Previous thread:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058157766
New tea lady incoming???
Now I know indy ain’t exactly the most reliable by any means but…..
Have to say, it disappoints me that I’m happy about a Man City victory. If we weren’t so far back I’d be gutted right now, but now it’s just 3 points taken off our rivals for a top 4 spot.
LOL! Last time I saw a post like this in here the big scoop was "Jurgen Likes Bellingham!" 😂
I'll be honest, I was secretly hoping for a draw...
Realistically, Arsenal and City winning their games is what we want to see - except against us obviously.
Best we can finish would be 3rd, we'd all be happy with 4th though. We are still in the mix for both I think - despite our current form.
The caicedo offer "hasn't been rejected" apparently. Still in negotiations.
Yes, as others have said, I was also cheering on City tonight. The feeling I have of being unclean will probably never go away...
But we are we are. City face lots of top 4 rivals coming up, hope they win all of them.
I missed it. Forgot all about it to be completely honest. Its one of those games where there's no bad outcome. Chelsea drop points is a win whereas City dropping points is always nice to see (even if it doesn't impact on us).
Onwards and upwards from here (hopefully)
Some harsh comments on Elliot. He’s clearly very talented. In a bad spell at the moment but he’s still very young.
I think he’d be better pushed further forward. Whether that will happen for him at Liverpool I don’t know.
I think for him to shine, I’d like to see a midfield of Fabinho, Keita and Henderson with Elliot in front of them and Darwin and Salah either side. So the old Firmino position. I reckon he could do a good job there eventually.
A few posts in here claiming that Klopp shouldn't have as much influence in player recruitment. IMO that's crazy. He should have the most influence. He's the manager. It's his team. He dictates how the team should play. He should decide what players to get that will fit that style. Yes he should have scouts etc to help spot these players but he should have final say.
Yes. I would agree. I think when the team are playing well, he's fine. But when we're not, that exposes his weaknesses. I'd eventually prefer to see him further up the field.
I remember a time when Jones was playing quite well and there was great hope. What do you think went wrong? The injuries maybe?
He hasn’t progressed, which of course may be a consequence of the injuries. I am not convinced he will ever be more than a squad player.
Seems like a nice lad, but maybe it was a bit too soon? It must be a near impossible for many to keep themselves grounded, I'd assume not doing so impacts their development in all aspects (mentally, physically, tactically, motivationally, etc). Now that the pressure is on, more difficult again for him to impress without negative feedback.
I said it at the start of last season & people disagreed with me that he needed a loan , I actually said himself or even Ox who was just back form injury needed 6 months or a year of playing week in week out ,to get up to speed for different reason's
He was never going to get enough time to develop properly, He needed a Prem loan in my opinion , some people like Trent didn't but i think midfield can be different & more difficult , At this stage i think we should sell Jones ,
I'm really trying not to think about the fact that Arsenal could finish above City on their first real try while we've finished second to them on 92 and 97 points.
What is more incredible is Arsenal loose their main striker and still have the strength in depth to keep going. City are in transition for me and building again so this was the year to catch them.
Arsenal have been blessed with injuries currently have one & there bench looked terrible against Newcastle .,
While against Brentford we where missing , Diaz, Jota, Firmino, Henderson, Arthur ,Milner, Gakpo even Robbo wasn't fit enough to start ,
If Arsenal get a quarter of the injuries we have got they will fall right off ,
Makes me wonder do we buy wrong (cheaper for a reason) or does our style of play cause more injury.
Well last season we played a record number of games so that was always going to catch up after a shorter summer ,
I' imagine its how hard we train & play but then guys like Konate & Thiago had poor injury record before we signed them so a mix of everything ,
Just did this up out of curiosity, our line ups for each PL game this season, greens are unchanged, reds are changes:
We have put out an unchanged lineup only once this season.
Meanwhile here's Arsenal's rotation:
They have more games with 0 changes than we have with less than 3.
He does have final say and always should, but recruitment is a monumental job and our success has been because of near perfect recruitment. The only reason the recruitment team are leaving is because they feel marginalised than before, IMO that is not good.
Any links to the recruitment team leaving due to feeling marginalised? I hadn't read that previously.
Paul Tomkins had previously hinted at issues behind the scenes but in November he wrote this article.
Her dog called Origi...
You love to see it... 😂
I think the biggest worry this season is how often we look tactically outplayed. We used to see so many goals that started with the opposition in safe possession before we caught them on the press and attacked...now any time our players even consider pressing up they make a half-effort at it and in 3 easy passes the opposition have a striker in behind with the ball running for a 1v1 with Alisson. It's outrageous how easily and consistently every team is beating any sort of press we try to apply.
Also for what it's worth while the Gakpo signing doesn't directly help our midfield it still frees up Ox/Jones to play there more instead of being needed on the LW, and on top of that it'll just be really nice to have 3 actual attackers on the pitch again rather than some stopgap non-threat on the left.
VVD out for more than a month.
I’m in two minds about the VVD news. He has been very poor lately. Also poor before the World Cup and I thought he played ok during it, certainly looked sharper.
I'd not be so concerned, given his recent form, if it was obvious who fills in on the left. As he's been virtually ever present (bar the freak season) our next three picks are all used to playing RCB alongside him.
Apart from the positional aspect though, I'd not be too concerned by Matip and Konate playing together
Personally I’m excited to see how Matip and Konate get on together over the course of Virgil’s absence.
Joel was always the brains of the defence while Virgil was the pace and physical presence. Arguably, Konate is even more dominant in both of those areas at present. Virgil pre-knee injury was obviously untouchable but Ibou is clearly on a similar trajectory, it’ll be interesting to see if Virgil just walks straight back into the team once he’s fit again, and for who? Matip on top form is also pretty much undroppable.
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