Concerns & Basics

[bathlad61]

Start with the only positives from last night - Ayling / Mesleir did well, we didnt concede more than 2, and was able to watch the whole match, without any issues.

Defending set pieces / corners, woeful, pathetic - all basic schoolboy stuff. Yes we have injuries, but we are talking Premiership quality players. At the other end, for any other team, winning a corner etc, real chance of creating something, but for us, zero threat to opposition. We had corner last night, but instead of putting into box, we take it short, about 4-5 passes later it arrives in, but straight into keepers arms.

Player wise, too many off the pace - Allioski / Harrison / Phillips / Klich, i thought Rodrigo was a striker, not midfield, Shack never CM, and as for Roberts, offers nothing from the bench.
Also seems very little movement or progression from U23, 3 -4 of them must be worth trying.

Some massive games looming over next 3-4 weeks, Newcastle / ManU / Burn / WBA / Spurs, 6 pts min is *****. Depending on things come middle Jan, form / injuries / use of Jan window?, will the attention turn to MB, ultimately the buck stops with him.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

I also took as a positive that Bielsa made subs early - just that one of them looked like he should be playing with the u12s.

Not sure if we are being more conservative due to the goals we were conceding a few weeks ago but we seem to get forward a little slower and press a little less aggressively and don’t start the press quite so high up the pitch. Philips seems to slow things down a lot at the moment and Harrison is also slowing things down rather than getting decent early balls into the box.

Hope we blood some of the youngsters and play some of the younger players a bit more.

Poveda, Struijk, Drameh, Shacks and Geldherdt May hopefully get more game time over the next few weeks.

Hope Llorente is fit soon - we need him

[asturianblanco]

thought we were really slow last night exhaustion rather than tactical IMO. quick turn around due to covid not helping our cause, some of them look shot, especially Klich. Worrying.

[ozleeds]

Watched Dallas interview and was asked MB made 2 changes in the second half can you tell us the reason and what they were meant to bring?
Dallas was stunned by the question and replied you have to ask him and more or less they brought nothing in.
I have a feeling all these losses are getting to the players.
Did I read someone say we only conceded 2 goals? Well watching the game and our best player was our goalie says it all as it should have been 4 or 5.
Good luck with the idea he will play youngsters. Struijk looked solid and never done anything wrong does he play him? He is stubborn and plays the same players over and over till they get injured or for other reasons.
Long season coming up let's just hope we survive.

[WTF11]

Spot on (wrt to the stubbornness, again). He (M did this last season and we (just) got away with it. We won't this season.

Don't understand why we invest in the U23s and then never play them, no matter how good they are (and agree, Struijk has real class, and his odd faux pas is largely a result of not getting 1st team game time often enough, so square that circle and maybe things will improve. Geldhart is built like the proverbial brick sh1t house and knows how to use his physicality, as well as knowing where the net is (last season and this).

Need to rotate the 2st team squad that we have, and give them a rest occasionally and the U23s and opportunity, but will we? I am not holding my breath.

[norfolk white]

Agree, surely struik and geldhart need to be given a chance, the Newcastle game is a must for these 2.

[UbiqueLUFC33]

Playing Costa at all is beyond stuborness; it's properly mental. He brings nothing in attack or defence (apart from giving away needless free kicks) and looks lost and bewildered. I would far rather see Poveda be given more game time.

Klich is looking increasingly tired but that's not surprising as he ends up running around like a lunatic in midfield with little support. I'm not sure that our team can carry Raphina, Rodgrigo and Harrison in the same line up - at least not at the moment.

We are ridiculously weak at set pieces - both attacking and defending. I would agree with teh calls for Struijk to be given another go.

[asturianblanco]

and tyler Roberts! WTF?

[Billyni]

Agree, surely struik and geldhart need to be given a chance, the Newcastle game is a must for these 2.

Yeah a normal person would think that
But...........

[LeedsFTW]

Wasnt overly impressed with Cooper, no doubting he is big hearted and gives 110% but he looked out of his depth.

Think Philip's was so aware of our defensive frailties that he sat a little too deep at times, allowing midfield to be over run.

Defo need an option to add more steel to midfield, Forshaw is out for the foreseeable, Shackleton has a great engine but doesn't seem to have the physicality we need in those battling games.

Left back is an issue, love Dallas's commitment to the role, works so hard but I dont feel he is good enough in that position at this level.

Regardless of all that, we wont be signing anyone in January, doubtful we will even get any loan signings.