Aye, but we don’t play in the Champions League every game. Our wingers on Saturday played way below Semenyo level.
What a performance, bar 15/20 mins of the first half we controlled the game beautifully. Subs made a massive impact - Barnes’ goals obviously but Joelinton was massively improved from the weekend as well! Murphy/Barnes have to start against Fulham over Elanga! Take that performance into the weekend and we’ll get a result!
Barnes can rarely keep form up. Murphy definitely should, but Barnes and Elanga need to be kept on the bench.
Yeah, I think Barnes thrives on being an impact sub and grabbing a late goal. He's rarely looked good when starting a game. Murphy has shown he can still be considered as a starting 11. I had hoped Elanga would be more settled in by now, but maybe he will benefit from some appearances off the bench, just like Barnes has.
I’m happy to give Elanga time. In relative terms he’s only just got here. He might need more time to settle and adapt to, at least for him, new tactics. Yes, start Murphy in the main and introduce Elanga as a substitute. Hopefully Elanga will then can come up to speed to challenge to start games. Thiaw has just been brilliant and Botman looks as though he’s getting back to the standards he set when he first joined.
Can't wait to see these two alongside Tino and Hall in a few weeks/months - seriously tasty backline then! The squad is looking really good bar the FB positions currently - hopefully we will look to sign a second LB to compete with Hall in the winter and then upgrade on Trippier in the summer to fight with Tino.
Our problem remains the same, if we’re trying to break down a defensive team players like Barnes and Elanga are fairly useless. But maybe we just need time to get runners off Nick, who can then drop and does have that little trick, that spark, to make something out of nothing.
