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Match Thread EPL - Bournemouth (H) - Friday 20:00

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Hansern said:
If shit is creating the second most chances and covering the second most ground while having the third most touches, then I’m looking forward to seeing how he’ll do when it’s a decent performance.
I think a typically shit performance is something quite different, but we all view the game differently.

The other part I agree with though. The pace of the game is something that needs adjusting to. Knowing his quality that won’t take long.
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Wirtz in the team we just played is starting off the game saying will the technique of wirtz justify the fact that playing him is imbalanced and asking our players to do a lot if we don't have the ball, and especially when we lose the ball.

Wirtz wasnt awful, but he has to be very good for the tradeoffs to work. They didn't appear to in this game, and they very nearly didn't.

The same is true of Salah.

The fact that our fullbacks are both new and both quite attacking minded makes everything crazier still.

Wirtz has to be a hit for this all to work. Otherwise we are better off with more legs and macca being the most technically expressive midfielder.
 
The biggest concerns I have (in order)

1) the centre backs. I'm pretty certain they've played together before, but fucking hell they've played like strangers recently. Huge glaring concerns for me. Is ibous head turned? Is van dijk fully fit? Either way, Get guehi.
2) the centre mids. Macca is excellent there. Szob is excellent there. They can't play together there. Positioning is off and it's all very reactive. If gravy isn't fit it has to be endo, and even then he's nowhere near the level we need.
3) the bench. The subs were a blessing and a curse. We looked much worse when Ekitike and Frimpong went off, but then the bench saved our skin. The drop off in quality in key areas is terrifying. Pre club world cup we looked wonderfully stacked. Now we're very iffy
4)Right back. When we're fully fit, no issues. Frimpong felt his hamstring, Bradley is made of inferior taytos, and Gomez can't be relied on. This should have been the area of least concern, but then endo got fucking minutes there.
5) kerkez. Cunts eager, but slot needs to drill the tactics in to him. Chalking it up to eager to impress ATM.
 
I was in euphoria mode when Chiesa scored yesterday, but I just watched the replay and Carra actually says he mishit it—what?!

Thats was definitely hit with the outside of his boot on purpose. Lovely strike.
 
bazazaba said:
Just finished watching the full game. Some thoughts that might not already have been mentioned... 'cos they're perhaps a bit contrarian... 😀

1. Ekitike's pass for Gakpo's goal being credited as an assist is why football assist stats have to be taken with a heap of salt. Gakpo carried the ball 10m searching for a gap to shoot, taking him past 3 defenders before he could finish. To award an assist there just inflates stats for players.

2. Endo -- I don't think he was any better or poorer than Frimpong in his short stint at RB. I think he got caught out of position once. Frimpong got caught out a few times as well and a couple of times, his lack of size proved a bit problematic against his opponent. That's the risk we knew when we got a small fullback, and this game showed it on a couple of occasions.

Back on Endo -- tough luck on the first goal and I hope nobody's pinning the blame on him because the attack came down his side. He'd just made a good pressing play broken up an attack initiated by Tavernier, then played a short pass to Salah and pushed forward calling for the return ball on the overlap. Salah opted to use Szoboszlai instead, and when possession was conceded, Endo was too far ahead in the wrong direction to recover anymore. Just an unfortunate break for him IMO.

Credit Slot though for the quick adjustment to bring on Gomez and shift Endo back in his natural position. Gomez was solid in his minutes; good to see him back.

3. Jones -- I'm not his biggest fan, but credit where credit is due, off the ball, he's quite adept at attacking the box or providing supporting runs when we're on the attack. I don't know if he got the touch leading to the first goal, but I believe his surge into the box caused confusion and/or panic in the Bournemouth backline that led to Chiesa's lovely lovely finish. Jones was at it on the overlap, attacking space again when Salah had the ball for the 2nd. I think Jones may have cursed a bit when Salah didn't pass, but then turned to join in the celebrations when Salah applied the neat finish.

If he learned that he should showcase his strengths rather than his flaws more (trying to fight his way out of a trap at the wrong places and wrong times), he'd get a lot more trust and love from the fans. I can only hope.
Click to expand...

With Frimpong at least he has the pace to recover from initial poor positioning, anyone else and its goodnight Vienna as we saw last night. As soon as he was subbed off we went to s**t on that flank and we were exploited. That side of the field needs more cover from the midfield.
 
keniget said:
When you look at some of the gaps and imbalances in our squad he is very much looking the luxury signing.

As said by Fark, he has to be transformational to be justify it.
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Tend to agree, ive no doubt his talent. But is he the type of player we really needed. Looks like we will have to change to accommodate him.
 
Modo said:
I was in euphoria mode when Chiesa scored yesterday, but I just watched the replay and Carra actually says he mishit it—what?!

Thats was definitely hit with the outside of his boot on purpose. Lovely strike.
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He said post match that was his initial reaction but acknowledged that was the only way it was going in and was a class finish.
 
Pesam said:
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.
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Careful you’ll be told you’ve been paid off by me saying that. Clearly agenda driven.
 
Modo said:
I was in euphoria mode when Chiesa scored yesterday, but I just watched the replay and Carra actually says he mishit it—what?!

Thats was definitely hit with the outside of his boot on purpose. Lovely strike.
Click to expand...
I thought that. It was exquisite technique. He contorted his body to hit it exactly that way
 
Hansern said:
I appreciate the effort. Still wrong.
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Guess everyone bar you are wrong then.

