Pizy

I think so as well. Sad to say because I really like him and was more excited for him than any recent signing. We need a technician in there next to Caicedo who is perfect in possession and can keep things simple and ticking over. A new Jorginho. We have our Kante regen with Moi but we need our J5 next to him.

I’m gonna say something that is painful for me to admit, but I’m starting to question whether Enzo Fernandez is viable here long term. I really like him as a personality, his passion on the pitch, and at his best he’s great. But man, he just fails repeatedly in matches against opponents who are very aggressive and intense. On the ball he’s super careless with it and off the ball he’s so painfully slow that it looks like he’s running in cement boots. When he was at Benfica you saw him playing deeper as sort of that tempo controlling midfielder spraying it around and creating magical chances. We saw that initially when he moved here as well. I remember an early Liverpool game where he completely destroyed them single-handedly and ran the show. These days Maresca deploys him so high up that he is often seen pressing all the way to the keeper. For me he needs to play in an area where he has space and can see everything in front of him. Having him high up takes away his passing and vision when we’re attacking and it makes us super vulnerable when the ball is turned over defensively. It’s the exact sort of issue we had with both Fabregas and Jorginho at times. The difference with those guys was Cesc had generational passing skills and creative vision and J5 was immaculate with the ball and impossible to dispossess. Enzo is neither. For the first time ever I actually find myself wondering if we should listen to an offer if Madrid comes in for him as is rumored.

It may take us getting embarrassed in this competition for these dopes in charge to bring in the necessary quality in super key positions. How many more times do they need to see shit like we saw from Sanchez or Nico Jackson today? Or Malo Gusto transforming from a mega promising and great buy 2 years ago to basically being unplayably poor now? We desperately need a top keeper, a couple of versatile attackers, and a defender who can ensure we never have to play James or Gusto out of position again. A CB wouldn’t hurt either.

What I don’t get is how we went from looking like a slick, cohesive unit the first half of the season under Maresca where Palmer looked like the best player in the league and our attacking football flowed nicely and ever since Christmas time we look like a complete mess so often. Like we haven’t worked on attacking patterns or passing at all. He’s supposed to be from the school of Pep and yet we look more like a late stage Mourinho team. The difference in technical ability and comfort in possession between us and Flamengo was scary.

Jackson, Gusto, Sanchez, Madueke. If we are going into next season still seeing these guys playing featured roles for us we aren’t making top 4. We need a serious injection of quality on the wing, at keeper, and stop playing Reece in fucking midfield.

Playing players out of position repeatedly, playing players who have been woeful for months repeatedly, being unable to motivate the team to play with intensity to match opponents, and refusing to use guys like Andrey Santos at all. Serious questions need to be raised with Maresca. Playing this shit on a stick football is going to turn fans on him quickly if he doesn’t improve the team MASSIVELY and soon.

Switching off. These players and the manager have been a joke today. I don’t care about the CWC but I at least wanted to see us look like a competent side. We instead look like a newly promoted team playing against prime Man City.

They’ve dominated us from the start. A few counter attacks apart we haven’t troubled them at all. And now this. We haven’t imploded like clowns. Embarrassed ourselves.

We cannot defend. Simple as that.

We look shit, man. Zero intensity whilst it’s like the UCL final for them.

We have been ABYSMAL with the ball. Our players look like they aren’t bothered at all. Misplaced pass after misplaced pass. Fully deserved from them. They’ve been infinitely better using the ball.

What was the actual VAR looking at is what I want to know? How do you view that and NOT give a penalty? Literally anywhere else on the pitch and this yellow card happy twat is giving a foul. He has given like 50 fouls on us and 5 yellows and almost nothing for them.

It looks like our players are sort of pacing themselves and playing at 50% due to the heat. Very sloppy and lazy for the most part. It looks like we’re playing at preseason levels whereas they’re a team smack in the middle of their actual season. Which they are, right?

One of the worst refereeing performances I’ve ever seen. This guy looks like someone who’s refereeing his first ever match.

THIS REF 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Referee is horrendous as you’d expect. But good lord, do we look AWFUL with the ball.

For me, if you want to play Enzo higher up then Lavia MUST be on the pitch too. We’re getting badly outplayed in the middle currently. Zero connection or link up between the midfield and attack. It looks like we’re playing against Pep’s Man City where they’re comfortably popping it around us and denying us any sort of possession ourselves.

They just look so much crisper and more competent with the ball than us. I’m really starting to dislike Enzo higher up the pitch like this. Leaves a Caicedo alone in midfield surrounded by 2-3 opposing players. Really makes it difficult to play out through midfield.

Jesus, man. We can’t get the ball and string together 3 passes. Has Cole had more than 1 touch so far nearly 20 minutes in?

Get in. Now settle down with the ball!

It’s pretty embarrassing how much more comfortable they look in possession than we do.

Sanchez with that signature straight pass up the middle to the opponent almost giving them a goal. Get him the fuck out of this club, ffs.

With the amount of shot Flamengo and their fans are talking I actually really hope we beat them comfortably. And I don’t really care about this tournament at all. Hopefully our players aren’t sleepwalking from the start since you know Flamengo’s won’t be.

Man, there really is a massive black hole on our left side. We badly need another attacker or preferably two. Genuinely feels crazy that the club is reportedly SUPER keen on winning this tournament and taking it seriously yet they let Sancho leave, knew Mudryk is gone, and have not aggressively gone after replacements before it started. At least 1 left sided player should’ve been signed weeks ago.

Yep, this should certainly be a test of how much our players actually care about this competition compared to the clubs who are treating it like a massive prize. Maresca has already said he’s going to rotate a lot for the CWC so I’m interested to see which areas he does so. I don’t think he’s going to rotate Moi or Enzo. Nor Palmer and Cucu. But everywhere else I can see it. Think we should go with an athletic, aggressive XI.