25 Nov 2020 07:22:20
Best I've seen us for 18 months in the 1st half last night.
An attacking team playing attacking football.
Bigger tests ahead but a win against psg pretty much guarantees top spot and a draw qualifies us.
I Hope to see telles cavani and dvdb start a lot mite games.
Ole said it made a difference having a pepper old fashioned cf leading the line" we haven't had that for a couple of years.


1.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 08:04:03
Ken

Agree the first half was good with positive intent. Interesting comment on the CF. I said when Lukaku was sold we needed one although some thought Martial was good enough. I was surprised we sold Lukaku without having a replacement lined up. Even so I wonder how Martial feels after that comment? Not too bothered really, because we have needed a CF and Martial seems to need regular kick up the backside to get him going.

Last couple of games we have seen more attempts to cross the ball, even when Cavani was not on the pitch. Let’s hope they have seen a little light in the benefit of getting behind a defence and putting a cross in as an option.


2.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 08:24:47
I really enjoyed Cavani's performance, I had my reservations about him when announced but from what I've seen so far of him I think he could make his time with us a success.

Albeit a couple of years past his best, he is tireless with his work rate, makes intelligent and unrelenting off-the-ball runs and in the first half, yesterday showed plenty of deft touches when receiving the ball with his back to goal and knocking it back to others to recycle and move the play up the pitch.

I would guess he is still a little short of full match fitness and there is more to come.

There will be far sterner tests than this was but I am quietly optimistic Cavani could have a similar impact to Ibrahimovic as opposed to Falcao.


3.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 08:41:43
I like cavani suits our style can play right across the front 3 and works hard.


4.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 08:53:30
"Donny can play in different positions and Edinson is a good old fashioned number nine and we haven't had that for a while and I was happy with how Anthony [Martial] played off the left" ole
Rash also played well .
I don't think martial will be to upset.


5.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 09:01:26
For all the good I saw and there could have been more good with possibly a goal or two for Cavani had Rashford not made bad decisions I still cannot get over the defensive weakness. A decent team or even this team if they had there scoring boots would have scored a few. Okay they spurned their chances but we gave them a few and after the subs we suddenly looked extremely vulnerable.
Taking the positives though we did look very good at times going forward. It's clear that Telles, DVDB and Cavani have to start more. Donny keeps us moving at pace and looks a great player. If only our defence wasn't so suspect we could field a more proactive midfield more often. But you just know that when fit Pogba will start and DVDB will be benched and we will need two DM's. Frustrating.


6.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 09:01:48
Goes to show when we play with just x1 DM we have more creativity, who knew.


7.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 09:31:09
Who cares if Martial doesn't like it there are 20 strikers in world football better than him 😁😁.


8.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 09:51:09
Martial not good enough up top, and too lazy for the left.


9.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 10:22:40
Cavani was everywhere - left, center, right, willing to receive the ball anywhere.
Still feel Cavani and Martial are not sharp enough.
In coming days, hopefully we will see the best of both.

Alex Telles can put in good crosses consistently.
He created the highest chances as per stats.

Lets carry on this momentum.


10.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 10:26:38
For me it's all about the balance of the team. While offensively we probably played the best we have for a while in that first half.

Three things still concern me. Firstly, of the three goals we scored one was another penalty and another was gift wrapped by their keeper, the third was a thunderous strike from the edge of the box.
We looked dangerous, but we rarely ever cut them wide open. We didn't really fashion great chances inside the 18 yard box.

Secondly, I though the opposition, especially in the first half, looked very poor. They didn't press us at any point, they didn't defend deep or in numbers, they didn't really do much to try and stop us playing. Against better sides we will not be afforded that much space unchallenged.

Thirdly, we still looked suspect defensively. Playing the one defensive midfielder meant that they had more space and freedom in front of our back four. A combination of them lacking really clever top level creative players and poor finishing when chances were presented, kept them down to scoring just the one goal. Again better opposition would have created a few more chances with the space we afforded them, and would have scored a few more with better finishers.

To be brutally honest I've seen better teams get relegated from the EPL. Norwich last season were a better team than this lot. If they had Cantwell, Buendía and Pukki last night we could be looking at a 4-4 draw.

So while I'm happy to see a much improved performance, a few goals and some nice team play from our side. I'm far from convinced that we could play that way against 80% of the league and expect to win.

As a team we are still searching for that balance between attack and defence. Like last night we are capable of playing good offensive football, but that means we are very open through the middle and our soft underbelly of a defence is exposed. Or we can play like we did against PSG, block up the middle with defensive midfielders, shield our weak defence but at the expense of having more creative offensive players and relying on counter attacks over the top. We seem unable to be an attacking threat while maintaining defensive solidity.

The solution to the problem is the same thing that nearly everyone on here agrees with. We don't have good enough defenders. AWB is great at 1v1's, but not much else, Lindelof is too easily bullied, Maguire wanders out of position too often and lacks the pace and mobility to recover, Shaw is injury prone and average at both ends of the pitch.

We actually have a good group of midfielders, the issue of needing a more dominant defensive midfielder is only required to cover our weak defence. If our defence was top class we wouldn't need a better defensive midfielder to shield them.

While we have a very good selection of strikers, but we lack a creative wide player, someone who will look to create goals more than score them. At the moment we are always playing a square peg in a round hole on the wings. A clever creative player would transform our attack.


11.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 10:30:42
No reason for martial to be upset. Playing from the left is his best position. However he is a sulky character. He didn't like it when no9 was taken off him. He might prefer playing cf but he will have to do what's best for the team and him at cf is not what's best for the team plus cavani won't play every game so he will get his share up there but greenwood will be the future cf with any luck in 18 months.
Shearer and hughes were like cavani, of course goals are the primary job but if goals don't happen in a game they make a very positive contribution through their running, hard work and selflessness and martial has none of those 3 attributes. So when he doesn't score he contributes feck all else.


12.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 11:27:33
Lol did you really have to mention Buendia lad? Still hold a candle for him? How’s he getting on in the championship? Genuine question. I was very surprised nobody went in for cantwell.


13.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 12:00:17
Red Whiskey, He is 7th in the league for average number of shots per game (as a wide player/ midfielder), top of the league for average number of key passes per game, has 2 goals and 4 assists in 10 games.

He's doing very well in a much disrupted team that lost a few key players when they got relegated.

Buendia is a very good player.


14.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 16:47:10
Shappy shaw didn't even play last night.


15.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 17:35:01
Jred, I'm aware Shaw didn't play last night. I can't really comment on whether Alex Telles is good enough for us yet as he has only played 247 minutes for us.

So the jury is still out on him. Maybe he will be good enough or maybe he will fall short. I don't know which yet.

Shaw on the other hand has been here 6 years now and is still injury prone, while he can only be described as average in defence and in attack.


16.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 19:52:33
Average is what shaw is. His form has been consistent now for a good while and he has played a couple of positions. He had nout been a calamity and he has been an average steady eddie.
He does get injured quite a bit. He never lived up to his billing nor fulfilled the potential some thought and we all hoped he had. Not quite as good as john o shea nowhere near evra but better than buttner. He is still relatively young but i don't quite see him ever being a really top class full back.


17.) 25 Nov 2020
25 Nov 2020 20:32:11
😂😂😂thats amused me.