In early February? Surely not.
good pointā¦ I have always wondered if pushing him into midfield would be a good idea and if he would have the needed awareness to play the roleā¦ I think we need the guru @Sweeting, to weigh in on this.
trueā¦ I made an in game comment yesterday after Konate had to chase down martinelli about how konate must be missing Bradley .
Bruh, TAA has currently 20 league appearances playing as an hybrid CM/RB to cater towards him fully, is playing at the highest level since 2017 and gives you stuff like 2 goals and 3 assists so far which works out to 0.25 goal contributions/game so far.
In LFCās title-winning season, he had 0.48 goal contributions/game and he was 19 and playing as an orthodox RB.
A staggering 1.92 times drop in output for someone who is supposed to reach his peak around this age and is the vice captain of the club.
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Konate didnāt even need to worry about the opposing LW or LB when Bradley is around. Ben Chilwell looked like an absolute mug in the previous game.
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I would say that the deeper hybrid role he now plays means he often does the pass before the assist. Also, he no longer shares the corner duties with just Andy - Szoboszlai takes a lot now.
The wide right role is taken on more by Salah and the right side midfield - more than what was before when Salah used to mainly start from wide and look always to come inside (he is often in the frst 60 mins of a game with chalk on his boots from his wide position).
About??
And your biggest mistake, among many is to use Chillwell in a comparative way to Martinelli
Jumping for headers and tackling with intent are not gametime or match sharpness related. Plus heās been here months now getting decent minutes
It never ceases to amaze me how little regard fans give the performance of one team in the other team looking off their game. We didnāt hit the levels we did against Chelsea, because Chelsea were inept while Arsenal are an incredibly well coached side whose approach is based on making it difficult for the opposition to have any sort of quality possession. Their front 6 were defensively excellent against us and that is where all our problems stemmed from. In the game the other week we made tweaks that gave us different passing options and that changed the game. Yesterday, there were shoots showing of the tweaks working at the beginning of the second half, but we couldnāt sustain it.
Literally everything is match sharpness related.
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Well, Chelseaās LW doesnāt stay in the region where Bradley wasā¦
One of the interesting developments in our side that was once viewed as very one dimensional has been the development of our tactical flexibility. We have a really good collection of players who can be used in different ways to change the shape and how weāre playing, but weāve also now got a number of players who can themselves do a number of different jobs. Yet we often need to make adjustments at half time or with second half subs to get the balance right. Itās almost like that if what we start with isnt working the players themselves either dont have the vision or authority to make the adjustments themselves, but as soon as Pep and Klopp shift them around and give them new instructions, we all the tools we need to ensure that the dynamic is in our favour.
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Gravenberch not having the temperament to make it at the top level.
If he can maintain his levels, I donāt think itās too much pressure to suggest he is a first team right back option.
He has a lot more first team appearance than you think. He spent a season at Bolton where he was their player of the year. Speak to any Bolton fan and theyāll tell you he is absolutely going he a superstar.
Itās pretty much an open secret that Trent wants to be a midfielder, and the idea he hasnāt played there for a decade is ignoring that in possession that is where he plays now, and itās where he plays for England.
Iām just saying that a new manager is the most likely point for Trent to make āThe Switchā and Bradley breaking out also should give whoever it is more confidence to play him there.
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Heās also only a bit older than Quansah, which itās often easy to forget.
About six months between them - one is treated as a prospect, and the other should be running midfield.
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I had a different view of the match from my seat just behind VVDs position in the first half.
It looked like every ball came to him to start a move from the back. Both the potential targets and defenders looked packed in midfield leaving him little choice but to hold the ball and pass back to Ali to give himself room from the Arsenal high press. It was frustrating to watch for long periods from my vantage point. It looked like a ball over the top to Gakpo or Jota might open things up. When he did release it, more often than not it was to Lucho or Alex who just got swamped by Arsenal attackers.
Maybe the reason why he didnāt try the long punt enough was because they bullied our mid and just launched it back down our right wing to Martinelli every time:
This was definitely a game where we missed Mo and his devastating speed to open them up and screw with their heads a bit.
It changed in the second half when we brought on Nunez but Arsenal just pulled back and defended well particularly against Elliot who had a tough time making any space.
Arsenal were not great in the final third but they were disciplined in their structure and game plan. We just didnāt test it enough yesterday.
Alex had no help in midfield at all from either Jones or Grav but at least Jones looked willing. Gravenberch seemed to be in the wrong position all the time. Gakpo doesnāt track back enough and Jota did his best but needs someone else to do some of the work to create opportunities.
Summary;
VVD didnāt have confidence in the front runners to hold the ball up or do anything with it
Midfield had players going AWOL
Right wing was our weakness.
If Nunez had started then things might have been different but the cock ups were outrageously bad from us so we still might have lost itā¦but I do think that we could have given them a better game and possibly got something from it
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Yeah I think this describes well the challenges Arsenal pose. They dont press automatically like we were known for. Instead they have this sort of hybrid approach that is almost like a āhigh blockā. Theyāll let the defenders have the ball, but then put incredible pressure on any of the possible receivers making it very difficult for anyone to play through them. If you try, they then spring into full press mode to win it back, and they do it very effectively. Sometimes that can look like having as many as 7 players in midfield.
In the cup game we eventually found a way around it related to sucking their defenders into the midfield to then hitting the spaces they vacated. The introduction of Nunez was clearly intended to do that again, but it didnt work anywhere near as well. Id have to watch it again to see if it was our failing or Arsenal learned a lesson
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How many minutes has he played this season for us. He is at 100% now
Oh yes I agree sorry.
Bad day at the office on our end. A few key players out too, which resulted in a large drop in intensity.
Arsenal gave it their all and celebrated as though they had won the title. All they did was keep their league season alive.
At the start of February!
Well done the mighty Gunners.
We will come again. I loved the post of the big 6 games remaining, above. Lots of possible points for everyone to drop yet, or otherwise, letās see.
Bradley is brilliant. Without his unfortunate news he would surely have started, and then Trent would have switched in around the 70 mark to continue easing back from injury.
Instead Trent played, in probably his hardest game of the season, against a fired up, rapid, tricky winger in Martinelli.
Trent has a lot more to give, and he will get his best level back.
How the team shapes up in future will be on the new manager.
In the meantime we dust ourselves down as thereās a title to fight for. Letās go!
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