SWLondon Saint

Dodgy pen but fuck me that's a terrible miss from AA. - Quarshie has got to be more sensible and not dive in there on their goal. Just no need to, wait for help. - Manning needs to come off, apart from that last long ball he offered so little over there. Get Jelert on. - Fellows the main attacking threat. There's just not enough movement from Stewart and AA. Azaz has picked the ball up nicely quite a few times but not enough movement around him. - Very cagey game overall, they're clearly set up to counter us and force us to have the ball at the back. One of the defenders probably needs to step into midfield to make the extra man.

Agree completely with this. I think a lot of people forget when we had the unbeaten run last time round, we had Bree at LB for most of it. I would expect to see Mads back at RWB and Jelert at LWB at some point if we are setting out to defend. Yes Mads was crap at Hull, but when he played with Edwards-Wood-Quarshie at Norwich he was fine.

We're 6 points from 2nd, 5 behind Leicester, 2 behind Ipswich! This Championship season looks incredibly close so far, definitely more than enough time to get in some decent form.

We stopped them from playing really, our press was dominating.... Until we scored and we just dropped back. I know Fellows had the assist, but right now I think Scienza-Archer-Armstrong should be our front 3. Fellows and Azaz don't look as sharp.

Good - Jander - best midfielder on the park, winning it, using it well, won free kicks when we needed them. The CBs did well. Bad - Azaz really didn't do much all game, he seems to be struggling. Stewart did very little too. Ugly - we went SO PASSIVE after we scored. If the players can't respond the manager has to make changes and get some energy on. Downes for Charles, Archer for Stewart could have worked, anything really. We just went into our shells and invited them on, you could see the equaliser coming.

Obviously Archer and Scienza will come on for the last 20-30, looking for the rugby-style 'finisher' group.

How on earth is that Azaz chance not a 'clear-cut chance'?! They don't come much better than that...

CBs all looking good, good challenge by Edwards, Wood too strong and quick on that through ball, Quarshie following his man into midfield and great challenge when he tried to nick it past him and turn. Wood and Quarshie have recovery pace and it just makes so much of a difference.

Probably happy leaving Quarshie to cover as he has more pace than Manning anyway! Fair play to Still, this is what we all said we wanted and the defence earned it Tuesday. Jelert a bit unlucky to be on bench, Downes too though I thought he still played too many backwards passes without thinking. Only 1 Russ-ball regular left on the pitch! 👏

I also don't buy the 'lazy' player thing in that the game in general has reached a point that there are simply no 'lazy' players, they'll never get to the professional game anymore. He has been poor without question so far, but all we can really do is hope it's just difficulties in adapting and confidence. Playing upfront as a lone striker means you get far less time on the ball and time to see the game moving in front of you compared to, say, a defender like Quarshie has had. I think Still is right in saying he needs to get his aggression up. Yes, be a good team player and show for passes and stuff but also don't forget your job is to make life hell for the opposing defenders.

For me Quarshie and Wood have to play and ideally Edwards too. The 3 of them seem to be building a good understanding and I thought Quarshie did really well the couple of times Isak and Ekitike managed to get him 1 on 1, he just has the acceleration and strength to not have to panic when they knock it past him. We also saw Edwards carrying it forwards a few times and he's clearly better than THB or Cap'n Jack at that. Rest of the team honestly think we have good selection problems. Not sure Azaz or Fellows have shown they deserve to start and think Downs needs some time in the reserves till he learns to be the bully he should be and not the bullied.

I'd put the rest of the blame on a Russ-ball 'automatism' as McCarthy clearly decided where the ball should go without looking, thinking or even checking the other player wants it like everyone is taught in what, day 1 of football training?

He was great last night out of possession, but there were quite a few occasions when he played Russ-ball passes backwards and sideways which actually put us in more trouble than if he'd just put his foot on it or through it. One in particular 2nd half I remember there was no-one in 10 yards of him, we had runners and players left side but he didn't even look forward, just played it without thinking back to Wood, it went right, their press came and we lost it. Needs to get that out of his system.

Well exactly, Schlong had a horrendous first touch but he was an absolute terror at closing down and winning stuff in the air and on the ground he had no right to be winning. Scored some great goals too though my heart was always in my mouth when he had 'easy side foot in' type goals. For an athlete like Downs, that's really the minimum he should be aiming for. What league he can do it in, I have no idea and we can only hope the new scouting team got it right...

I was thinking the same thing, he can probably bully them all day long! 😂

I think it's still too early to judge. The scouting team won't have brought in a 'lazy' player, there's too much info out there these days - and he's been a Poch player with the US team, and there is no way Poch would even have him in his squad if he was lazy. That means he's lacking in confidence or struggling to adjust. He needs some games in the reserves to figure out he should be bullying defenders with his pace and build. If they're on the ball, they should be wondering when he's going to tackle them, if we're on the ball they should be scared he's running in behind. Get that stuff right and then play on instinct and he should at least be able to be Shane Long-lite who never let his trampoline touch stop him being effective.

Hilarious sending off, you could see Frimpong is having a go and literally all the Liverpool players know what's coming. Annoying we conceded a stupid goal but the back 3 looked solid to me against a front line worth more than the entire Championship. Their 2nd goal was all about Chiesa's movement, that spot between the wide CB and the full back is the weak point and he exploited it. Won't get that + the ball over the top the rest of this season anyway.

Tbh I wasn't keen with Manning that half, look how close Jelert was getting every time it went wide on the right. Manning just stands off and lets them get going with pace at him, no idea why.

Macca just has absolutely no idea or ability at passing and he should never, ever have been asked to by Martin. You wouldn't play that pass to someone who's clearly not expecting or wanting it if you were 60 yards up the pitch let alone in your own box. He's a decent shot stopper but completely incompetent with the ball at his feet.

Yep, he should be looking at that and knowing it has to go long, there's no way Quarshie wants it on the inside there, it's completely brain dead. No words.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same thing, we won it in midfield, someone coming back from further forward (dunno who) played a completely stupid ball backwards when he should have turned, that happened twice more and I thought we were going to give it away. Looked safe then that brainfart by Macca. 'sake.

We need a fucking exorcist to get rid of Russ-ball.

I'm a bit worried about that too - he talked about Cap'n Jack being a great guy to have around and his experience of the club - sure, but unfortunately he is one of those who mostly has been crap in his entire time and badly needs a kick in the arse or spell on the bench to up his game. Chris Wilder actually summed it up very well, he said the bottom line is always 'Can you do it out there on the pitch on Saturdays?' - applies to the players and manager.

One thing I think we underestimate is just how bad a season Stephens and THB had last year. At least the last time we got relegated, we'd still had games where we looked like a PL team, Ralph would've had them fit at the start of the season, we were competitive, probably everyone came back wanting to bounce back. But last season we really were complete rubbish, not prepared enough and I think they've gotten used to losing. They need some time out.

Yeah sorry, I don't buy this 'not a great bunch of players' stuff either. This is definitely a top 2 level squad and if we don't get there that's on the manager. Look at Boro - Edwards came in after Carrick got the boot, they sold one of their best players to us - no problem. Mind you, everyone on here would have been up in arms if we had gone for Edwards... I do think he should be given more time but he's overdue a 'statement' type performance. Carry on like this another 5 or 6 games and realistically he's probably gone.