Whatever happened to the doomsday folks? Our defense is concerning. Otherwise, I thought he looked incredibly confident for long stretches. Well done Morata on his goal, that was really well taken, hope he can keep it up.
Early days though and we just came off of a cleansheet last game (yes, I know against lowly opposition, still counts for something).
Huddersfield struggle to score goals, really struggle. Luiz is going to be a massive problem for us and as awesome as Alonso is in the final third he's a massive liability defensively. You pair those two ion the same side and it spells trouble. Very different having those two in a back 5 versus being in a back 4 setup. All that said, this is fun and what I wanted as a fan. Watching us go for it is great. Not sitting back and playing for a draw. Such a contrast to our last two managers.
It might cause more problems than solve them to ask Kante to attack higher and defend lower. Kovacic showed his class. It was just one game but if he plays at that level all year we better make him a permanent transfer. He was night and day above Barkley in every element.
We're two games in and luck to not have been punished as badly as we should have for our defensive mistakes in both games. Holding onto Hazard and our board surprising not going cheap and meh for GK replacement was huge. There's still a lot of season to go. It will be battle for spots 3-4. Will also be interesting to see how we approach Europa league, to win or throw away.
Lmao always my concern when seeing us matched against them. Does Kennedy get to play or negative since he's loaned out?
Both Rudiger and Luiz have concentration lapses (Luiz more so) but contribute a lot in attack. Their pairing will be a disaster against strong teams. Both need someone to cover for them (either Christensen or Cahill). Looking at the long term, it should definitely be Christensen and Rudiger. Alonso, for all his lack of pace has good positioning and is phenomenal in attack. Hard to keep him out.
1. We were fine defensively against Huddersfield. There were no lapses there. 2. Our defensive problems are currently not the CBs. Against Arsenal our midfield had no idea who was meant to cover cut backs. That’s a problem, but it wasn’t lapses. 3. Alonso will be a huge boom and bust player for us. He’s not good enough as a pure LB, it’s that simple. He’s not quick enough. 4. All that said...Arsenal have one of the most potent attacks in Europe - they have a ton of talent up front! That we conceded a bunch of chances to them is fine in our second game under Sarri. 5. I like Christensen - he won’t cure what ails us. What I hope will help is Kovacic allowing Kante to play deeper. 6. If Kovacic is as good as advertised, I think there’s a good chance he stays. The post he made on social media to Real fans was effectively a goodbye. If he wants to stay in London, the clubs will make it happen. Like us, Real aren’t a club who will force a player to stay. It’ll just be a question of money.
there have been some good summaries on the game, and this is right up there. one of the comments i liked from Sarri was that he was putting blame on the lack of control on how he needs to get the players to buy in the system 100% of the time, and that the spacing was wrong. the problem was the defensive phase, not necessarily the defenders, etc. i think he's right and it's encouraging to hear him say he knows there are still things the team needs to work on. i also think that Christensen eventually take Luiz's starting spot, and we'll be better off for it. Christensen can contribute just as much in attack now, is confident on the ball, and is an excellent defender. i have really high hopes for Kovacic and that short showing was encouraging, exactly what i was hoping for. what's impressive is that this system and Sarri even makes Barkley look capable, give hime someone like Kovacic and it could be pretty exciting to see what happens. really the only downside here is what potentially happens with RLC. but seeing Barkely play well is nice, gives us real competition in midfield and usable depth. give Arsenal some credit as well, they created some really good chances with some sharp passing. someone said it earlier but i think Christensen, Hazard, and Kovacic take starting spots eventually and that's when i'll be pretty excited to see how this system really develops.
Sorry but I just completely disagree with this statement. It's hard to know how much of it was game plan vs execution but we gave up way way too much space on the wings and they were able to play some damergous balls in. If they had the same quality as Arsenal or even just a better mid table side and we'd have conceded goals. It's not an individual defender thing tho. This side is set up to play a situational (not quite a traditional high) press. Any time you play a press it's an 11 player thing. Each player is tied to an imaginary string and they all must move together. GK also plays an important role as they must use their full field view and be vocal. So no we weren't fine defensively.
The xG numbers were good. The goals conceded numbers were good. What are you looking for? As an attacking pressing side we’ll always concede some chances - City does, Liverpool does. Within that context, our defensive performance against Huddersfield was fine. We’re not going to have Conte’s defensive solidity - that’s not how this system works!
Watch again and not just the highlights. Yes they didn't score and yes their shots on target were only recorded as 1. However, watch. We gave up way more chances than we should have. A better side would have done more with the space we gave up and the cut backs that were put into the strikers path in front of goal. Think about Arsenal for a sec. Auba and Miki both had two chances to pass it into the net that they missed badly. Those shots didn't count as on target but we were caught bare assed. In the first game they had chances that a better side could/should/would have capitalized on. Yes chances will be there against us cause of how we will play. However, we can't keep giving those up that easily. That wasn't good or close to good enough defense.
No, I’ve seen both games. Huddersfield simply didn’t have good chances. Nor am I looking at shots on target - I never suggested I was. I agree Arsenal had good chances, but again, those were structural not individual issues. Arsenal kept getting chances by passing wide and cutting the ball back - that’s where the midfield comes in. The defenders didn’t go to sleep or make mistakes. Christensen wasn’t going to make a difference there. A LB who doesn’t get beaten so easily by top players might have though. Again, this system will give up chances if the press is beaten. There’s no way around it.
Sorry didn't mean to say you haven't watched it just meant rewatch the full game twice. Either way it's ok we disagree on Huddersfield and can leave it there. I agree for the most part on team defending being more of the issue against Arsenal than individual defending. However, I think AC improves us defensively on set pieces. Luiz loses his mark a lot. AC will also do better by nature of caution in 1v1 defending when pulled into space where Luiz will tends to be more aggressive. I think AC will serve us better against sides we won't flat out dominate possession. Luiz mid table and lower will be better as his aggressiveness is less likely to be punished.
While I agree the midfield needs to step up, Sarri's team are generally very good defensively as well. We can only tell once all the parts fall in place. That said, I would be more comfortable with Christensen than Luiz.