Ouch. Feels like a turning point and certainly a wake up call. Like you say though, it's how we react now.
For the amazing asset he’s been, Hourihane. I feel we’ve been more open in midfield since his addition. Not for one minute am I blaming him. He’s just not going to give us that kind of solidity, a more defensive minded player would give. It has been exacerbated I feel, by the fact Smith has not been in the side too. Maybe we’ve been on the cusp of a beating like this for a while. Just thankfully, until today, it hadn’t happened. For me, he needs back in the starting line up & of course, with a high profile attacking talent signing like Connor, something has to give. This IMHO has to be Grimes, we’re weaker defensively with Hourihane, so Korey needs to come in alongside Fulton to compensate & stiffen us up. Otherwise, a game like today could happen once too often..
Let’s move on that was awful....personally think that Grimes should be dropped give Andre the captaincy and bring Smith back in....there’s no leadership there...over the years I have se3n us play against ten players who have controlled and won games...that was powder. Puff from the start today
No comment, as I have put on 3 covid masks! ! ! ! ! ! ! As I don't want to fall out with anybody after that display.
Agree with this 100% - my mates and I have been saying this for a while. In ‘battles’ - and there are going to be more of those than ‘walks in the park’ - we need both Smith and Fulton - so perhaps we could/should play 5 -3 - 1 - 1, with Hourihane behind Ayew, and Lowe and/or Whittaker coming off the bench - or stick with 5-3-2 and drop Grimes