afsoc4life
Vedran Corluka
Tried his best yesterday but as with the rest of the team - we didnt look better until our formation changed.
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Christian Eriksen
- Thread starter spurspinter1
- Start date
I think with Eriksen, it becomes difficult to have a balanced conversation at times before someone from either end of the like spectrum gets quite defensive about why he is or isn't as good as why we want him to be. I am fairly middle of the road with Eriksen and have no axe to grind.
I personally think overall, he has had a generally poor season but then in the last 6 weeks or so, yesterday aside, has been exceptional. The one major fault that I have with him and it isn't specifically something that can be rectified is that he is less able to recover compared to most in the squad once he has lost the ball or come off second best in a duel. That is just how it is and you can't make a player suddenly more agile and athletic and I don't know that you can change the way he challenges in a standing 50/50 where he kind of dangles a leg and then when he doesn't win the ball he is effectively out of the game and unable to recover.
As I say, its not a criticism as such because I don't think he can improve those areas, he is physically how he is and you can't coat him off for that but I can see why at times people who are at the end of the don't like spectrum get quite frustrated when he hasn't perhaps contributed over a lengthy period whilst I can also appreciate that people who really like him and see what else he offers get frustrated when they have to defend that fact.
I personally think overall, he has had a generally poor season but then in the last 6 weeks or so, yesterday aside, has been exceptional. The one major fault that I have with him and it isn't specifically something that can be rectified is that he is less able to recover compared to most in the squad once he has lost the ball or come off second best in a duel. That is just how it is and you can't make a player suddenly more agile and athletic and I don't know that you can change the way he challenges in a standing 50/50 where he kind of dangles a leg and then when he doesn't win the ball he is effectively out of the game and unable to recover.
As I say, its not a criticism as such because I don't think he can improve those areas, he is physically how he is and you can't coat him off for that but I can see why at times people who are at the end of the don't like spectrum get quite frustrated when he hasn't perhaps contributed over a lengthy period whilst I can also appreciate that people who really like him and see what else he offers get frustrated when they have to defend that fact.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
Is that a need to be agile and athletic or actually more like super quick or strong??
I'd agree he isn't the quickest to strongest but i can't see how he isn't athletic or agile.
I get what your saying about him creating different opinions but that's the same for plenty of players.
He didn't have a good game but nobody did -- however, when he was able to get the ball in a dangerous area and feed Kane in the box, Kane got an assist and we got a goal. Dembele and Wanyama didn't give us their usual platform of control, so our attacking players struggled to impact the game.
Gilzeantoscore
Justin Edinburgh
Technically Eriksen is a great player and when on song, he is a highly valuable member of the squad, but he is also a bit spineless, when things get physical.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
Yesterday wasn't physical though... probably the least physical team we have played
The issue was we didn't get a platform in midfield for our attacking players to get involved from
It changed when we went back to 4-2-3-1 and low and behold Sen had a decent foothold in the second half because of it
I'm not sure erisken can do a huge amount without the ball and unless he moved back to centre back yesterday he didn't have much opportunity to show the physical side you talk about
I'm not saying he had a good game but your creative players need something to play off
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glasgowspur
Luka Modric
It wasnt physical as in lots of hard tackles, but city did have a lot of deliberately late tackles, niggly ones and on the edge leaving the foot in type of "clashes".
Eriksen isn't going to get involved in that, not criticising, it's just not his game.
The problem looked to me like it was when we tried to play out no one made time or space to receive the ball and get it forward effectively.
We got swamped and harassed between the Base you mention and eriksen and dele. On the few occasions we did we got fouled or hustled off the ball, breaking up any chance of momentum we had.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
Yeah I agree with all of that
We were swarmed over by their attacking players and couldnt get a foothold in the game for the attackers
When we did we got through their defence with reasonable comfort
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Gilzeantoscore
Justin Edinburgh
What? City applied a high press, gave our players no time on the ball and were physical, bordering on dirty. People were surprised that they didn't get more yellow cards. They left the foot in numerous times, as Rose and Walker would probably testify.
Rorschach
Sonny Walters
Yeah, they smothered us from the back out and we hardly got past their midfield all game. A lesson taught to them at the lane well learned I suppose.
I actually thought they had over committed to the press a lot of the time and if we could have just broken their line their defense was quite exposed. But on the day our passing wasn't good, and Dembele and Wanyama were swamped and never got a foothold in the game. Good tactics from Pep I guess but even still if we had shown some better decision making at the back and executed some better passes I daresay we would have fashioned a lot more chances than we did.
Good result, bad performance, move on to the next match.
I actually thought they had over committed to the press a lot of the time and if we could have just broken their line their defense was quite exposed. But on the day our passing wasn't good, and Dembele and Wanyama were swamped and never got a foothold in the game. Good tactics from Pep I guess but even still if we had shown some better decision making at the back and executed some better passes I daresay we would have fashioned a lot more chances than we did.
Good result, bad performance, move on to the next match.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
That's a team being dirty and basically getting away with fouls
Physical for me is when your getting knocked off the ball or being beaten to headers by bigger players
Little weak players can foul (Dennis Wise)
metalgear
Luka Modric
unlike modric or silva yesterday, eriksen can't seem to make time or space for himself. modric would turn a player flat footed, silva less of that but more a clever 1-2 and through. eriksen's magic at our level, and i am really curious to see where he ends up after his stint with us.
metalgear
Luka Modric
Lol I saw an underhit pass that ended up behind Kane
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Haha you old cynic....Lol I saw an underhit pass that ended up behind Kane
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thfcsteff
George Hunt
This! I have NEVER had a Guardiola love-in for this reason. His teams might be pretty blah blah, but they are also niggly and dirty. I thought Marriner had a poor game in this regard, missing several nasty challenges, including the Sane one on Walker which could've been a red. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that few pundits want to acknowledge that Stering was OFFSIDE! Grrrrr....re: Eriksen, I think his improvement in the last 6 weeks has been strong and I think he might well get even stronger.
glasgowspur
Luka Modric
It's a continental thing to my mind, they are so much better at it than us. small disruptive fouls that ecsasperate and cause you to lose focus. Man u did it to is too. We really miss Lamela for these games, he's the only one we have that knows how to combat it.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Therein lies the rub. When he moves into positive space on a regular basis, he is dangerous and highly effective. When he plays safe, not so much.
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
Bingo. Spot on. As I said in the OMT, Dembele was the key to breaking the press and unfortunately he had one if his least effective games for us. Hence Eriksen and Alli were largely starved of the ball to make things happen. Kane's hold up play was equally disappointing - the commentator said his first touch was after about 23 minutes - i.e. quarter of the game gone without a single touch. He was simply outmuscled.