They will be pushing for top 4 but will eventually fall away and finish around the positions you said.I agree with everything other than Villa being a top 4 candidate, they’ll be between 6th and 9th in the final table,
13 fouls to 11, not a dirty game at all. Just the one bad tackle, they really didn’t ’try to kick us off the park’ mate….
Must confess that I didn’t see the elbow on Gill. Can’t have been bad though if VAR didn’t intervene?
Ruthlessness.
When a goal up, do we lack killer instinct? Son is often at his best fighting back and pulling out amzing come backs. We need to be a ruthless machine under Postecoglou and put sides to bed. Is it 3 games where we've taken the lead, created many many chances, not taken them, and succumed? 2nd and 3rd goals have been missing.
Unfortunately Levy is unlikely to keep a manager who finishes 8th once, let alone twice….
I think those days are gone, especially now Levy has a DOF on the Board. If the fans stay behind Ange, and there is clearly progress happening, why would wouldn't the Club let the manager have the time he needs to build the right squad?
Yes and no
- lots of chances yesterday, unfortunately Son missed his legitimate 1:1 and buried 3 offside ones, Deki should have scored, a couple of scenarios with Deki, Gil, others where a better choice would have been a shot/layoff
I do think sometimes we try to overcomplicate it when a first time shot (see GLC) is the better option.
It's hard to judge this side with 10 players out, Bentancur & Maddison still haven't played together properly. We need to sort the LW out, Johnson had a really bad day at the office and Richi is still questionable.
What is it with home game memorials for past players and managers? We never seem to win on these occasions, going right back to Bill Nicholson.
I thought Gil did well. Kept the ball moving. Skipped around players. Biggest concern with him is if he's built for the PL and so many games. Similar to Solomon. But I think they provide a useful skillset. Especially if they can add goals. Which has been lacking. I thought Johnson did well, mainly on the right. Again just lacked that final bit of ruthlessness around the goal.
He did, biggest thing was he was a constant outlet ball, unlike in the past, he did keep on his feet a lot more. He should have taken a shot when he did a stupid backflick in the box.
Sorry to disagree but Johnson had an absolute mare, his stats back that up -> lost 5/7 duels (71%), failed at 2/2 cross attempts, got tackled in 4/5 dribble attempts and had a 1:1 that he didn't put away. But worse was the failure to copy Gil, be open, push forward. The guy next to me thought he had been subbed on at HT because he hadn't noticed him all first half (the first 25 minutes of which we absolutely dominated)
I don't think there is an issue with fitness, the problem is that we don't have anyone on the bench due to injuries. Under Ange they run themselves into the ground. The stats were shown yesterday and we covered a lot more ground and made about 50% more sprints.Concerns
- Worry about our fitness (know it's hard with thin squad) but we seem to struggle in last 10 or so
In fairness to Gil on the back flick, it came to him on the wrong foot and he felt he didn't have time to adjust and shoot.He did, biggest thing was he was a constant outlet ball, unlike in the past, he did keep on his feet a lot more. He should have taken a shot when he did a stupid backflick in the box.
Sorry to disagree but Johnson had an absolute mare, his stats back that up -> lost 5/7 duels (71%), failed at 2/2 cross attempts, got tackled in 4/5 dribble attempts and had a 1:1 that he didn't put away. But worse was the failure to copy Gil, be open, push forward. The guy next to me thought he had been subbed on at HT because he hadn't noticed him all first half (the first 25 minutes of which we absolutely dominated)
I heard about half the game on the radio, then watched MotD. It's incredible that we're still managing to dominate good teams despite being down to the bare bones. Missing a whole bunch of key players, the team still played as a team, attacked beautifully, created chances, and were seriously unlucky not to win against one of the Prem's better teams. We were centimetres (and one poor backpass) from being 2-0 up at half time.
When we're back to something approaching full strength, we're going to blow teams away.
Ange has instilled a system and philosophy that everyone has bought into. Even GLC, who I had pegged as a waster who didn't have the heart to make it in the Prem. He's gone a fair way towards proving me wrong. We all know there's a player in there somewhere.
And what's with all the top 6 talk? Never mind finishing 8th. We've just lost three games on the bounce, the first one being absolutely calamitous and the other two being about as narrow as you can get. And yet we're just a few points off top. That'll be a few more points after next weekend, as I can't see anything other than a heavy defeat against Emirates Marketing Project, but I think we're well-placed to make a charge back up the table come new year.
In Ange I trust.
Well said.Cannot overstate how impressive that performance was.
Two full backs with limited experience as centre backs (particularly in a back 4) at CB. An entirely new midfield. Bentacur just back from injury, GLC starting his first game in ages. Kulusevski in his first game in this role for us. Gil with his first start in ages. Then the injury to Bentancur.
Several players starting for the first time in ages eventually running out of steam. Real limitations of options from the bench because of the injuries.
All that. And still being early on under Ange. And with a couple of losses just behind us. And a lot of players away and playing internationals during the build up.
Disappointed with the result. We did cost ourselves by not putting away a couple of the many chances we created. That happens. But playing like that, in those circumstances. That's not a thing that just happens. That's extremely rare and astonishingly impressive.
The players, the coaches, Ange. They all did us very proud. To me that's the dominant feeling I'm left with, not the disappointment. Along with real hope and optimism for the future of this team.