Pre Match Pre Match - PL - Bournemouth (H) - Friday 20:00

[Brizzle]

First game of the season, here we go.

Slightly disappointing end to the Palace game - but it was the opposite of last season's trends which was stale first half, electric second. Will be interesting to see if we evolve to better starts this season.

I'd play same team except for Macca coming in for Jones.

Alisson

Frimpong
Konate
Virgil
Kerkez

Szobo
Macca
Wirtz

Salah
Ekitike
Gakpo

Bournemouth have lost 4 of their back 5 from last season, plus Kluivert is out too. If we go at them from the start, their new defence should crumble. LFG.

 

[MomoWASright]

The champions under the lights!

 

[Glen C]

First game of the season, here we go.

Slightly disappointing end to the Palace game - but it was the opposite of last season's trends which was stale first half, electric second. Will be interesting to see if we evolve to better starts this season.

I'd play same team except for Macca coming in for Jones.

Alisson

Frimpong
Konate
Virgil
Kerkez

Szobo
Macca
Wirtz

Salah
Ekitike
Gakpo

Bournemouth have lost 4 of their back 5 from last season, plus Kluivert is out too. If we go at them from the start, their new defence should crumble. LFG.

i doubt macca will start if he's still lacking match fitness.

 

[Hansern]

Cant wait for football to be back. Just need a win of any sort on Friday. Have to start with 3 points.
Agree about the team. Hopefully Macca is ready to play 60 mins.

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

Too early to know about the three new signings, outside of them Gakpo feels like the weakest link in that lineup, but it is the best we can put out.

Should enough to get us off to a good start though.

 

[LarryHagman]

Given how last Sunday went, Endo should start. If he doesn't and we're as open as we were then, well .... it's on Slot.

 

[Buddha]

There’s not a chance in hell Slot starts Endo over Jones to cover Grav.

 

[Hansern]

Fwiw I don't think Jones starts either, and we'll look much better than what we did on Sunday.

 

[Discipline]

Given how last Sunday went, Endo should start. If he doesn't and we're as open as we were then, well .... it's on Slot.

Yeah, this’ll be a good chance to see if Slot trusts Endo to start in some games when Grav isn’t available, though I doubt it. 😉

 

[peterhague]

Is anyone else wondering if Robertson should start given Kerkez's rather strange performance on Sunday?

 

[Hansern]

No, his performance was pretty good bar the issue they had with positioning and cooperation with Gakpo.
That will be fixed and Bournemouth dont' play 3-4-3

 

[binomial]

As long as we don't see Jones and Szobo in a midfield 2 playing like clowns we'll be fine.

2-1 win.

Rio and Nyoni coming off the bench to combine for the winner.

 

[Buddha]

I know it’s been mentioned, but Bournemouth are now without 4 from 5 of their excellent defence from last season. That’s massive.

It’s a gift of a first game at home. Slot can afford to set us up more solid than usual (ie. Tell at least one of our FBs to stay back when the other is pushing up / play a midfielder in a more designated 6)…whilst assuming that our dangerous looking attacking 4 or 5 will cause them serious issues without us having to pile forward.

I’m going a solid 2-0 or 3-0.

 

[Hansern]

Agreed. Although they are still a solid team and Iraloa is a very good manager, so shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

[iseered]

A pathetic 0-1 loss and a massive meltdown on here

 

[Hansern]

If that happens its better to log off for a while. No doubt.

 

[MomoWASright]

Is anyone else wondering if Robertson should start given Kerkez's rather strange performance on Sunday?

I’ve been saying this all week.

 

[peterhague]

No, his performance was pretty good bar the issue they had with positioning and cooperation with Gakpo.
That will be fixed and Bournemouth dont' play 3-4-3

I don't remember Frimpong being about 50 yards out of position on multiple occasions.

 

[binomial]

Robbo is absolutely fucking shite.

50 games last season and not 1 top 5 performance in the team, barely even notice he's on the pitch these days unless he's doing some stupid shit.

 

[Modo]

I'm going for a 2-2.

 

[peterhague]

I’ve been saying this all week.

Sorry missed that.

 

[MomoWASright]

Robbo is absolutely fucking shite.

50 games last season and not 1 top 5 performance in the team, barely even notice he's on the pitch these days unless he's doing some stupid shit.

Third against Wolves in 2-1 win
Third against Brighton 3-2 win
Third PSG home lost 1-0
Third Newcastle league cup final

 

[binomial]

Third best of a bad bunch maybe. He's shite now, his experience doesn't mask over his limitations as a player and everyone knows it.

 

[Red Bird]

It's probably a good thing we got exposed by Palace. Timely reminder to the coaches and, a few players, who may have forgotten that the Premier League is unforgiving if you lower your level just a tad. There tend to be few qualitative differences at the beginning of the season when fitness levels are all over the place.

 

[MomoWASright]

Robbo is shite when you ask him to play twice a week. Much more on it when it’s once a week. To go against that, he was 3rd in two games which were 4 days apart.

I’d start him to give us a bit more shape and line at the back compared to Kerkez. Bringing one newbie into the defence and slowly introduce another over the coming weeks would be my approach.

 

[MomoWASright]

Opening it up to top 5 here’s his results.

Ipswich 2-0
Wolves 2-1
Brighton 3-2
Newcastle 3-3
Girona 1-0
PSG 0-1
Newcastle 1-2
Everton 1-0

7 occasions he made top 5.

 

[Buddha]

You can argue the finer points but surely it’s common knowledge that Robbo has been in sharp decline this last year and a downright liability at times. That’s notwithstanding the odd good game.

There’s a reason that everyone was clamouring for us to sign a left back for the last year and we’ve gone and spent 45m bringing one in.

 

[Brizzle]

I think the rotation depends on the context. Some people (Oncy) think Kerkez is shit, and want to use Robbo for important games. If that is the case, you'd use Kerkez against familiar opponents he faced every day in training for 2 years and save Robbo for Newcastle.

If its 'just' to rotate, I think you could argue using Robbo for an opponent we will be on the front foot against, and Kerkez for an opponent where we might get more opportunities to counter.

I think the 2024/25 Kerkez we saw at Bournemouth was a level above Robbo's performances in 24/25.

 

[FreshRed]

i doubt macca will start if he's still lacking match fitness.

If Macca is capable of 60 minutes, I would start him because he moves the ball much quicker than either Endo or Jones, although I think Endo's progressive passing is vastly underrated (based on his first season). Macca's decision making is much faster than either and if we keep the ball moving quickly, we kill Bournemouth.

Hopefully, Gakpo gets the "keep the ball moving" memo, as well.

 

[Brizzle]

Also on Sunday Kerkez (in what was the biggest game of his career) should have had a lovely assist to Mo, and made a goal saving block in our box. If that is part of a bad performance, i'd happily see more of them.