Everyone loves JJ
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And Ronnie
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Great 3 points plus a clean sheet is fantastic going into international break.
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Good win, but again boring performance, switched between this and the darts…
Man of the match , Jonny Clayton …beat the prick littler..
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I’m as guilty of it as most , but fuck me some of the criticism of our players today was well over the top. No matter if some are under-performing , all of them made a contribution today and ground out collectively what might just turn out to be the most important result of the season.
Special nod to Virg and JJ. Imperious stuff.
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This caper is supposed to be fun!!
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Thought all the subs were spot on from Andoni
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The real fun starts in fifteen minutes. 
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Turns out Wirtz going closer to the striker did yield dividends.
Gakpo crosses into the box from the right with Wirtz forcing a shot off the defender. The ball then falls kindly to Isak who calmly buries it.
The defence performed admirably. Our main problem is still our midfield pivot. Macca does his best to perform as the pivot and put in an effective shift but was rapidly tiring out.
However, Szobo was next to useless as a pivot. He runs everywhere except to places that matters, wasting his energy in the process. Oh, Szobo too doesn’t like to put in a proper tackle too…
Nyoni is promising but needs more gametime. Gravenberch was not good at CM or CAM despite coming on as a fresh sub…
All in all, a good job and I hope Iraola manages to know a few more truths about his midfield options today.
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Araujo won the most duels 9 on the pitch today.
No coincidence we have kept 3 clean sheets in a row in PL since he started playing right back.
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Ground it out, great defence.
In an attacking sense, still a lot to work on. Despite the assist, that was Gakpo’s worst performance of the season so far. Same with Wirtz. And Barcola was mostly anonymous.
BUT
the press was much better, across the whole team. I think Iraola’s getting through to them, slowly.
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We are getting better.
Iraola seems to be knowing his 3 in the midfield now. Macca played very well , almost faultless except for that one bad touch which gave Bournemouth a chance.
We were a bit too passive in the first half. Had to rely on an absolute worldie by Alisson to stay level.
Much better second half and Bournemouth were tiring by then as well
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Nah he gave it away a few times tbh. He wasn’t alone, though. He did okay. Was up for the battle
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I put Jacquet and Alisson as MotM along with Gakpo. It was a bit laboured at times, but I just think we look so much more solid defensively this season.
I’d also give an honorary mention to Koumas for his Jack Russell hounding of the keeper and defence at the end. It just forces players to make suboptimal passes, and that reduces the chances of conceding.
There seems to be a lot of complaining about the performance, but I am seeing a week on week improvement.
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Our attack on paper is far more threatening than the actual output. Just not clicking for us.
The midfield all put in a shift but more our opposition seems to know how to handle the Liverpool midfield
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There were times that our midfield was non existent and christie made those runs forward. An extra body over there was needed clearly.
Huge result. Bournemouth were on a run of 20+ games without defeat, and they will pose a tough challenge to any team, especially at home.
The performance wasn’t a pretty one, far from it, but defensively we are as solid as we have been for years, which has been one of the biggest positive changes that Iraola has effected. Going forward, we need to be a lot better but for now this will do.
Jacquet was excellent once again followed by Araujo and the rest of the backline. It’s also good to see Alisson coming into some form after going almost the entire last season underperforming.
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Shit game but they are awful to play against. Never stop running. Wirtz was out muscled first half and didn’t look up for it. Dom was useless tbh and we can’t be fielding players just because they can shoot from a fk.
What a difference when Trey, Munoz and Koumas came on. Immediately more control and threat. Nyoni was key
Another clean sheet though and that shows the difference Ronnie and JJ have made. JJ MOTM. What an intelligent CB. credit to vvd too.
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There was a softness last year when you just knew that at any time the opposition was one pass from breaking us down - that may still be the case but we have rarely been exposed that and when we have we have not let it get us down. 5 games is early, especially given last year’s start. This year though feels different. We’re more solid at the back and that has laid the platform to at least not loose a game easily.
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Good 3 points but we’re a fucking hard watch.
The win will deflect from the poverty of our football.
Araujo is a proper defender, we need to get him signed.
Midfield still a major concern. No control, no creativity and still played through too easily.
Attack lacks cohesion. Barcola struggling to make an impact and the less said about Wirtz the better.
On the positive side Alisson was faultless and dealt with everything thrown at him. Araujo and Jacquet impressive again.
MacAllister and Gakpo looking like the players of 2 years ago which is almost like 2 new signings given how shite they were last season.
It’ll be a hard season and we need re-inforcements to the midfield in January. I have low expectations but 9 points from 5 games isn’t too shabby.
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