From your description it’s possibly not the incident I remember and was rammed down my throat by the studio team on Canal+. In this incident Jacquet was in line with Frimpong and Kerkez. Virgil was much higher seemingly without a care in the world. Yes you could ask why the other defenders were 'left behind perhaps one of them was still recovering from something (interference, getting back up on his feet … ?). It was the complete unawareness of Virgil that shocked.
Thankfully working as a unit can be coached, still it’s a lot of work and we haven’t much time before the CL kicks off and coaching and playing around with lineups and formations etc isn’t possible anymore.
Still I’m not too displeased with what I have seen so far, some enjoyable football. We lack defensive cohesion and teeth in attack. Of course the odd individual mistake is costing us dearly however we’re just 2 matches in.
That´s what worried me the most, the leader aspect.
Against Newcastle he just didn´t take charge of the situations and you can see Jacuet visibly unsure if to go to the man with the ball or keep covering his existing runner. Could be argued Jacquet could also take charge but he´s young and with a legendary CB next to him you´d understand why he´d defer it.
Jacquet has made a few errors but, whilst I was a bit skeptical of spending all that money on a player of his age and experience, you can see there is a good player in there with abilities we should and will want.
Yeah I thought Mac was fine in that situation, having gone for the ball. Held the man up, got his foot in and pushed them back slightly.
Unfortunately the guy who the ball fell to wasn´t covered and neither was the guy out left who scored.
I do think he should have left the ball to Jacquet to deal with and gone and picked up either of the two free men, but he was very close so it was tricky.
I think it’s worth noting how good JJ has been so far. Maybe it’s a testament to how a centre back is playing when no one is talking about him. No nonsense defending, reading the game like a veteran. Has the pace and power to back it up, and is very good with the ball too. I think this guy is the real deal.
He has a few iffy moments a game, as you’d expect at his age and experience, perhaps not yet used to the faster league, but he’s very composed and he seems to read the game well. His passing into midfield is good too. He’s not scared to pass to a midfielder that has opposition players near him and he hits it quickly. Very pleased so far.
And from what I saw of Leoni, albeit brief, he could be even better. Early days but very promising for our young cbs.
