Pizy

Our attacking ambition went out the window last 15 or so minutes but before that we were outstanding both on the counter and defensively. Beautiful, one touch pinging it around and terrorizing Liverpool repeatedly with the threat of the turnover. Best performance under TT so far.

Ziyech improved considerably in the second half against United. He’s only going to get better by playing more. Can’t be in and out and expect him to show his best.

Ffs, Havertz was declared fit ages ago and still can’t start... Battle of the easily bypassed CM’s in the middle of the pitch, Thiago v Jorginho. Both struggle against the same thing. Let’s see who comes out on top I guess.

Ziyech looks 100% like a dude who’s barely played. Every pass is behind his teammates. I’ve been desperate for him to play but he’s not dealing with United’s press well at all.

So is this a back 4 or a back 3, I wonder?

Well that’s another totally out of nowhere XI from TT. I actually like that he’s not risking Jorginho against a counterattacking United side. On the other hand, Kova and Kante rarely ever works and stalls our attack.

Looks like Spuds are finally playing their way into form and out of their miserable patch. With Reguilon back fit and Bale + Dele finally rounding into form they will be dangerous again in the hunt for top 4. 😒

Leicester are decimated by injury now. Think we can count them as a big outsider for top 4 at this point. All up to us now to capitalize. Would be embarrassing if we don’t get it from here over the likes of Wes Ham, Everton, and a Liverpool side with 10 injured CB’s.

Biggest difference between Leicester and the top clubs and why I feel like they’ll repeatedly fall short of finishing in the top 4. Their best XI when everyone is fit is nearly as good as the big 6, but they can’t cope for long if they are missing any of their key players. If Vardy or in this case Maddison are missing they aren’t nearly as good.

If we hadn’t splashed out so much last summer I could buy him being a target. But not now. Unlike last summer the big boys will be much more active. There will be 6-8 top clubs desperate to sign him, ALL of which will have CL football while we may very well not.

Know they were missing players but Atleti played like a midtable PL side tonight.

Not to jinx it or speak too soon, but I expected much better from Atleti. Top of La Liga and all. We were the much better side and their only real dangers came from our silly giveaways. Slightly more quality with the final ball and we would’ve tested them much more.

Just about every time Azpi or Kova play that last, critical ball in the final third it’s too strong or wayward. We aren’t going anywhere as a team unless we have better players in the situations.

Atleti players throwing themselves to the ground like fairy’s and the ref rewarding them literally every time so far.

By bullied I don’t necessarily mean outmuscled, I just mean that they’ll harass and swarm the likes of Jorginho and not allow us to play.

Think this has the potential to be brutal. Maybe not necessarily with the score line because Atleti aren’t prime Barca or Bayern, but in terms of the pattern of play. Can see them bullying us and with such a lightweight midfield we won’t be effective at getting any supply up to our forwards. Hoping we keep this respectable. Don’t get embarrassed like Bayern last year.

Both Azpi and Kante give the ball away so many cheap times. Not even under pressure and they give it away. Come on...

I’ve said repeatedly that I don’t like Azpi or Tammy playing. But they aren’t the primary cause of our issues today for me. Well, Tammy is in part. Our issue is being clueless when we get near the opposing box.

I’d replace Mount with Ziyech at the half. Kante has been winning the ball back like a machine and Kova at least keeps things ticking over. Mason has offered nothing at all here yet.

Southampton have been wide open and totally unable to defend for ages. And yet we can’t exploit that at all because none of our midfielders can play creative, piercing passes. Not Kante, not Mount, not Kova. We’re playing right into their hands.

Six PL losses losses in a row for Southampton. 6! And now suddenly (and as usual) Chelsea comes in and provide relief.

We have 3 CB’s and still a simple through ball kills us. Unreal.

Think we should reserve judgement on the Alonso “resurgence” until after we play a couple of quality opponents who can exploit his weaknesses. He’s had a pretty stress free run of games so far.

With Timo looking sharper lately what better player is there to have playing those signature diagonal balls for him to run onto than Ziyech? Especially against a Southampton team that will leave space behind since they like to press.

Ugh. I haven’t liked the look of a single XI that TT has put out so far. But we keep winning. Man, I feel terrible for Ziyech and Chilwell. Ziyech has shown sign after sign that he is extremely dangerous and with a consistent run of games could be such a key danger man for us the rest of the season. But can’t get a sniff now. Can’t understand it. And Chilly was one of our best players under Frank and now can’t get a game either.