robsblubot

Easy game for liverpool

What a clearance by azpi, but this won’t last unless we start playing footy. Very much a Liverpool game so far.

Agee regarding Moses, but not Alonso. even if I did not like him as a player, I do, his numbers during the winning campaign are kinda hard to dismiss. and much of what I saw during that time reappeared just like magic when he’s back in the wb position. that’s one can of worms tho - we’ve been there before. btw, my point above was that even if Moses did an ok job in that position, Pedro could’ve done that too against Valencia.

you probably refer to azpi. azpi is a renown defender, regardless of position. Never really considered good at attacking. So, the problem wasn’t so much that azpi wasn’t playing cb, but that he was playing in the most ineffective position for a player of his characteristics. Also, the 3 cbs aren’t good at joining the middle either, like luiz did, so that also hurt us in that formation. so, a far better manager wins the pl with azpi playing cb very well and in every match. Now the first time frank uses a 3cb formation, he ignores all that? Perhaps azpi would have been used to playing cb in a 3cb? btw I did think that was the wrong choices to face Valencia at home(posted on match thread before the game).

Pedro? Yes even Willian. In my view the wb need to be more midfielders than defenders, otherwise the system becomes too defensive. We won he league with Moses these, so hes, yeah pretty sure Pedro can do about the same. @bigbluewillie Unfair... Did I not explicitly state what I disagreed with? Don’t even have a problem with his starting xi, aside from zouma heh (and Valencia weird formation), but more with his match management. do people here really think that frank is close, as a manager to say, conte, or even sarri, really?

I also had another reason to doubt eden would be a huge hit in RM. he’s not a hard worker, so he needs players to cover for him and a system working for him. this is very familiar to what I see in Brazil nt over the years. When you have too many stars, it may be difficult to convince them that they have to work hard. And sometimes even if convinced, the players can only do that once or twice, but not consistently enough. This leaves the team unbalanced. I think he will settle there, well because he’s a very good player. He will never be a bit huge hit there tho, or at least no bigger what he was here. at least that’s my take before things unfold.

Think frank is underusing giroud. Tammy had a poor first half against Valencia and should have been subbed off at halftime or early second half. thats part of the learning as well. Start him again against Liverpool, but show him what he was not doing, via different player. also did not like azpi as rwb. Wrong player for that position. Conte won the fucking league with azpi as a cb in that formation! Any clues?! have to be honest here: I dislike frank as a manager so far.

Right at which point, we will have more information as to which tier each one these youngsters will belong. having mount close to odoi in terms of wages and performances isn’t bad at all! I’m not as confident about the others, regardless whether they will become good players or not.

Think odoi being only 18 actually helps here, because he will be around 23-24 when the deal ends, at which time he either has fulfilled his potential or not. I just can’t believe some folks still think this has anything to do sarri. All we know about contracts, or any negotiations, is that leverage is everything and we had none.

And his passing in the middle is actually good, joining the midfield and cutting inside work well when he’s wb. Not to mention free kicks. Imo it is very important for the wb to help the middle, which I think azpi does not do enough of and why he should play cb in that formation. But yeah Emerson is better at LB.

Fair enough, but even then that's not exactly it. He may choose to give minutes to a youngster who's still far inferior to the senior counterpart. So, it's more like a number of goals that the manager is evaluated on and reckon the weight of these goals also varies depending on the club ambition. Reckon, as said before here, that the club fully understands the situation we are in, therefore, Frank's goals might be more about long-term than usual.

So athletico beat internacional in Porto Alegre yay! watched the game and Bruno Guimarães was a bit subdued. Kept on trying to slow down and control tempo, but the game did not agree with him. It was a topical final with all players giving a lot physically. its normal tho - he’s only 21 and it’s his first big final. Won the cup all the same tho so congrats to him. Aside from Bruno, athletico has got 3 other very interesting players: the two cbs bambu 21 and leo Pereira 23, and the winger rony, 24.

Not true. Match management involves the whole season, hence why there is rotation. Games are not equal nor are player form and fitness over a long season. They may think pulisic needs time to settle to the tempo of the pl or perhaps even improve physically, who knows? franks message is the odd part, given pulisic has plenty of CL experience and would have been comfortable with Valencia slow tempo. i guess is just another case of frank also learning on the job.

Odd... And hasn’t pulisic played cL already? pedro was really bad, it he was coming back from injury, so hope he improves from that.

About time

Fantastic news! Finally! Wages are CHO and Chelsea’s problem - couldn’t care less. Hope the club learned something from this tho.

I mostly agree with that, except that, teams with too many youngsters never win anything, including the Ajax you just mentioned. The Ajax that did win things had lots of experienced player (deBoers, overnars, etc). Exceptions are exceptions, nothing more. the interesting thing is that you are the one saying that certain players are past it. My answer to that is that even if you are right, that some players are past it, their alternatives are not there yet and may never be. So you are really exchange a “past it” with “not good enough yet”. and by “not good enough yet” I mean players who aren’t consistent, who don’t know how to defend set pieces and struggle against different styles in different competitions, and get bullied once in a while by stronger more experienced players. well, because they are learning. haha I guess all I’m really saying is that we need balance.

Agree and disagree with that. They are players of completely different characteristics - reckon Rashford is the more sought after for being skillful, therefore, the more valuable of the two - even if Tammy becomes a consistent goal scorer. In an off-day, Rashford will always be more likely to contribute even if not scoring. (will be good for England to have both tho) And I'm writing this after Tammy struggled against valencia. It's OK and it will happen again (many times).

It’s actually a good time to play them. Yes, they are the better side, with better players in most positions, but it’s still early season and they are not yet very competitive.

I’m sure that’s going to be the “excuse” when hazard ends up producing about the same (good performances) as he did here. I suspect Madrid bought eden expecting him to be the type of player to make it the right time, and not the other way around.

wow! What a simplistic view of the game. Sounds like faith-based as you have to pretty much ignore the realities all around you - including the opposition. Starting to think we should field the u21 instead! They will definitely dominate in CL... Pulisic? Sure he's going to be a good player some day, he hasn't done shit yet. Today I was watching men influence tough CL matches. No place for fucking teenagers. Our best player, by far, is 28yo Kante. Not Tammy, who struggled today, nor Mount. Much less Pulisic or CHO. Regarding your comment about defending, I've got a simple one for you: how many of our players were "defending" when Valencia scored from the set piece? I hope you don't think it's only the defenders, who according to you are shit.

Lol Yeah perhaps you may prefer, like I do, a taller more dominant in the box goalie. on the other hand, I do agree that kepa is not playing particularly well and some of the shots that went in were stoppable.

Valencia has a very different style of play (and tempo) than what our young folks are used to in the PL. That’s why frank may have opted for the more experienced players. Tho pulisic has played quite a few CL matches afaik. this will happen and they will struggle and learn from these experiences. Pretty crazy that some folks don’t get that Pedro and willian are more used to these different styles and conditions than a young player who only played championship until this season. Alonso free-kicks and willian runs were pretty much the best we had. Alonso was also good defensively and passing. Wingback really seems to help his game. Folks don’t value set pieces around here for some strange reason, but our opponents don’t care. Tammy lost his player and that player scored. It happens and they are learning, but that’s how it’s going to be with young players.

Thought of pedro there. Would have given us a bit more attacking ambition from the start.

Don’t expect willian to become, now at 31, the player he never was. he’s always been a headless chicken. Can expect good runs, good work rate, and the occasional shot when he’s on his day (in a blue moon), but that’s pretty much it. he was hardly the worst attacker today against Valencia however frustrating his decisions may be.