What a surprise 🤣

For the record I expect him to become a baller and looked it for 45 mins in the charity shield. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t shite in this game. It’s ok to rate him highly while acknowledging he had a poor game.
 
Dreambeliever said:
Rewatch the game. He was shite. I was shocked when you compared it to how incredible well he used the ball in the charity shield. Chalk and cheese. Felt like the occasion got to him.
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I think he was just rattled by the pace of the league.

How is this still happening btw? Is there no way to prepare players for it? Seems like it's about 30 years players have been surprised how quick it is.

I didn't actually think he was shit though tbh. He wasn't lost - he was involved and there was a few times he clearly had the right idea for a brilliant pass or flick but he just wasn't quite calibrated right.
 
peterhague said:
I think he was just rattled by the pace of the league.

How is this still happening btw? Is there no way to prepare players for it? Seems like it's about 30 years players have been surprised how quick it is.

I didn't actually think he was shit though tbh. He wasn't lost - he was involved and there was a few times he clearly had the right idea for a brilliant pass or flick but he just wasn't quite calibrated right.
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Yep, I remember that both Henry and David Silva had the same problem. Took a while for them to get going.
 
Pires and David Silva both struggled for a few months, and then absolutely aced the league. That's the problem with these no. 10 types in the league - you have to quickly adapt to become either an 8 or a wing-forward.
 
Hansern said:
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.
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No like from me for Dreamy's otherwise decent summary, as he included all three of his pet projects : OTT on Salah, his stupid 'we should only go for the PL' mantra and the OTT Wirtz criticism.
 
Not sure if our pre season and preperations have been the best either.
Going to the far east is lovely for the fans and money, but the conditions aren’t great, matches poor and the pitches are awful.
We looked much more ready last season in terms of fitness after the US tour.
 
As an aside, the structure of the press and attack was all off, and is something that is concerning me.

Part of it is Gravenberch's absence, and Macallister's lack of match fitness. That will sort out a lot of it, but I'm not clear yet how the attack will shape up.

Last year, we used a 4-2-4 formation off-ball, with Diaz and Szoboszlai leading the press through the middle with Gakpo/Jota and Salah holding the width. Diaz and Szobo are both massive workhorses, and they really made that press work.

Yesterday, it was essentially Etikite alone pressing, with Salah and Gakpo holding width, and Wirtz drifting and not offering any effective pressing. Szobo tried to join occasionally, but that ended up leaving gaps in the middle. Like I said, a lot will be solved when Gravenberch is back, but I'm very unsure about the shape of attack.

On early evidence, Ekitike looks perfect to be a foundational piece in this attack - he's big, physical, has pace, skill and outstanding defensive numbers. He's the sort who should easily clock 3000+ mins as one of the main components of the attack.

How do you build around him though? You can have a 4-3-3 press, but then the LW needs to be a demonic presser too (Gakpo isn't). The idea that 16 year old Rio will play anything more than 500 mins this season is ridiculous, so we should forget that.

Alternatively, you could go for a 4-2-4 / 4-2-2-2 press - but then you'd need to play Wirtz AND Szobo, so that the principal workhorses can be Ekitike and Szobo.

In all this, how does Isak fit into the equation? Is he really someone who offers much pressing upfront? I don't think we can accommodate Isak, Wirtz and Salah - three players who'd rather let someone else carry the burden of pressing and running.

Frankly, our next signing should be a versatile, pacy wing-forward (Barcola, Semenyo, Doue mould of player) rather than Isak.
 
Modo said:
To sit on the bench?
Click to expand...

To be part of the squad and used as and when, unless you really think we don't need defensive reinforcements?

We don't concede 2 sloppy turnover goals if we can bring them on instead of Endo at RB, Jones etc.
 
peterhague said:
I think he was just rattled by the pace of the league.

How is this still happening btw? Is there no way to prepare players for it? Seems like it's about 30 years players have been surprised how quick it is.

I didn't actually think he was shit though tbh. He wasn't lost - he was involved and there was a few times he clearly had the right idea for a brilliant pass or flick but he just wasn't quite calibrated right.
Click to expand...
I don’t think there is any way to prepare for the PL pace. You would have thought last week against Palace would have helped, but when the real games started yesterday, the pace cranked up two more levels, especially the way Bournemouth press. And, you can never quite replicate game intensity in practice.

And, Wirtz game is all about finding and using the small spaces. At the pace of the PL, the pressure comes faster, the spaces are smaller and they disappear faster.

He will get used to it. He has the skills. I imagine that 5 games in, he will have adjusted.
 
peterhague said:
I think he was just rattled by the pace of the league.

How is this still happening btw? Is there no way to prepare players for it? Seems like it's about 30 years players have been surprised how quick it is.

I didn't actually think he was shit though tbh. He wasn't lost - he was involved and there was a few times he clearly had the right idea for a brilliant pass or flick but he just wasn't quite calibrated right.
Click to expand...
Even Hugo said afterwards that people weren’t lying when they said the EPL is different.

Compared to what is expected of him, he was shit. Will he get better, I would expect so but ya I thought he wouldn’t stroll in and dominate this league like did in Germany and I still think that’ll be the case but let’s hope he adapts quickly as we can’t afford him not to.
 
Hansern said:
Not sure if our pre season and preperations have been the best either.
Going to the far east is lovely for the fans and money, but the conditions aren’t great, matches poor and the pitches are awful.
We looked much more ready last season in terms of fitness after the US tour.
Click to expand...
Completely agree with this.
 
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