Cristian Romero

[Muttley]

In Sarr’s defence he’d just sprinted up the other end of the pitch to create a good chance which Son squandered and what with the amount of minutes he’s being forced to play lately he’s probably running on fumes.

Kulusevski did a better job of tracking back but we certainly could do with a better defensive shield than Bentancur who’s sadly not been a one man midfield army since the cruciate plus ankle injuries whilst Bissouma remains inconsistent and the gaffer don’t seem to trust Gray in that position as yet.

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Sarr is a great kid who gives everything for our shirt. He needs to be careful he doesn't end up like Sissoko though who just played with his heart and didn't seem to have a care for what team mates needed. A few years ago we ended up with players as classy as Eriksen and Winks being the water carriers for Sissoko, as they had the football brain to make sure we were defensively sound before tearing off up the right wing. At the time, Sissoko destroyed their natural games as he never played for anyone but himself.

In my mind, Sarr is way better than Sissoko, but he does have that same trait of not thinking for the collective. He has that naivety of a kid who thinks he can always recover when caught ahead of play. He should go and watch some early Dele who always had his defensive smarts on. Dele would end up in front of the back four, when Eriksen, Dembele and Wanyama were attacking their box. He just smelt the danger and run the miles to make sure we only conceded 26 goals in the PL.

It's hard to explain, but when you keep seeing all 3 of our midfielders caught ahead of play, you know there is a tactical flaw and they're not yet a cohesive unit. The buck stops with Ange on that. In my mind, it is also related to why we become so stretched and concede those far post goals. It's not as if Sonny or Johnson are doing their bit either. They are both weak defensively.

I do reluctantly agree about Bentancur though. Under Conte he used to carry Hojbjerg and shut down every bit of space with his eyes shut. He was a fantastic 6 when he first came to our club.

 

[braineclipse]

It’s a very tricky situation but I’m thinking more along the same lines as Bedford tbh, that Romero should realise he’s never getting to Hutchinson before he can lay it off so should drop back with Dragusin to give Bentancur and Kulusevski a chance to get back and help.

Although after opting for that high press Romero still had the opportunity to track Szmodics but for some reason slows down his run on the edge of the area which means his lunge is then too late to cut out the cross.

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I think he's trying to play him offside.