I watched the highlights several times yesterday and I actually felt bad for the players. The emotions they must have gone through in that last 30 minutes is nothing like I’d ever seen before in football. In the end, I hope this gives them enough faith in each other that they are in fact good enough to wear the shirt. If they fight for one another, they can turn an insurmountable mountain on its head and create their own magic. Amazing match!
As the transfer rumours gather pace I watched the Wolves game to run an eye of Cunha, expecting great things, particularly as the two systems are the same, but found myself quite underwhelmed. Does anyone have a more positive view on the player, plus is his disciplinary record as bad as it is being written up by some of the sporting press.
The question is.. does anyone really believe that Cunha will transform our fortunes in the league? I don’t see it! And this is not an indictment on Cunha, but I don’t think he offers anything that we don’t already have. Watching that game against Wolves and seeing how we kept dragging the ball back and sideways, it really makes you wonder what the hell players do in training to prepare for league games. Even in good moments whereby we could have pressed from the flanks, the players kept playing back to the middle. You could hear the frustrations from the crowd. This is why we have managed a poor 17 league goals since Dec 22nd across 17 matches. We failed to score in 8 of those games with many of them at home. This is very revealing and quite damning of the overall methods used for league games. However, when you look at how we play in Europe, the system is better suited to those continental games. Of the 12 games in Europa this season, we have scored in every single one of them. Even more puzzling compared to league form, is the fact that we scored 2 or more goals in 9 of them and yet to lose a match. It is undeniable that the system is more suited to Europe, yet distinctly inadequate for the Premier League.
The league is no doubt a different beast. But we’ve played Wolves twice and not managed a single goal against them. This is a team still below us in the table. In the last 18 league games, we have amassed about 19 points, yet took 4 points from City, and took points from Arsenal and Liverpool during that abysmal period. Surely the quality is there to play when their backs are against the wall like we saw with Lyon.
85% of the problem is having a **** gk and Hoilund up front. Replace them with 2 decent players we gain at least 10 places.
Why would it be unacceptable to some? If anything, it decisively proves that the team has massively underperformed this season. The talent is clearly there to compete, but they’ve been unable to get it right in the league.
The league is, right now, irrelevant. We're not going down and so those games are merely practice matches. If we win the EL, we move on to close season, pre season and then next season, which is when we'll have to drastically improve. If anything, the champions league is a leap too high, but I would definitely take it. Big game in two weeks!
I would say that champions league is precisely what we need. Regardless of how teams perform in the champions league, it tends to make them more competitive in the league because it raises that bar. Yes! Do or die game in Bilbao!
It is completely stupid to keep playing a failed system in the league. If we start next season playing this system, it won’t matter who gets brought in the summer, the result will be the same. Absolutely fkin stupid!
The danger is that we are playing a league side in the Europa finals. We’ve lost to them three times already. I hope Amorim will take note of that and set up the team adequately.
Well, that was our best result at OT since 86/87, we were good that year though, this year we've been utter ****.
Not as **** as we've been. Was odd yesterday, I'd say that the last home game before the EL final was a good opportunity to play his preferred team, of those not injured, and gain some impetus. Instead he messed around with it and killed the mood completely. He could have rested everyone on Friday at Chelsea, but even that needs to be a full blown rehearsal for the final. There will be a lot of player turn over in the summer. If there isn't, the only person who will carry the can is Amorim. The rest of them will just walk backwards through the hedge, so to speak. He's clearly a coach who has a plan, but he's not Harry Potter.
