Yeh and that's all good when it works, but this season it simply hasn't been as affective, personally I think that's down to Bobby's form rather than teams finding a way to stop our front 3. Lets be real he's played non stop football for the last 3 seasons, guy needs a decent rest for me. At the moment he's doing **** all. Oh and Space shmase
Like Salah and Mane, he'll have to get some old man strength. Mane's like a cat though, I'm not sure he's human
Space, pressing, dropping deeper when needed, off the ball runs constantly. Some people are never happy. He does need a timeout I agree, to get a rest and get the hunger back
Ive already seen an improvement in that part of his game since he arrived, I'm sure if we can see it the coaches can and are telling him to either get tougher or bulk up.
Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I remember when rotation wasn't even a thing. Nobody had the squad depth to do it. Granted, modern players burn up a lot more energy, but they also have a far superior fitness regime to aid with that. Is it really asking too much for players to be able to go for 90 minutes twice a week? Their training schedule could be lightened if need be to compensate. The FBs get rotated rarely, Virgil and Alisson never, unless they're injured - apart from the cup games we don't take seriously any more. I think the need for rotation is a modern myth, but if it is necessary, surely it means one or two brought in seamlessly so as not to disrupt the smooth running of the team? Wholesale changes are invariably a disaster.
firmino runs furthest, sprints more and works hard but is called out of form. minamino floats about not having any impact at all and is defended. both men are trying their hardest but there you go.
Fair points - I can't really comment on the game back in the day but from what I have read, the game is a lot faster and intense now - even more considering our style of play. Also, we have quite a few players who struggle to play twice a week - we're lucky to get 1 game a week for Gomez and Matip and our most reliable defender (VVD) is now out as well so there is added pressure on them to play even more and put their bodies under more stress. Ox, Naby, Thiago, Milner and even Hendo aren't the most reliable as well. Plus the fact that our key players have pretty much played non stop for 2 years with little break - Bobby could be the one who is suffering the most as a result.
One thing from last night am i the only one who thinks Shaq may have played himself back into contention for a spot on the bench in particularly against teams who we are fairly sure are going to just sit back .
Not sure. Personally think Salah is better when starting out wide so can cut in and make those runs between full backs and CB like he did for the second yesterday. It’s certainly an option. Minamino just looks lost. We must have been watching a different player as guy looks even more toothless in front of goal than firmino. Easily shrugged off the ball and his close control looks average.
He grew into the game and he possesses such great technical quality. Shaq and Jota are really good back up options for the attack.
Certainly adds a bit of creativity as shown with his pass for the first. He’s much better in that midfield than out wide for us as we need pace and movement behind from the wide players. Only issue you have when he’s in midfield is he’s lazy as ****. One moment yesterday where he was just gently jogging 2 yards behind their player running with the ball. Seemed like he didn’t wanna put in a sprint to get goal side.
I prefer Salah and Mane on the wings too but they provide great threat when playing centrally - they're the type of players who will be a threat anywhere on the pitch. Taki has put in some good cameos since restart but the issue is that he doesn't regularly play with the stars. He was really poor last night for the reasons you mentioned - I'm not concerned with the control because his touch and control is very good (last night was an off nigh) but agree that he is too lightweight. Needs to bulk up if he wants to command a spot. I'm not saying Taki is our nest number 9 and I actually do hope we go big for a pure number 9 or another attacker however I will give Taki more chances when he has Salah and Mane next to him.
yeah it was just those clever little passes on the edge of the box are one of the obvious ways to break down a packed defence and is not a strength of most of our MF options though Tiago by the looks of it is an exception .
the issue last night was we started origi in a quasi left side role and minamino trying to be a striker or something. we made a tactical switch at half time to put origi up top and minamimo behind. so for me we've seen minamino try and fail at every role across the front 3 he wants to play a no 10 role and honestly he's not going to get it. he's far too lightweight to mix it in the prem and failed to get on the ball yesterday in Europe. we have one success story this year thus far and that is jota as he's scored a few. he is a long way however from being fully into the style of game we play. we need thiago in the side urgently. keita isn't offering us much either sadly again. origi is just toast he didnt look happy, looked like his head was down and he was rusty as well.
