Yep. Good lad he is. Deserves it.
Had a good first half and has started the season in good form.
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Not exactly the best opposition, but I thought there was progress again. Isak and Gakpo really wrapped it up early which rather killed the urgency.
I rather enjoyed it, though. It’s still early days and all we really saw from Barcola was a training run out.
Europe midweek, I believe. Should be more of a test.
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How good was Isak’s 1st touch for the 1st goal.
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Glad we kept Cody.
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Nice to win a bit of a dull one again for the first time in what feels like ages. Gakpo the star, two fantastic assists. Keeper is terrible on both goals really but Isak deserves the luck. Thought Araujo was good at RB, makes us look much more solid over on that side. Midfield worked a lot better as a unit today as well.
Leoni should be looking at Kerkez and thinking that could be his route into this team when he’s back fit. A young centre back getting bedded in at full back is maybe a bit of an old school idea nowadays, but the way Kerkez is playing at the minute offering nothing going forward and looking like an accident waiting to happen going the other way whenever somebody runs at him, would pick the more solid defensive option all day long.
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Really positive performance tonight. It genuinely felt like we’re starting to see the first shoots of what Iraola is trying to build.
The biggest positive for me was the press. It wasn’t just players running around chasing the ball, you could see a structure to it and little traps being set. There were a few occasions where we seemed to deliberately force Ipswich towards the touchline, close off the inside and then jump on them as a unit. That’s the sort of aggressive, organised pressing we’ve been missing for a while.
Still very early days and obviously tougher tests will come, but you can already see signs of an identity developing.
Isak getting two goals inside the first 10 minutes is massive for his confidence as well. He looked sharp, Gakpo got the two assists, and another clean sheet is a big positive.
Plenty still to improve, but for the first time in a while it feels like we’re heading in the right direction.
Very encouraging start under Iraola.
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Not sure the keeper was bad for the second. He came out so Isak couldn´t get a left foot shot off.
He only opened it up for the left foot shot with that great bit of footwork, using the defender to block the keeper.
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We are clearly still a major work in progress. We aren’t fully up to speed yet, but that was significantly more promising. Some people are desperate to jump on the players’ backs, but this is the situation we have right now. I am hopeful that things will turn out well, because ultimately, this will determine the success of the season. I look forward to seeing how the chemistry between the players develops now.
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Very happy for Isak, two very well taken goals and showed very clever movement. Very glad to see Gakpo have a great game as well. All defenders besides Kerkez played very well today, the more defensive Araujo was a good choice from Iraola today.
It was clear that Iraola told them to save energy and take foot off the gas, but its a tough place to do so with such a tight pitch and physical opposition, the game became quite chaotic but still we were professional enough.
Wirtz wasn’t particularly good today, I think his game suffered most after the break, but didn’t think he was bad in the first half. I don’t get how so many posters feel the need to always find someone to complain about. The same people were complaining about Isak in the last post match thread and now the pick is wirtz when Isak has a brace.
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Didn’t see the first half as I didn’t want to get up before 04:00, so I can’t say I was all that impressed by that performance. It sounds like were much better in the first half. The goals looked very slick. Many thanks to @SixpenceNun.
It was good to get a clean sheet but we allowed them too much possession near our goal area towards the end. Jacquet looked tired towards the end. Not fully match fit yet.
Other gripe, the ref, how did we not get the foul on Gakkers, when he was taken out late after releasing the ball, looked very close to a penalty and was right under the refs nose and especially after last weeks penalty.
Shocking.
Just seen the replay actually should have been a penalty.
Obviously VAR is only to be used against us.
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I’ve never seen a microphone shake so much in the hand of someone whose job it is to hold one.
Iraola saying Jacquet was tired but had to stay on and play through that suffering to push his fitness level for the future.
Makes sense. Might be why he kept Wirtz on too.
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Thought I’d entered some sort of alternative Universe after 10 minutes.
After that we reverted to our usual un-clinical self. Always feel we are one fuck-up from conceding but fortunately Ipswich didn’t have much to offer.
Araujo needs to stay at RB. VVD looked more like himself. MacAllister had another decent game. Wirtz game of 2 halves.
Really like the look of Munoz, pacey and direct. Gakpo 2 assists.
It’s amazing what can happen when you play to the strengths of your CF.
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After 25 minutes the foul count was 0-8 despite us being 2-0 up and having more possession. Reminded me of Palace away a few seasons back when it was 0-13 at H/T despite us leading 1-0 and having something like 75% possession.
Maybe they’re playing some sort of game where they see how long they can go before giving us a FK. Ridiculous I know…
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I’ll be honest, I thought JJ was very lucky not to get a second yellow, had a few very close calls almost immediately after his first.
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He shouldn’t have got a 1st!
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