We’ve seen this story before.Plus Konate isn't his best right now either.
We’ve seen this story before.
We’ve seen this story before.
Pretty poor on Wirtz there as expected given the attitude towards the signing.
He covered the second most ground after Szobo, created the second most chances and could have scored and assisted a goal.
Lost the ball 3 times but misplaced more passes then normal.
All in all a decent debut while he gets used to the pace of the PL. The individual quality is there, as we saw at Wembley, and he was just about everywhere last night.
Nerves, frantic pace etc. No issue with him whatsoever. An absolute star in the making for us.
The lightweight comments are just stupid in all honesty. You can se that he isn’t in that category. He won 3/8 ground duels. Has to improve in that area but that will come as he gets used to the pace and intensity.
The only thing pretty poor was Wirtz. I said I expect him to improve but he was poor in this game which pretty much everyone bar you seems to have seen.
The thing that concerned me over it individual play was our balance and shape, especially off the ball.
Our weakness is that we can be overloaded down either flank easily. Last season Dom was very good at adding a body to the cause with Gravy & Macca doing the work that Slot doesn’t ask our wingers to do. This then leaves gaps in the box as we have less markers.
With Wirtz in the side we have more naturally attacking AM, and so i feel we need to work out how we deal better with being hit down the flanks.
I’m not usually worried about us being hit on the counter, but the two yesterday both came after we subbed two rapid full backs for arguably our two slowest players. Gomez on for Frimpong would have made sense, and maybe his speed at the back might have helped on that first goal.
Both counter attacks came from half arsed passing in the final third too, which is something we did a lot last year too. No intensity and focus.
All in all - two things that wound me up no end last year were on display again
1. We go into games assuming we’ll get 20 chances and it feels like we just waste too many opportunities through lack of true “i must score this” mindset
2. Our opponents know our weaknesses and we aren’t yet addressing them. It’s going to be a season of vibes and high energy games. I can’t see many teams letting us dictate the play as they can see we are easily rattled
We don’t seem to recover from a poor giveaway at all. I still can’t believe the sight of Semenyo running with the ball but also, in the same process, pursuing Konaté and van Dijk towards our goal. How mad was that?We’re far to easy to hit on the break without Gravy in the side. But the amount of chances we give away from poor attacking choices in the oppositions half/final third is a bit mad.
It was a cut back from Salah to Dom that led to the 2-2 goal. We’d just overloaded with players and no balance whatsoever. So unnecessary at 2-1. Good thing is that it’s something we can adjust.
There is a need for an upgrade on Endo as a back up for Gravy, but that won’t happen until next summer.
Are Konate and VVD nervous? Look like it.
He didn't hide either. I didn't see anything to be concerned about with Wirtz. He'll quickly get to grips with the level of opposition you face every week here.
Slot said that Frimpong “felt his hamstring at half-time”.Frimpong was also having a good game too, no reason to take him off.
It’s only you who said he «stunk the place out».
Which is obviously not true if you actually watched the match.
Everything is coming up @Dreambeliever right now.
Wirtz very lightweight
We're lucky not be losing. Disjointed sloppy mess.
Wirtz very disappointing so far.
wirtz is borderline stinking the place out here
Fantastic from Ekitike who’s looked our best player
Wirtz looks a bit shell-shocked with the physicality of the league
You were saying?Wirtz's been rubbish since the 10th min.
There I have said what everyone has been thinking.
Sell, sell, sell.We’ve seen this story before.
He should’ve taken him off then if that was a case. Silly risk.Slot said that Frimpong “felt his hamstring at half-time”.
Well, why Endo and not Gomez?Slot said that Frimpong “felt his hamstring at half-time”.
Too much acid in Ibiza.Well, why Endo and not Gomez?
That's what Slot said about Gomez: “Then you could argue ‘why don’t you play Joe Gomez there?’, but he only had two sessions in pre-season so he wasn’t able to play half an hour, so we started with Wata.”Well, why Endo and not Gomez?
You were saying?
That's what Slot said about Gomez: “Then you could argue ‘why don’t you play Joe Gomez there?’, but he only had two sessions in pre-season so he wasn’t able to play half an hour, so we started with Wata.”
Wirtz was shit. He gets a pass for a few week though because he’s new to this league. He looked bewildered at times at how quickly he got closed down. I am fairly confident that when he adapts to the speed of the game we will start to see the best of him.
I can’t believe some of the criticism of Szobozlai on here, he was quite clearly our 2nd best performer on the night. He energised our performance, he augmented the attack, supported the defence and moved the ball quickly. He made one bad mistake which led to a goal but aside from that he was great.
I said he was lightweight, not that he was performing badly.You were saying?