Chavvy finally got his tail up as that half went on. RKM should have made it two at the whistle. Decent half all told. Lost a bit of momentum after the goal but picked it up again. Need to come out flying for the second half and win the game, not just try and not lose it. Frank is doing some interesting things re. structure and trying to generate width. The last few games we slip into a back 3 with the LB pushing up and almost two 10s (Xavi and Odobert in this game) to make the 3-box-3 structure that was very en vogue a few years ago in the PL. It’s an interesting solution and helped by when we have Porro/Romero/VdV in the back 3 as they can all quarterback the ball or carry it, to an extent. It’s not worked in some of the league games due to lack of natural width on the left but it is working here. Nice to see him developing something that isn’t a 433/4231. More in the second half please.
We really should be 2 or 3 up by now. Some good stuff played but up front we are very "uncoordinated" (thanks @Spurf ). At least there are more positives tonight than the weekend. So we know how the 2nd half turns out then......
Decent half ... should be 3 assists for Xavi. Apart from one poor touch Johnson has been excellent. Decent throughout...and good in parts throughout the team but shout out to Bentencur and Porro Crowd very nervous...chanting for a couple minutes at a time then back to biting our nails.
Odd half that. We've played ok, quite well at times, but you can't miss those chances at this level. Simons has been much improved and RKM has really led the line well. But that finishing.... Bentancur showing what he's capable of.
Am here tonight. Some big empty spaces up top in the north stand but still think we’re seeing the loss of Koreans and the fact season ticket holders aren’t willing to fork out the £50 to see us against Copenhagen. the game though, we’ve tried to pass forwards everytime. Not always come off but they’re trying it.
Udogie has definitely helped give us natural width and stretch the field on that flank. As a result, Odobert has been finding pockets of space further inside but so far has largely used them to get in the way of other players (aside from the prime-Barca move that ended in RKM fluffing his first chance). It's an important tactical tweak that is working against weaker opposition but Frank is rightly cautious to use it in the PL where last season showed we got torn to shreds every time our FBs ventured that far forward. A possible permanent solution while we wait for players to come back from injury is to switch to a back 3 as we used against PSG, or use Palhinha like we used Wanyama and Dier, dropping into the CB line so that one or both FBs could push far forward.
That’s a silly challenge but not a red for me. Feels very soft, the opposition player barely even reacts. And now Vicario’s down
