robsblubot

Sterling had a poor match and now that he's left there is little left going on. Mudryk 😆

Yeah but I evidently think the team is far worse than most here. Roster is way too unbalanced to be coached.

There is no "turning point" with this side. Side is not good enough to compete for anything... it's just a building season. We will get stronger for next one... hopefully. Sheffield is just a shitty side. 🤷‍♂️

lol Badia is having a terrible game. Can't do anything right.

Watching Guimaraes makes Gallagher not that great eh.

So the English announcers are right. good point... maybe because it was Newcastle and we don't have enough teamwork yet (or options)?

forwarders aren't moving enough and not making enough runs... looks bad.

He's literally payed big bucks to find the balance of the team, and against a stronger opposition (which is what you said), he chose to play more defensively with a defensive backline. Either the opposition is stronger and the manager has to make concessions or not. 🤷‍♂️ We don't know the outcome of doing differently, because that was not used (whatifs don't count).

BTW Colwill would've seen a red were VAR avail in this match. Caicedo a toss up for a tackle earlier as well.

Manager saw his LB struggling and replaced him. He does not have. a lot of options right now. I agree Newcastle is the better side, but we also gifted a goal -- it's both. We also played well considering we are facing a better side with "ready" players who have been playing together for a long time.

Gusto is back going into a 3 at the back? Nope looks like moved to LB

Poch is using a defensive CB as LB to balance the team. It's because of Mudryk and Chilwells absence. Once Nkunku is back and he delivers as we expect him to both in quality of play as well as intensity, then Poch will have more leeway to balance attack/defense. Regardless how you rate Mudryk in attack, consider how poor he is when defending. Compare him to Sterling or even 20yo Palmer at that. As to why in this particular game: prob lack of options and trying to retain some teamwork.

yeah I think we played well (for the quality we've got). The opposition is quality, and this was a good game so far. the mistakes, esp Badsi, was really the difference here. Of course we lost Enzo, so that has a cost as the one WC we've got in the roster.

Every announcer pronounces Broja's name differently... it's quite entertaining. 😆

That type of pass is better for Jackson who is pacy, not Broja. Team should cross more now with Broja in.

Jackson is playing on the left it seems while Palmer is CAM.

Enzo out 😕 He will move Jackson to attacking mid and Broja as CF I think. Jackson often looks better fit as an attacker than striker tbh

fuck good play by Gallagher and Sterling did everything right until the shot. Should have hit it higher up! too many bodies in front.

well I meant fit to play competitively. And quite frankly, I'm past projecting what a player will do from what they did in extremely different conditions and time. That hasn't turned out the way we hoped for a number of players already.

Aside from the backline (Gusto in and Silva), this is the best starting XI we've got IMO.

While I agree the pass was bad, we had 2 cbs vs 1 attacker... there is no excuse for the goal.

Thiago wasn't great, but Badiashile's error was one of the worst things I've seen a CB do. And we had David Luiz as our CB before!

There was a story with Scolari (former Brazil and Chelsea manager), who then at Gremio loved this midfielder for his running and dedication to tactical tasks... very much like Gallagher himself. The director of football disliked the player: he asked Scolari to use him less as he was a poor ball hog. Scolari, known for his stubbornness, ignored it. Some time later, the same director told Scolari that he could not start that player, to which Scolari said something like, "just watch me do that then." The director apologized for not speaking correctly and said that Scolari cannot start the player because he was traded and now plays for a different club. 🙂 I think there was a similar scene in the Moneyball movie. Point being that it's not that uncommon for the leadership to force the hand of a manager.

heh not being enough of a goal threat was prob what did him in. He does get into good positions to score, but lacks that final touch quality at times.

After spending a staggering 1 billion pounds in the last transfer window? what do we get? Our striker's young and does not get his head down... 😅 I'm sure we can get these qualities in a number of championship players at a fraction of the cost. Joking aside, I understand the point. The assumption that bets are a sure thing is what I disagree with. Salah's and KDB time with us is irrelevant given that they did turn out to be WC players. (Salah did look WC to me back then and I have a post to prove it). Lukaku looked like a world beater at 18-19 and now looks like a decent/good league player. One thing that I'm absolutely 100% sure of is that not all players we signed in the last transfer window, despite their elevated price tags, will turn out to be good enough.