rio is unbelievable, but Kerkez started well in pre-season, but has gotten worse with every game. I'm sure he didn't become a bad player overnight - he was mint for Bournemouth and Hungary last season. I'll stick with him, no probs. But Konate is a worry. Virgil is too old to carry that defence forever. He needs a solid lieutenant at his side. We need that CB (plus another if we're shifting Ibou).
I'm not too worried about Wirtz. Bournemouth, Newcastle and Atrsenal are the worst teams you could face as a new player getting used to the pace of the PL. Eventually we will be up against some low block sides which will allow him to showcase what he is good at.
In summary, we scored 3 superb, well worked goals, (particularly the winner), unlike their 2, as they were beneficiaries of our mistakes. We weren't at our best but none of our goals were lucky, they were top class strikes. The game boils down to who can get the ball in the net the most times and we have lots of players who can do that while having an otherwise quiet or unremarkable game.
so many good things about that last goal - I only saw the highlights as am on holiday and o lost my stream half way through the second half. Who was the player who played it round the corner and got flattened? That pass opened everything up.
Wirtz is working hard but just not getting on the ball. It was a bad game for him as thr back line were hoofing it away so he was watching it fly over his head mostly. He ran about but didn't impose himself. Slot seems to want him to run beyond Ekitike as the lad drops deep so he is then out if the game. Salah was completely out of the game too. Did nothing, but he is immune from analysis. 1 goal, 1 assist from 2 games when "out of the game" I thought it just a straight battle and you know if you dont get a kick you did something wrong. Jones didn't get a kick either. Gakpo, Ekitike, Szoboszlai, gravenberch, kerekz, vvd, konate all got battered in one way or another. Salah just got the hump with hooper. He got one kick of burn. Wirtz really didn't do much to get a dig. Jones for some reason survived that entire game without either fouling and getting a card or being fouled.
Gravenberch. It was a good move because our players got between their lines and when their midfielder all went at the press and it got played at gravenberch. Once he just got it out of there in time. It was 4 on 3 automatically as the smart players like chiesa, szobo and salah were already in positions. Salah played a good ball but in reality it was wide one for us as we had the extra man. Szoboszlai knew it to so really good from him. The difference between intent to play and switched off is massive. We got between the lines and the pressed where they shouldn't all go and opened right up.
