Pre Match Brighton (H) - Sun 14:00
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Frankly it's remarkable that he can give this level of effort and execution while fasting. I have two very good Muslim players on my youth team whose performance drops significantly during Ramadan. They play about half the time and are more likely to get injured (not exactly sure why, but they do?).
The risk of injury increases because they're dehydrated.
It’s hard because nobody else moves to show for the ball or create space like him. So when players look up to play a pass he’s invariably the best and most open option.We mentioned during the match how one-sided we looked - and this may have a lot to do with why Nunez was quiet. We need more balance I think (despite Mac being MotM but Mo had 12 shots which maybe, maybe we would have scored more had it been spread about more :
Of course others step up when he’s not there but we definitely took longer to find the pass when he was injured.
Think if we win the league him and endo are up there with a shout for team of the season; Macca alone in shout for player of the season. He did well at 6 (eventually) but since he's moved forward it's been an absolute joy
Anyways thinking about our starting eleven yesterday. Kinda weird place that so many players we would not have expected or wanted to be starting during a title race are, and are doing very well. Think about the players we didn't know about or assume would be starting a year ago...
Kelleher. Better than most team's first choice and without him we'd be trying to guarantee a CL place, not trying to win the title.
Gomez. Piss poor yesterday, so far out of position off the ball - but been so versatile lately and critical to our momentum.
Quansah. I'll sound like I'm having a go here, he's so slow to make decisions on the ball - it's not his fault, he's a baby. Great at defending, but I wish his mates would stop giving him the ball and expecting him to be VVD. That will come. I mean it really will.
Bradley. Brilliant going forward. Nowhere to be seen when those three quick lads attacked that flank. Needs winding in a bit, but again, he's a baby. Huge potential
Endo & Mac. Men of the match (again)
Szobo. Puts a shift in but it's like he's lost something mentally. The swagger is gone. Needs a goal or three.
Then there's the few starters we know
VVD. Not far off his best. Must he delighted to have all that pace around him.
Diaz. If only he could finish
Salah. If only he could eat.
Donkey. 🎵 Often good, often shit, he's improved by a bit, that's the donkey. 🎵
I mean all told... Four of the five in defence second or third or fourth choice / unheard of last season, it's crazy what they're doing. The midfield all brand new, batshit that they're playing so well together... And with none of the forwards are in any kind of form... here we are. It makes no sense.
It's madness.
Kelleher. Better than most team's first choice and without him we'd be trying to guarantee a CL place, not trying to win the title.
Gomez. Piss poor yesterday, so far out of position off the ball - but been so versatile lately and critical to our momentum.
Quansah. I'll sound like I'm having a go here, he's so slow to make decisions on the ball - it's not his fault, he's a baby. Great at defending, but I wish his mates would stop giving him the ball and expecting him to be VVD. That will come. I mean it really will.
Bradley. Brilliant going forward. Nowhere to be seen when those three quick lads attacked that flank. Needs winding in a bit, but again, he's a baby. Huge potential
Endo & Mac. Men of the match (again)
Szobo. Puts a shift in but it's like he's lost something mentally. The swagger is gone. Needs a goal or three.
Then there's the few starters we know
VVD. Not far off his best. Must he delighted to have all that pace around him.
Diaz. If only he could finish
Salah. If only he could eat.
Donkey. 🎵 Often good, often shit, he's improved by a bit, that's the donkey. 🎵
I mean all told... Four of the five in defence second or third or fourth choice / unheard of last season, it's crazy what they're doing. The midfield all brand new, batshit that they're playing so well together... And with none of the forwards are in any kind of form... here we are. It makes no sense.
It's madness.
Ah makes sense. One lost a hammy last week 🤦♂️
Well find it and give it back to him for iftar.
On it!!!
I wish i could find the YouTube video i watched a few weeks ago where they were discussed the best combined XI in the league (on current form i think) and the absolute dickheads were discussing players like Gallagher, no mention of McAllister. I think he’s only just starting to get the recognition now.
Better than stud rolling it forward 3 or 4 times like Carragher used to do..
Agree with almost everything however in defence of Quansah and Bradders :
Quansah - I don't remember thinking his decision making being slow, no doubt he has instructions to follow and he is styling himself on VvD (which I love), he does play those long diagonals to Diaz, though as a team we neglected the left flank vs Brighton. I love his Matip covers, and he does them really well when the space opens up. He is TOO confident at times with his Cruyff turns 1 on 1 ! He's been a revelation and a massive boost to our CB pool. Without him I doubt we'd be in contention.
