robsblubot

Good cross by caicedo. A bit overcooked, but good shape to it.

🤦‍♂️Caicedo's long ball straight to palace player.

That's what Madueke wasn't doing for the entire 45min

Conor!

Nah he was shit up front too. At his level runs aren't enough--one good pass into the box towards the end of the game. Lots of running no end product an average player makes. btw, the undercooked pass that led to the goal was hardly his first during this match.

Yes, which is typical of young inexperienced players who lack the confidence from having done the same things before. Enzo, for ex, is far more assertive on the ball, because he's done it before at the highest stage. I think he's a bit lazy at times, but that's a diff issue.

Honestly I think he just lacks confidence, which comes from his lack of skill on the ball. In the end, it shouldn't really matter what he lacks atm as he should've been playing elsewhere on loan. good point. I'd switch the entire front line which would work as a clear message to the players. First 45m and the frontline produced fuck all against one of the shittiest teams in the PL.

Yeah I honestly see something different: I see a relatively organized team with individualities WAY below the minimum expected at this level. In normal circumstances, Madueke would be playing for Palace on loan, and if he develops, then he'd naturally return and play his part. Instead we start games with all these unfinished products who produce very inconsistent performances. While I expected more from Caicedo, for ex, I think the front line is far far worse today. I'd replace the entire front line at half time... even Palmer if Nkunku can play 45.

what he knows... not very much Not his fault thou--should be nowhere near the starting XI

I will never understand folks going crazy with Conor and being OK with Madueke starting for us. 😆

How do you know "how fit"? We have well-paid fitness coaches and Physios assessing these players. Speaking from experience here: it's never ever the manager. The manager is usually the one pushing to play and make players available, esp the better ones. Nkuku has been extremely injury-prone this season. We are towards the end of the season and he's been injured for the most part. 23/24 Hip injury Jan 5, 2024 Jan 28, 2024 23 days 5 23/24 Fitness Nov 1, 2023 Dec 14, 2023 43 days 7 23/24 Knee injury Aug 3, 2023 Nov 20, 2023 109 days 15 There is no "reset' button here: Fitness coaches and Physios need to be cautious to avoid a much dreaded re-injury. Personally, I side with whoever is being cautious regarding Nkunku esp given there is little to gain by playing him in these PL games at this point. Actually, his past history looks troubling as well 😕 https://www.transfermarkt.us/christopher-nkunku/verletzungen/spieler/344381

Very likely nothing to do with Poch or any manager. It's obviously physios and fitness coaches assessing that Nkuku should see fewer minutes.

On bbc gossip section, but simply google "enzo fernandez unhappy." Honestly, people who expect top/key players to remain happy without competing in CL for a long time haven't been following football for long.

heh he's just the first of our better player to be wanting out. Any player who does well will seek greener pastures, which was also predicted by many of us early season when folks were talking about 3-year project and "burned" seasons. Good luck with that.

Sure, but I did not rate his roster… sun and Kane and the rest was average at best. they had not business being in the cl final.

It's *well* priced in.

Are you saying poch is doing a fantastic job then?! 😄 I mean I personally consider the roster under potter far superior than this.

hehe I don't mind Poch staying or leaving tbh. Don't particularly like his teams, but he did take a mediocre Tottenham side to CL final once. Just don't see a light at the end of this tunnel just yet -- for the reasons stated above. So, patience will be required regardless of what we do next.

heh Liverpool has and will miss Salah -- it's in the big games like against Arsenal the time you miss the big players. Their attack is really good, but they will miss Salah when he leaves. AFCON is just too long... is it longer than Copa America? useless competitions.

Fair, but you will make no money out of that (League prediction) 😅. CL is a different beast: remember their scrappy win against Inter (hardly a powerhouse)? I'm not sure that Bench is more shocking for City's perspective or ours; like our Bench looks pretty average compare to any other bench in the league. Not long ago, Kovacic would be rotating for us.

makes sense, but I'm not sure it's just individual mistakes as the stats would suggest. Pool plays a high line just like City. City holds to the football, and prioritizes that, for much longer than pool which takes a much more direct approach. Both teams don't protect well enough their defenses, but City has Rodri who is definitely good at that when needed, whereas Liverpool has a less defensive set of mids. In other words, I think pool's D get into difficult situations more often than City's D does, so statistically, they have more opportunity to make blunders.

Heh we always find alternatives to the more obvious, and painful reason that players just aren't good enough. Enzo is understandable given that he's been struggling with niggling injuries, but I'd stop there.

not a fan. Disasi isn't good enough anywhere for me, and that's why I think Colwill should be LB: no-one better at LB w/ 4atb and we can go with Silva and Badiashile at CB for the time being. Yes, we should be getting a proper LB so that Colwill can play CB, given that Cuccu has flopped, but I'm talking about best starting XI for me. agreed and why Poch used him in attack. I have a hard time criticizing managers when they try to field the best players even if employing them out of their original position. Say Poch gets sacked. The next manager will know, from video and staff, what experiments worked and which didn't.

Colwill should play as CB, LB, or DM ... because he's better than the others.

Besides, Jose would pick the starting XI by seniority, which means we'd start games with 6 outfield players and no goalie.