This is super early for those of us on the west coast. Possibly the biggest match in the league thus far. City have some injuries and we won't have the services of Mount and Pulisic. I am optimistic, but City must have so much incentive to win after all those losses.
Tough game. Different team. 3-5-2. Got to get those crosses in. Citeh going with a 4-3-3. 16Mendy 28Azpilicueta 4Christensen 2Rüdiger 24James 7Kanté 5Jorginho 8Kovacic 3Alonso 9Lukaku 11Werner Substitutes 1Arrizabalaga 6Thiago Silva 12Loftus-Cheek 14Chalobah 17Saúl 20Hudson-Odoi 21Chilwell 22Ziyech 29Havertz
No idea what happened there - Werner and Lukaku both unmarked and breaking the line, Azpilicueta had the chance to deliver from deep and just… didn’t. Something Azpilicueta excels at, too. The thing with Alonso this season is he seems happy. He seems to be enjoying football, and that’s a huge key for him in terms of maintaining his commitment and work rate. Jorginho - who I often deride as a defensive liability - has been very good. Frustrating game to watch but I get that this is a game plan. Seen Kovacic move slightly into an inside left type of position when we’re pressing but those moments have been infrequent, at best.
Oh, additionally - my argument against the Reece James handball was that the law says it’s not a handball if the ball ricochets up from another part of the player’s body. I looked into it and found that the language around that was removed during the summer, and I was wrong. So why did Michael Oliver use that as justification for not giving a handball?
I understand this is the game plan, I just wonder where any chance is gonna come from? Alonso has been poor IMO especially in what little possession we have. Werner is finding himself often our one striker needing to hold the ball up and he can't. We're better with Timo running in behind or into the channels. I suppose the problem is, we can't afford to be picky because we don't have the ball.
Just awful football. I'm sorry, we are just letting have it. ********ing he'll. Do something, anything to have a go. We aren't doing that. We have so much talent and we're just pedestrian.