On his showing on Saturday, he can't head the ball, can't pass the ball, can't tackle for toffee and positionally he is all over the place but never where he should be.
I think Tonto must have scouted this dude. >:)
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I think to be fair to him Bt he has Delcroix at one side ( playing out of position mind) who is lost at this level especially at full back and on the other side is O’Shea who is rash at best and switches off ( also out of his depth at the moment ) ( the throwing over his head for havertz was laughable) .
That’s not a good introduction to playing the premier leagues elite who are free flowing and high goal scorers for a young man in his first full appearance for us.
If you add to that the gaping hole through midfield that Arsenal enjoyed from the 4 th minute - I can sympathise with the lad a bit and give him time - worryingly what are Beyer and Ekdal - Dakhil actually doing - contributing to our cause.
I would also say that we never seem to settle and keep a back 4 that can gel and learn from each other - on the other hand it’s a bad time to be learning in the premiership.
I watched some of the bore draw between Everton v Palace last night - mainly to see how Tarks and McNeil are getting on.
Watching Tarks you realise what we have lost. He is a leader by example, has character, is always organising, talking, solid, aggressive.
Watching our defenders (and midfield) against Arsenal, no-one was doing any of that. Last season, I thought Cullen had those attributes, yet he warms the bench.
We need more grit and character in the team. Talent will be a bonus.
Likewise CiB. I think VK is doing a reasonable job despite last Saturday, as sinkov highlighted, in the last 8 games prior to Arsenal, we had respectable results against some good teams, albeit losses and draws, impacted negatively by VAR and inconsistent refereeing.
I still think that we would have done a little better with Bashly in the side to ruffle a few feathers and show some aggression. Similarly, I would be playing Cullen as he is the type to let the opposition know that he is on the pitch. A bit more balance - yes the SD “character” in key areas, with talent like Odobert to feed off that. Not all PL players are Lionel Messi’s.
That's not really the case army, I pointed out before the Arsenal game, foolishly as it turned out, that we hadn't conceded more than three in the previous 18 games. Up until Saturday we hadn't lost a game this season by more than three goals and the only teams to score more than three against us were Chelsea and Spurs.