Made very hard work of that. Caicedo, Enzo, Reece & Palmer rested the biggest plus. Joao Pedro’s performance off the bench compared to most of today’s starters highlights the huge drop off in levels from our first choice 11 & the rest. We have a gd 11-14 players you back but the rest yikes.
2/2 Then tier down Gallagher could get his Villa move which he should’ve chosen initially or somewhere around that level. Maddison & Kulusevski post injury interesting coz pre injury don’t think they’d have much trouble getting gd move but no idea how injury impacted em & would feel like a risk now.
1/2 Van de Ven I think bar arsenal rest of “big 6” would gladly take. Romero would be a UCL club abroad, probably Atletico he is very Atletico coded. Bergvall could get move as player for the future same with gray & then kudus as squad player possibly, tho I lean more on next tier down.
Can you remember kante ever giving away a pen for us? He may well have but I can’t remember any. Feel that Kante was clean, precise almost kind of graceful with it whereas Caicedo there is that element of risk & recklessness. Love Moi, he’s terrific but the discipline defo needs improvement
Got early goal then did very little of note afterwards. It looked like we were going to get away with it but alas set piece undoes us again. This & Leeds result very damaging for UCL hopes they were a chance to get some breathing room, fixtures turn now & you can’t rely on us at all defensively.
Yea Grealish was an effective cog in the machine at least whereas Eze ain’t even that.
Get comparison but slightly harsh on Grealish imo. At least with grealish he was important for city in his first two seasons, particularly in treble winning season. Defo went downhill after that & joy seemed to go but first two years he was important. If arsenal get over line can’t say same for Eze.
2/2 If it weren’t for resurgent United under carrick I don’t think we’d have to do that much to get UCL qualification. Been weird season for us so far with some standout results & performances but a whole lot of average to go with it that I’m still not sure how gd this team actually are.
1/2 Don’t think there much difference in terms of level of performance so far between him & Maresca this szn. I think we been pretty ordinary for 80% of season. Both had bipolar matches with good & bad halves. My main encouragement is spirit under Rosenior that we saw in Napoli & West Ham comebacks.
Nice of wolves to gift us the 3 points by half time & perhaps play Palmer into form? Poor goal we conceded but thankfully second half wasn’t repeat of cup game there earlier in the season. Much tougher test on Tuesday as Matt can attest to but with Villa above stuttering it’s another huge game.
Oh agreed there so yea should be onwards & upwards from here hopefully. Leeds midweek will tell us lot more considering they’re actually a competent football side & if Palmer follows this up there then I will start to get more excited.
Maresca point probably fair overall but not sure we can really use this game so far to prove it given how abject wolves are & how palmer not done loads prior to this under rosenior either. The injury clearly a big issue & I imagine still will be moving forward.
Damage was done in the first leg. Strategy of taking game deep was smart idea. We had a good defensive performance to back it up (caveat of arsenal had the one goal lead so didn’t need to do much), crucially tho we needed to score & I never felt we looked like doing that.
2/2 I obviously think rn Nico far better than Delap & would rather have him & JP than Delap & JP. Delap signing made sense at time, then JP arrived and then it arguable if it then did. And as for profit given wolves sold Strand-Larson to palace for 40 mill I think we can make profit fairly easily
1/2 We needed someone to compete with Nico tho, we all moaned last year about having nobody other than nico. We then signed JP after which didn’t help things for Nico but given as we saw Delap & JP start together beginning of the season there was a world where I think all 3 could co-exist.
At least with Delap he was 30 mill & either 1) works out 2) doesn’t but gets sold on for profit 3) works out & gets sold on for profit
As underwhelming & frustrating a signing he’s been it made sense to go for him
Also wasn’t 2-0 half time.
First half was diabolical, defensively all over the shop & that needs sorting asap, hopefully Rosenior learnt a lot from that & who he can trust moving forward. Second half deserves immense credit for the subs made & the spirit which the team have shown in the last week is very encouraging.
Both also replaced a successful coach (& at a stretch popular?) Rosenior unlike Potter has personality but I feel he outdone potter in terms of speed to get memed.
I’m wary to go too overboard coz I think we’ve looked distinctly ordinary for atleast 80% of this season but defensively we look horrid & worse than before.
Very reactionary take but is this Potter all over again? Young promising British coach with connections to hierarchy appointed. Has a good start, winning first couple of league games, does well in UCL group/league phase including beating reigning champions of Italy then goes to shit.
I’m not one for conspiracies but Madrid managed by Arbeloa a former Jose disciple & being reduced to nine men and Benfica getting an injury time goal does reek just a bit
Oh my days Benfica’s keeper has just scored to make it 4-2 vs Madrid & send them & Jose through!
2/2 4 wins from 5 in all comps about as gd a start as Rosenior could’ve hoped to make, crucial this carries on.
1/2 Best performance of Rosenior era so far & 3 more points. Not many teams this season are going on long winning runs but looking ahead with a “kind” next 4 league games the opportunity is there & 4 wins would go a long way to ensuring we finish top 4/5, especially as fixtures turn after that.
We’re nailing the Conte 2018 tribute act
Dawned on me last night the similarities
One major difference from then to now is there’s no Thomas Tuchel out there. And I’m not saying Maresca should go btw coz the bigger issues are those above him imo but a pretty similar situation we find ourselves in.
Next two league games are Man City & Fulham. Frank’s next two league games were city & Fulham.
