All totally reasonable, expect you failed to engage with the point made - Robbo is knuckling down through a period where he is being asked to play more than he likely otherwise would because the options to rest him are not good. I think his leg would have had to have been hanging off for him to not try to play on under the circumstances
But also, did you see the welt on Tete’s leg? It looked like a football.
For all the criticism of Robbo’s recent mistakes - pens conceded against Real and Southampton, and the red card against Fulham - it’s notable that the Real one was a dive, Southampton was outside the box, the red card was incorrectly viewed as DOGSO, and this came while trying to run off bad whack on his knee that avoided the red card it deserved.
Someone needs to piss on the goal post or something to break this curse.
I had no issues with the Real penalty.
He made a few mistakes or bad reactions (wasn’t always the only guilty for some of those goals), but I didn’t think his performances overall were that bad in those games.
The reactions now are pretty much expected, but we’ll see what the club does, as there are still a lot of question marks what we will need or want next summer.
It is true that now he tucks in more as the 3rd CB when we build up and finds himself a bit more central/narrow than before.
It’s not the first time, at times we also did it under Klopp against high quality opposition (PSG home was a brilliant tactical example, but that was a long time ago), but under Slot it’s much more often (plus, our build up is different, we’re less direct).
It’s no secret that he’s not great in small spaces, but Robbo is also one of the most hard-working and focused players around. He still has that “I’m on trial” approach after all these years, it’s incredible.
I always had a feeling however that Robbo’s downfall might be sudden and drastic once it happens (if his physique and engine starts letting him down and we know he’s technically not great), but I feel it’s not there yet.
Think there still might be a reaction from him and a rise in form. Tsimikas’ badly timed injuries (just as he starts hitting form) here and there certainly haven’t helped. In terms of managing minutes, etc.
He will soon have a year left on his deal, which ends when he’s 32. Perhaps down the line, he might wish to end his career at Celtic, his club.
Tsimikas has a deal until 2027, when he will be 31.
It’s an area to search and potentially do something. Lots of clubs have that position unsolved for years and years. The answer has not always been the most obvious one on the market. Like Robbo proved (even if that deal and story is one that is not very common).
I had no issues in the sense that the player in me knows refereeing decisions are about what you give the ref the opportunity to blow for not what is true. So if you dive in or dangle your leg it doesnt actually matter if you get the ball first or how much of the man you take, you give the ref the opportunity and so you need to avoid that. So, sure. It was not good defending. But it was also a dive from a player who saw a dangling leg and threw himself over it.
Yep, I refuse to hold the sending off against him because he is clearly injured and recovering from a horrible challenge (for which Diop should have seen red). When Wilson runs at him he is clearly still struggling with the knock. I’d challenge anyone not to find it hard to run/control a football after having a lad the size of Diop slam into your knee.
Then on top of that, the refereeing around the red card is really bizarre. Usually a DOGSO isn’t called after allowing the attacking team to play on and fail to score. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team get pulled back and given a red card for denying a goal, despite the attacking team getting the goal scoring opportunity anyway. It feels like you can’t having both ways. You can’t send off a lad for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity, when a goal scoring opportunity wasn’t denied.
Robbo is likely on the slide and we probably need a think about left back soon, but the situational issues that he was at the centre of on Saturday - largely the result of shit refereeing - are not further evidence of this.
That didn’t happen though? I think the whistle blew before Jimenez had a chance to do anything.
Regardless in the rulebook, you can’t send them off I think, but you can still give them a booking, if you play the advantage.
It looked to me as if he blew as Virgil cleared it.
Robbo has come in for some criticism this season but at 30 he’s still flying up and down the left flank adding to the attack while also (mostly) taking care of his defensive responsibilities.He has been prone to some errors but is still 1st choice LB although we have to think about taking some burden from him by either giving Tsimikas more game time or bringing in an understudy to push and eventually take over from Robbo.
He is a very important member of the squad and still has more to give us but needs his minutes on the pitch managed better.
Age typically catches up with players first not in terms of the number of sprints they can make down the line, the speed in reacting. Twice in a week now Robbo has been perfectly positioned to deal with a situation but we conceded because he allowed his mark to nip in front of him and get to the ball first. There is nothing more damaging to a defense than having a player in position to do their job and then just not doing it.
Hopefully this is just a case of lack of recovery from the workload (another age related issue) and with his minutes more effectively managed he’d back to the LB who would have kicked Amad into the stands before letting him nip in front of him like that. But it is increasingly clear he is should not be relied on to be the 50 game a season starter he has been for so many years.
We’ve recently been linked to both Robinson and Kerkez.Are either good enough to take over from Robertson?
There were also other mistakes before Robbo eventually tried to close down Diallo. I mean, look at how they got in that situation and how many of our players it passed (or how many were defensively inactive even before the cut back). Robbo definitely had more mistakes this season. Never great at holding the line in sync (they were all below level yesterday in that aspect), but he is or used to be one of the absolute best at appearing out of nowhere to defend the back post or even clean other people’s mistakes in other zones (his performance at the Nou Camp in 2019 was a prime example of that).
Yes, definitely. You’ll get to see how good Kerkez is in a few weeks anyway…
Robertson should count himself lucky that Trent is playing so inconsistently, otherwise the scrutiny on him would be more intense. I saw Tsimikas getting ready to come on last night - not sure what happened there but it suggests that Slot wasn’t too pleased with his performance.
Maybe Tsimi was just warming up, as we rotate that during the game.
Robinson is the best LB in the league, I’d say by quite some distance too. Bit of a shame he’ll be 28 by the time the new season comes around.
If Amad had hit the ball cleanly Robbo would have blocked the shot, Amad scuffed it and it went through his legs and dribbled into the goal
Anyone else think Robbo had a bit of a nightmare defensively against Wolves he seemed to miss challenge after challenge and looked really out of sorts, knackered and leggy.
He only made 2 tackles and was dribbled past 4 times.
I have loved him but it does that to me he needs more rest between games
I have said for a while we can’t play him twice in a week.
I would go Tsimikas against Villa and get him some rest.
