Vs Brentford

[bongosdad]

Clearly didn't play for Gerrard 🤔

[westcountryvillain]

Bong - during pre-season we didn't lose a game and played against decent opposition at times, much was made of Sanson & Chambers along with Bailey, but only the latter has featured - struck me as odd. Our ambitions of Europe were talked up before a ball had been kicked but the performances in pre-season hadn't suggested we'd done enough to kick on - the injuries to Kamara & Carlos are unfortunate but to not come out of the traps in the first game raised immediate questions.

Mings has the captaincy removed, for McGinn who for a long time has been out of form yet starts if he's fit - Sanson on the other hand who was highly thought of, gets overlooked time & again. Kamara gets injured but SG doesn't select a DM, doesn't change tactics early enough when it's obvious the gameplan isn't working. Slow, ponderous football, narrow - easy to play against, not scoring = poor management.

Today - McGinn dropped, Ramsey dropped, Bailey swapped wings, Watkins played as a winger and a proper DM in Dendoncker is used to knit things together, Dougie playing where he should be - we looked balanced, retained the ball well for long spells and the individual battles were being won. It's a simple game - Gerrard was out of his depth.

We were effective today and things went right for us, one swallow does not a summer make but a step in the right direction - the next appointment is crucial.

Douglas Luiz was great today, showed some physicality and ran the length of the pitch after taking a corner to put a challenge in at the other end, superb stuff.