robsblubot

When every manager you try sucks... 😉

someone made a lot of money with half-time bet I reckon. 😆

Lampard time! 😆 Or maybe Potter given that we are prob still paying him. 😅 Seriously, regardless what you think of the approach the club has taken regarding transfers, the one thing that should not be a surprise to anyone is the struggles and time required to get something going. This was predicted by a number of people here, myself included. If we knew this, so did professionals working at the club, including Poch. Reckon he knew exactly what he was getting himself into and the challenge ahead.

It's not a case of Jackson being the final product doing perfectly fine, but not getting service. It's also not the case of a team firing in all cylinders providing good service only to be let down by a struggling striker. It's both and cause/consequence gets mixed up. It's a struggling team, built from scratch, with too many young inexperienced players, which make it a hard environment for an also young and relatively inexperienced striker to thrive. Had we had a more senior striker rotating with Jackson, and we might have been in a better position, including Jackson himself. Once again, why many of us questioned what the club was doing regarding transfers. Nothing happening should be a surprise tbh.

It's because there is nothing surprising happening to some of us who have seen these types of approaches before: 1. overly young and inexperienced squad, 2. from scratch (too many changes from prior seasons) I just can't imagine folks like Pochettino and the myriad of professionals at the club being surprised by young players' inconsistencies and difficulties coping with the physicality and pressure of the PL.

Yes! and not only the quality, the abundance of them, the dominance the team exerts (or not), how many touches the striker gets (or not), whether the team is chasing a result often, is he played ball to feet or ball into space? high balls or low crosses, how many teammates does he have in support? many so many variables... Ironically, another thing that hurts Jackson is not having a proper senior striker backup. Imagine a Giroud type who could share the blunt of physicality and rotate with him? It's common practice in football, for ex, to employ the more physical striker first, and once the CBs are mellowed out (as in tired and beaten up) in the second half, then get the pacier one in.

heh I liked what I saw of him in the wing, but yeah let's see. I just like wingers who can play in tight spaces esp at big clubs and he seemed to be able to do that. There is the injury now, so that's an unwanted variable in the mix. 19yo, esp the ones playing with the senior team in a strong league for the first time are literally finding themselves as footballers. They will find where they are most effective, or (the good) managers will help them find that. Would be a nice stat to dig up, but I suspect a lot of these young players don't really stick to the same position they played in the youth team. I think switching positions is quite common, and I've seen extreme cases too: like a youth CB turning striker or the other way around. Granted at 19yo they already have a better idea about where they like to play, but often physical development itself dictates position change; e.g. loss of pace or acceleration, gain of mass, etc.

heh I don't think 19yo have a position nailed down yet. Fair enough, but he was playing on the wing when he played well. I thought he was pretty shitty against Liverpool when he played as a CAM. Perhaps he will become a good winger yet.

Right, but Jackson isn't Haaland. I don't think anyone needs to be reminded of that. I'm sure Haaland would do more than Jackson because he's a far superior striker, no doubt. Saying otherwise is just silly tbh. You are not wrong that Jackson is lacking esp that finishing touch, but our final third production is erratic at best, and non-existent at times. The striker will always be affected by that and so will his conversion rate. It's one thing to play for a team which is firing in all cylinders, dominating games, and you know you don't need to score... that a new chance is just around the corner. It's entirely different when you are under pressure and the whole team is misfiring. So, even seemingly personal stats like conversion rate aren't really self-contained.

The question is not about going bust or not, but what can each deliver right now, and what they can deliver in the short term. Poch says Mudryk has to learn to play in the PL; Madueke looks like a headless chicken. Palmer is evidently far from being the end product, or City would've retained him. We have one winger: Sterling. And a 19yo who played one good PL game and managed to pick up a long term injury. I look at our rivals and they are loaded on the wings... and not projects, but players who can win games on their days. Yes, even Spurs. 😕

Ukraine league is just too weak to be used as reference, esp compared to the PL. Where you play, who you play against, and who you play with means *everything*. We are not cursed 😆 the demands of playing for a top club can be vastly different from playing for a smaller club: not only the pressure, but also strategies. Smaller teams do play differently with much different team setups. It's quite common for players to not pan out at a bigger club who need to drop a level. Come on... we play the PL with a U23 Olympic team with a bunch of nobodies ok "bets", but it's always the manager. 😅 replace Poch and it's going to be the same shit. Start with the manager dance and we will find out how much lower can the club go.

