Kerkez has been solid now for 4-5 games and you see the energy and we also know he can produce quality going forward. Not too sure what criticism he received for his play on here?
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Federico Chiesa on Salah chance
āI wanted Salah to score the goal. Maybe the pass wasnāt good enough, so Iāll take the blame.ā
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I always think we leave ourselves one short somewhere but CB really is one we should have sorted this summer.
Konateās contract situation, Gomez 's fitness issues, van Dijkās age and Leoniās relative inexperience meant we really should have made sure of the Guehi deal rather than leaving it so late and getting played by Palace.
Hoping itās lined up for January 1st.
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I agree. weāre now in the situation of having only two fit centre backs. We donāt know how long Gomez will be out either. Van Dijk was overplayed last season and the same is happening again, only heās a year older. At some point Konate will get injured, he always does. We really need to sign two defenders in January.
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Not on here but on other platforms he gets lots.
To be fair heās had some poor stuff written about him on here and I continued to make the point that he was left back of the year and he doesnāt
automatically become shit overnight. Glad he is coming on and starting to show the form of last year. Too many people are too quick to judge players and this forum isnāt immune to that.
The season we have had probably doesnāt help to be fair. He is certainly possibly someone you can put in the translation bracket for players who needed to transition
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I thought Frimpongās injury situation was a case of the club rushing him back too quickly from his first injury out of desperation, rather than him being fit and then breaking down with a fresh one?
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It seems to be the same thing, but I had expected him back before now. Itās one of those things that you couldnāt have expected or predicted.
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Didnāt have a chance to watch this until last night. Happy with the victory and the clean sheet. A few thoughts:
Good things:
- Curtis Jones - sublime. Yeah, sometimes he takes unnecessary risks in possession (his dribbling display when having the ball next to his own goal was nerve-wracking), but its his fearlessness which makes it frustrating for opponents and makes him a joy to watch.
- Joe Gomez was playing excellently until his injury. That header for Hugoās first goal was brilliant; and he was great otherwise. Itās unfortunate that thereās some sort of rule which requires Joe Gomez to get injured every time he looks like heās settled into his position.
- With Gomezās withdrawal came one silver lining - which is Mo got to get on the pitch. Mo was lively and engaged. Itās clear that Arne gave him a mandate to help more defensively, which was a bonus. He wasnāt the most clinical in attack, but he was dangerous. I especially appreciated something which was too often missing throughout these past few months - the return of Mo acting as a creator of chances rather than simply as a taker/finisher. Mo has long had the ability to terrorize backlines with his crosses, passes, and creative abilities. But too often throughout these past several months, Mo has eschewed looking for his teammates to dribble into dead ends and take terrible shots. I was glad I saw him trying to set up his teammates. That corner was beautiful.
- Hugo Ekitike - no matter what happens with our 2025 summer transfer contingent, signing Ekitike has proven to be a masterstroke. What a player.
- Wirtz looked quite dangerous; heās so close to just blowing teams away. Heās basically one touch or completed dribble away from multiple goal opportunities. Heās getting stronger and adapting to the physicality of the league. I think thereās a real chance that heāll be our very best player by the end of this season.
Nervy things:
- Weāre still too open defensively; Brighton had so many good chances to score.
- Szobo getting injured. Him missing time would be catastrophic. He, Grav, Virgil, and Ibou are basically undroppable now because of the lack of depth at their positions.
- Isak looked so off the pace it was almost embarrassing. I hope whatever knock he sustained is the cause, because sometimes he didnāt even make an effort.
Other things:
- Interesting decision to have Robbo play almost as a left winger in the second half with Kerkez behind him. Obviously not a sustainable option longterm, but in the short term, it can be a nice option to exploit Robboās technical abilities going forward while allowing him and Kerkez to tagteam any threats in defense.
- Weāre two points out of fourth, and 10 points out of first. Yes, the title is all but done, except we were up 7 points on January 3, 2019 before City stormed back to win the title. So, I would never bet on it, but I wonāt say anything is out of reach if we can lock in and go on a sustained run. But we will need reinforcements, especially in the back line. Guehi is a must.
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Thatās why I stay off those super niche porn websites! 
www.callingkerkezdirtynames.com
www.new-left-back-signing-abuse-society.ca
think Lady luck was shining on us, because of the chances Brighton had to score. Yes, we could have scored more, but the chances they had were more heart-stopping. (Gomes chance and Mitoma chance spring to mind). Anyway 3 points and movement in the right direction concerning the table. Feel for our Gomez, and hopefully he recovers sooner than soon (being optimistic)
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Just got round to watching the match.
Yes, Brighton could have had a couple, but we had chances too. It could have been 4-2 or something. We were definitely the better side.
They should have played the second half with ten men. That assault on Wirtz was criminal.
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Much better, all around.
Ekitike really good. So was Wirtz. So was Jones.
Packing the midfield a bit more gives us control, which gives us a platform to try to claw a little bit of form back. Weāve been so bad for so long that Iām reluctant to say this or that, but we do need a good run in this positive direction to even start to make up for it!
Salah played for the team, which was good to see. Chasing back, pressing a bit more. I donāt know if the instruction given to him by Slot has changed, but he was a different player in looking for the others. Conversely, they tried to look for him too, and you could see they wanted him to score. Chiesaās selfless comment above epitomizes that attitude.
Weāll see what happens with Mo in January, Good luck at AFCON, and hopefully he comes back and plays with the same sort of spirit we saw against Brighton.
Shame about Joe Gomez. Unfortunately we all knew it was just a matter of time.
Nice that we now have a week between games to get some rest and recovery and training into those players, as needed.
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Come on @Walshy07. Arenāt you going to ask how my u11s got on?
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I guess they lost
My almost certainly AI debated Facebook made up content claims Joe faked his injury so Mo would get a farewell game.
So I expect Joe to be back in the bench next week.
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Just in case.
5 games unbeaten