Bradley - I don't think it's humanly possible to be up in the final third one moment and back defending three quick lads the next. That's on Endo and Quansah to cover. Again I'm sure he was playing to instructions vs Brighton (and did force Indinga etc. back in the 2nd) as he was much more conservative vs City. I love that he's now given us the width that we lose when Trent plays (obviously Trent brings other qualities).
It's a De Zerbi thing isn't it? Taught all the Brighton defenders to do that.
Maybe he was trying to impress his future boss.
My sympathy for Quansah's probs come from the rest of the side expecting him to carry the ball forward instead of moving for him give an easy pass. I expect teams will capitalise on it if they watch the game back. It always seemed risky. He didn't have options, the only thing he could do, he shouldn't have been.
Bradley yeah, he wasn't getting the cover he should have. Either way it was also very risky and could have resulted in more goals conceded.
Bradley yeah, he wasn't getting the cover he should have. Either way it was also very risky and could have resulted in more goals conceded.
Isn't that what we've been saying about Trent all season long? I see what you see and think what you think - but somehow it's just not translating into goals conceded. I believe it's a strategy paying dividends by relying on the CBs + Ali/Kelleher to cope with any danger.
I think with trent its marginally different now, as he's going nowhere near that high up the pitch any more because of the double pivot. Also, bradley seems better at 1 on 1s than trent.
Bradley is really prime robbo style full back, so really there needs to be a lot more legs and energy from midfield to cover for him, like gini used to do very well.
Conor Bradley vs Brighton:
- Won the most duels (11)
- Had the most tackles (5)
- Completed the most dribbles (4)
Exactly
I really think we need to try and cultivate this lad in to a monster ,rather than immediately dropping trent back in.
It's so frustrating, we've got exciting talent in the exact positions where we already have our prime talent
It's definitely a conundrum because (arguably and personal biases aside) we have :
2 x Keepers who should both be starting
2 x RBs who should both be starting
2 x young CBs who should both be starting (alongside VvD)
4-5 x CMs who could/should all be starting
4 x forwards who should all be starting
Definition of an excellent squad !
It really is, especially when you consider the situation of our key players from the 2nd half of last season (excluding Virgil)
Salah, Trent, Alisson - probably the longest spells out since joining
Konate, Robbo, Jota, Jones - stop and start all season
Other midfielders - sold or dead
Gakpo - shit
I didn't include Diaz because he was out for most of last season anyway or Nunez because he ended up as 5th choice forward when the season ended
Bradley was provided the width on the right allowing Salah to move inside and Macca to probe through the half space.
On the left, Gomez was inverting, Diaz was providing the width and Slobbers was leading the press and almost getting into an inside left position.
I think this leaves Darwin a little bit confused as to what to do and he’s drifted out of the game more recently.
I presume Quansah is holding on to the ball to try and trigger the opposition press and free up space for the forward players to exploit - it was a trap that Brighton didn’t take very often - you saw Wellbeck dropping deep a lot.
Gomez inverting didn't work. At least when Trent does it there is some upside from him having time on the ball, as he has vision and technique to open up a game. Gomez has neither of these. However, there is an argument that it worked overloading one side, as the best wide attacker in the PL had the most chances in any game of his life. He then also had plenty more chances that didn't result in a pass or a shot, from Macca's sublime through balls.
It felt like we were missing a trick. We used to be so so dangerous when we had real width (from Robbo & Trent - who were great at quick cross field switches of play), and Mane & Salah providing width.
In this game Diaz was left in the cold too often, and he showed with his goal and the disallowed one that he had his shooting boots on more than anyone else in the team.
It felt like we were missing a trick. We used to be so so dangerous when we had real width (from Robbo & Trent - who were great at quick cross field switches of play), and Mane & Salah providing width.
In this game Diaz was left in the cold too often, and he showed with his goal and the disallowed one that he had his shooting boots on more than anyone else in the team.
Guys, what must you say about the Chelsea and Manchester United match? It was out of this world. At 3-2, I thought that the game was finished. But in the end, Palmer switched the games in just 2 minutes and made it 4-3.
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