Odoi is twice the player Mudryk is at this time. I'm talking even when Odoi was ineffective, which indeed happened often after his injury. I'm talking about the basics of movement, one-twos, tracking back, etc. Odoi is just a far more ready player in my book. 🤷‍♂️

Agree and disagree. Don't think City (or Halland) is a good A/B source for comparison either-just too many variables. I think it's less tactics and more players, or the lack there of, than the utuber there. Jackson is not "fine" at this level. He's fine if you consider the circumstances, but I'm really tired of appending every sentence with "for a 19-23yo fresh in the PL." 😕 The part I agree with is the obvious one; for me the worst players on the pitch were both Mudryk and Enzo. Mudryk looked clueless as usual, but Enzo... did he even play?! no yellow card, no fight, no drive... just disappointing and yes, I'm the one who says he's wasted in that CAM position. Still this performance was not cool! Now you consider that the one senior excellent attacking winger we got lost his RB buddy. I know folks are in love with Gusto, but boy, going forward he's really limited compared to James. So, we were starved of quality in all areas of attack against bournemouth.: Left with Mudryk (and tbf not a proper LB), Enzo wasted in CAM, and Sterling no getting two ones, so of course Jackson struggled! He's not the real deal yet, just like most of our team, so he can't overcome such challenges just yet. Does anyone think Connor getting time on the ball and space to operate, but Enzo getting none was an accident? That's coaching. If I play against Chelsea I'd tell my players that Enzo will not play; the others are somewhat free to roam, but Enzo will enjoy tight marking all game. Not really that complicated.

heh the commentators after the game questioned the idea that Chelsea will be OK once the injured players return. They simply asked, "do we know what to expect from these injured players?" I think aside from James, that's a very fair question. It's easy to take that one game from Carney and project that he will play like that every weekend, when in reality he will likely look inconsistent relative to his 19yo. Even Nkunku hasn't really played for us, or in the PL, to know exactly what he will bring. Lavia is also a big unknown at this level. Evidently it's better to have options, but just a cautioning tale so to not expect all problems to be magically solved once players are back.

Completely agree. The exceptions you listed are so good in specific (or overall) skill that that alone provides all the confidence they need. Even Neymar had abundance of confidence given his sublime first touch and ball control, of course he lacks in other areas, but a diff discussion. Think the answer is really in what Blue Armour wrote above. This is exactly what I was expecting to happen because I've seen it happen, and more than once. Young players do not cope well with pressure esp in very competitive circumstances, which the PL certainly offers. The danger here is to lose good/excellent promising players due to not providing them with the support they need to compete at this level.

Oh Werner would fit that left wing just fine right now. His movement and contribution to the team was always under-appreciated. There is something off with Mudry's game and I don't think it's just mentality, unfortunately. His first touch lets him down at times, and that is really scary to see at this level. We all hope he improves, so to at least become an option in attack eventually.

agreed. It does look there is a player there. On the other hand his confidence won't be flying high right now. Like others here, I wish we had retained more from the starting XI for no other reason than to provide the new and young players a bit of support. If not that then sign some experienced players to do that.

offside (Nketiah marginally) but what a finish.... Martinelli is such a baller. oh he pulled his hamstring in the goal that did not count... huge blow for Arsenal.

@OneMoSalahcommented on that on a diff thread (game thread?). The squad is extremely unbalanced. There are a lot of CMs most on the defensive side and few capable of going forward. I agree that it's the wrong thing to do; you don't touch your best player, but move and adjust everyone around him. He's prob desperate given the lack of options up front. We ask for Palmer and he looked raw which is understandable... because he is.

reckon he's a tweak or two from becoming a more effective attacker: don't hold on to the ball so much... move the ball a bit quicker. Now, this change is easier said than done; it will really test his ability. That's why PL is so good.

A good start would be to shoot *on goal*... can't score otherwise I'm afraid. I don't yet know if Mudryk will turn out to be employable, the signs do not look good, but he's definitely not the player some thought he was.

Kante ... 😢

yeah but Composure has to come from all players. Like when Conor has the chance, he has to show composure. He did not. Having 1-2 players in the squad with composure is not going to work.

Unsurprisingly this U23 team lacks composure. Composure is what you need to win these type of matches. You don't need to play well to win matches.

Agreed and may explain how off he looked when was finally brought on. Left wing was non-existent which not good enough at this level. (I don't have a huge prob w/ Chilwell in LW, but you lose the LB this way).