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Im less pessimistic than you lot. A clean sheet and excellent point at Bournemouth. This is a fixture we usually lose and they hardly laid a glove on us.
Good teams are built from the back and with Pope on form, we looked rock solid in defense, Im optimistic that Eddie can now work on the attack and push us on.
I agree - although that wasn't a good match to be my first watch for a good while!!
But, before the game, I'd have taken a point away at Bournemouth. Plus, I think Eddie's tactics let us get a hard-won point without too much physical stress on the players. A crap watch, but we have a League Cup game on Wed, then Arsenal at the weekend, and of course the CL again next week, so I totally get it.
And, of course, the big, big problem has been the injury to Wissa. Clearly, as a player completely up to speed with the Prem, he'd have been Eddie's go-to striker, so its a huge blow.
No, I didn't enjoy the game. But I'm pretty optimistic for the season as it develops. We've a lot of new players. Class players, but they need time to work seamlessly with each other. We've got a better squad now that we've had for ages.
Onwards and upwards!
Well... that was a pragmatic approach to a post Champions League Prem Match against a team that humped us 4-1 last time we faced them.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwdBillCook
As a spectacle is was S H 1 T. A miserable display of football.
Positives:
Semenya was shut down and kept quiet all game.
The Toon kept the 4th clean sheet in 5 games.
In 13th place - 6points - 4 points off the fluky Gunners in 2nd.
The rotated squad got minutes into the legs of Hall back from injury. He looked rusty but invaluable.
Thiaw's full debut was solid in the most part, first game first clean sheet.
Botman solid.
Burn solid.
Pope good couple of reaction saves.
Tonali high quality as usual.
Negatives:
Scored 3, conceded 3 in 5 matches. Really lacking a cutting edge right now.
Disjointed performance, passes were sloppy.
The pitch looked bobbly and the ball was all over the place.
Willock looked like he was running through quicksand. Midfielders need to run in behind Nick to make this system work.
The ref was inconsistent. No clue what he was doing. Giving fouls for nothing and letting things go that were nailed on.
No penalty given for a clear shirt pull in the box. Nick as to go down to highlight the foul. VAR once again a disgrace.
Murphy's performance was that of the player we all wanted sold.
The formation seemed to confuse the players. Players were getting in each others way.
Summary:
Scored 3, conceded 3 in 5 matches. Really looking solid for the most part with the squad players in the first team.
Certainly not a class by any means. Not one that will live long in the memory.
It's a point on the road and another clean sheet. Back up the road & on to Bradford in the cup mid-week.
A very similar start to the season as last. Underwhelming performance and getting some results.
We need to ensure that we go on to better performances without experiencing last seasons dip in point scoring.
Not gonna dwell on this one too much more.
Roll on the return of Wissa & Ramsey.
HWtL
Aye, with our schedule I think being pragmatic is the only way to go at the moment.
Premiership, CL, cups. All put a lot of pressure on players.
2 seasons ago, our injury record was horrific. I think changes in the backroom staff have improved this a lot. And this has fed through to how Eddie manages the team, I reckon.
A similar start to last season, maybe.
But lat the beginning of last season I was really worried, because the team often seemed flat, going through the motions, not really buying into what they were asked/supposed to do.
Today's match didn't feel like that. OK it was ****e to watch, but I couldn't fault the commitment to play in a rather weird setup, with an approach that was anything but "intensity is our identity". I thought the players got the plan, and were trying their best to make it work. Hopefulyy, this is plan "C" rather than even plan "B". But perhaps it shows we are maturing in our thinking.........
****e watch.
Pragmatic game management.
We've not beaten them in the league since Bruce managed us but considering we usually lose, a point is a good return.
We're lacking that up to speed striker.
Congo ****ed us by playing Wissa twice in quick sucession when he hadn't had a pre-season really.
Best sum-up I've seen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jammy89
Eddie said they'd had it taken out of them in midweek so, with the injuries/new players fitting in, today's set-up was inevitable and maybe the only option.