Beyond me why no one thought of making a Bale out of Alonso. Kid cannot defend for ****. He can definitely finish. I would play him on right over pedro - if Eden wants Left wing. If Eden goes central, pls play Alonso up forward. Heck play him as #9 but never LB please.
Because he's not quick enough. Was close to MOM yesterday so well deserves his place. Not a bad effort for a team which is a work in progress. Two thoughts. 1. Barkley is not doing enough, his final ball is letting him and us down. Time to bench him for a couple of games and give someone else a go.We MUST get the midfield balanced between attack and defence. 2. Kante . Until we get that 3rd midfielder with some grunt, Kante is not defending as he was before he was asked to attack more. Doing a very good job of attacking but at a cost.
Thought he did enough to win MoM one assist and the winning goal. Think Stan should stick to grid iron as his knowledge of football could be explained in a nano second.
Always supported Stans right to his opinion, but he sees everything in black or white and misses the grey. He sees players as either great or hopeless when most are neither. Not many great ones and hopeless ones don't play for top teams for too long.
Of course everybody has a right to an opinion but when it’s just slagging off Alonso who is one of the leagues better players in his position and ‘Cescy nil party’ at every chance people don’t value that opinion.
Mate you nailed it. Alonso isnt as quick as Pedro. But his finishing is better than Pedro Tbh. He is taller as well. I would play him forward than in D. Because his lack of speed kills in D. Ross needs a break. Kovacic was excellent yesterday. Don't think RLC will see any game. If Kovacic continues same form when he starts we have an excellent midfielder like Essien in him. He looks Class. Will be chuffed if we can sign him permanently.
Again Alonso's position in D is untenable because we have only one Defender in back 4. Alonso is the worst of the other 3 because of his wider place. If Kovacic can shield Alonso's run like yesterday we can survive 4th spot. Same last season, Cescy made Alonso look awful with no protection. If you want to look at what a Left back is look no further than BenMen in City. Kid has everything. A Cole will be proud of that kid.
Given the defence is playing a different game to last 2 seasons, it will take more than a couple of games to get it right. The defence is also dealing with the fact that the midfield is letting too much play through them and exposing defenders. This is also because the best midfield defender in the League is being asked to play further forward. That will take time to get right as well. Mendy at City is young and talented and played exceptionally well. When he continues to do so for 4 or 5 seasons, then perhaps your opinion of him will be correct. Until then I am very happy to see Alonso play each week until our new style is settled, and those best suited to it become apparent. Maybe then Alonso might well be played differently, but he is a top player and proves it week after week. That's why he is rated highly by all our recent Managers and the public in general.
Alonso has immense strength in what he does best which is going forward. His finishing is better than Pedro, Will & Morata combined. But Alonso is a bad defender. Especially when Kante is playing in the opp box under Sarriball. When Luiz is covering for Alonso I get chills. Need some fix. Kovacic kid looks to be the fix. I am very happy with our midfield 4 Tbh. Maybe they are trying to do too much with awful 3 out of 4 defenders behind them. I would even take Cahill over Luiz or Rudy. Our two CBs are clowns and cannot be trusted against decent opposition.
Again, I can't agree with your opinion. Our CDs are not "clowns", both are International players in their prime. Rudy has been played largely as left back and now moved to CD in a back 4, not 3. Luiz, before Conte spat his dummy ,Trump like, at any criticism of him , was playing out of his skin. Luiz sat on his arse for 6 months and came back, like Rudi, to a back 4 as CD. Give them some time and a decent midfield in front of them, and you will see they are far from clowns. We also have Christensen to try out, RLC to try out, Hazard, Ampadu and Hudson Odoi, Giroud and Tammy, plus Zappa, Moses and the Italian left back. Until Sarri has got the team playing in his fashion, and tried all the players at his disposal, no one including Sarri, as he himself has said, has a clue who will play where, who might switch positions or change their approach as Kante has. Far too early to be writing players off or declaring Kovacic to be the possible midfield fix. Make those assertions after Christmas and you might find a kinder audience.
Indeed. Sarri said that it could be a bit ropey for the first couple of months, so we have to be patient. Our defence was exposed in the first half but things improved in the second. We look really good with the ball imo, and we will get there. KTBFFH.
Bugger it, let’s just sell Alsonso, Cahill & Cescy no party to keep Stan happy and wait to see who will take their place on the hate list.
I enjoyed the game apart from the last 20 mins of the first half.Agree the defensive situation needs to improve not going to criticise anyone lets just see how it goes.Great to see Morata score,feel we're gonna score more than we concede.....Anyway after 2 games we're level on points with City.....suits me.
When we were 2-0 up and chanting “Wenger left you because you’re shit” I thought we were in for another delightful 6-0 win. Then Arsenal came from nowhere to dominate those last 20 minutes of the first half - but for awful finishing they could and should have been 2-4 up. Eden Hazard coming on during the second half really swung the game in our favour. A great game of end to end attacking football and the right result. I was very impressed with Jorghinho and Kovacic, over the season they could help us beat Man City to the title. COYB
Good call, there are some very positive signs and more than a couple of players looking extremely good under the new system. I really enjoyed the game, early goal, then another, then Arsenal exposing, some problems and at half time the Manager and players pretty much fixing those problems, then Alonso, my MOM scoring late. Georghino and Kovacic looked really good and Morata looked as if he's toughened up and stepped up. All great signs. And we still have a heap of excellent players to get their chance, in our outstanding youngsters plus Moses, Zappacosta, Cahill and Emerson.Best of all players seem to be enjoying themselves and showing fight and togetherness. All encouraging.
All the media talk seems to be of Manchester City and Liverpool vying for the Premiership title. No one’s noticed our potential to win it.
Same thing happened in 2016-17, we finished 10th the season before so no one had us in contention, but the retards forgot we were the team who had won the Premier league in 2015 at a canter, the problem was Jose and the players falling out, with Jose replaced with Conte, it stood to reason that we would be up near the top again, and we won the league again, despite huge retards saying there was no way we would challenge and we would find it hard that season etc. By huge retards I mainly mean Spurs fans
Again I see no need whatsoever to single out Alonso for criticism when the whole defence is getting used to a new system and one where Kante is not shielding them as much. Ultimately this is the price to pay for more exciting expansive football we've been crying out for and it won't all click over night. I though our pressing and general control of a football was very good bar about 20 minutes at the end of the first half and a lot of positive signs.
Our squad is more than capable and with no champions league who knows??. I called it early last time we won it and got **** loads of stick.Gonna keep my gob shut til after xmas.
