Didn’t see anything today to surprise me. We’ve been dogshit for 18 months with no sign of improvement.
1st goal was diabolical, Grav should have got the shot off and VVD’s defending was what we’ve become accustomed to, which is half-arsed and passive. Surely there are times when you have to engage the man on the ball instead of backing off 4 or 5 yards away?
Great goal by Cody to get us back into it. At that point I said to my lad there’s no way we can lose this now and bang, 2 minutes later they’ve fucking walked right through us again.
Cody was the pick-out of the “exciting front 4”( 
G. Neville). I’d describe it as piss-poor myself. Wirtz and Isak look a waste of 1/4 billion quid and I’m sorry, I just don’t see what Ngumoha brings to the table. One for the future maybe but right now he should be coming on off the bench when we’re ahead. Munoz must start next Saturday.
Dom took his pen well but fuck me, do Sky have to use that angle? It makes the goal look like a Subbuteo net.
Iraola has his work cut out. We look a mid-table side with fuck all depth in the squad. Said plenty of times we needed a clear out and at least 7 quality signings and we’ve failed miserably on both counts. A defensive mid and a right-back are priority and another CB, CM and LW wouldn’t go amiss. I doubt we’ll sign any and end up with Dom at RB and Grav at CB.
Jacquet looked decent.
I’ve said for a long time it’s a thankless task being LFC’s CF. Starved of service and end up dropping deeper and deeper to try to get involved.
That said I haven’t been impressed with Isak at all. He doesn’t look that arsed to me.
Agree about Wirtz too, he’s clearly talented but it looks like he’s just not suited to the PL.
I know. Not blaming him, but he didn’t cover himself in glory either.
I’ll echo some of the sentiments here. I expected it to be a bit disjointed just by virtue of it being a new head coach (and the third in four years for many of these players). Plus, Iraola’s system is known for taking time to adapt to - Bournemouth were winless in their first nine under him. It’s going to take a couple months to get this flowing, especially if we’re adding new players before the end of the window. Our pressing will be far more effective one everyone beds in and their fitness levels adjust. And the players will go from understanding the system conceptually to actually applying it in an efficient and effective way.
Still, I expected better from some of these players. Rio looked like he didn’t have a clue. Isak looked very frustrated, and like he was waiting for this match to be over. Wirtz made a few great passes, but otherwise seemed to be on the periphery. I expected more from Kerkez, especially, as he played under Iraola a year ago. Van Dijk and Jacquet did not cover themselves in glory on the goals we gave up. Far too passive.
And while Gakpo looked bright and far more involved than he was at any point last year, he still ignored the passes that were there for him. He had Isak open on a counter and ignored him only to be tackled. He ignored overlaps from Kerkez far too often. If you don’t make those overlapping passes, you leave defenders vulnerable against speed merchants like Elanga who can leave their defenders and just wait for the counter. You have to keep them honest and force them to defend.
On the plus side, Munoz was very solid, showing us why we need pacey, man-beating wingers to make this all work. Plus, there were multiple moments during the match where you could see the outlines of the way this will all work once it comes together.
All in all, 2-2 at St. James’ Park is an acceptable result. Hopefully we’ll see some improvement going forward.
From a coaching perspective, there is certainly lot to analyze after this match and a need to show the team exactly how to handle certain situations better. At this stage, mistakes can actually be useful; viewed positively, they offer an opportunity to work on specific aspects and make the players aware of where things are going wrong. It will certainly take time, but I am curious to see the reaction and whether this leads to initial improvements. Even small steps would be enough for me—the main thing is that development is moving in the right direction.
Is that AI???
And not Iraola.
I don’t think the second goal is scored if Araujo is on the pitch.
Or if Grav is off it.
When you see
McConnell blocked from going to Preston on loan and being on the bench with no midfielders out injured tells us all we need to know.
Frustrating performance with some good points and lots of bad. I was expecting to come here and find people howling about Kerkez’s inability to do anything well and can’t understand why he’s getting such an easy ride. He’s clearly not the brightest spark maybe that explains why his decision making is so dire. He can’t defend for toffee but then neither can Frimpong. VVD was poor today and I couldn;t count the number of times I was yelling ‘put a tackle in’ as he did his Mr Cool ‘shepherding the attacker’, which is actually a euphemism for letting them run at us. Either way it cost us two goals but the way midfield was non-existent on their counters was just as scary.
There was a disappointing lack of cohesion after a decent pre-season, especially between midfield and attack and it’s becoming more and more obvious that we simply do not have a good passer who can play in our attackers. Grav and Szob like to run with it when an early pass would be a quicker transition. When they do pass it’s usually misdirected or mistimed. He didn’t shower himself with glory Isak (especially the skied shot towards the end ffs) but there were numerous times when he got between their defenders and was there for the through-ball but it never came.
For me midfield is our problem area because nobody is in control and running the show there. Wirtz was okay for me but there’s nobody rotating around him for give and gos and we clearly need something else, which is probably a No.6.
Can I also say that when we pass on a fast break it is frustratingly always direct to the player’s feet and not into the space ahead so he can run onto it. This slows down our transition because the player is waiting for the ball arrive instead of running forward. It’s not rocket science.
The good stuff was Jacquet who was very good and Araujo who is exactly what we needed VVD to be today - getting physical with them and challenging for the ball.
Gakpo was excellent and dishing out humble pie to all who would have him sold. Our best player by far today. Subs were great with Munoz the standout for his aggressive speedy running - way better than Rio and must start next game. Credit to Koumas too for stretching them and being aggressive.
That’s it really but we simply must address teams being allowed to run right through us in midfield. Credit to the boys for not giving up like last season and although we still look soft there was a determined look to us, albeit against a castrated Newcastle side that will struggle this season.
I agree, but it kind of back fired because Koumas showed more intent, and threat in his brief cameo than players we have spent fortunes on.
I still don’t get what Frimpong offers apart from being fast.
I personally felt we should have took Frimpong off for Araujo and reverted to a back 3.
Frimpong cannot defend but he’s not as bad as Kerkez. Kostas is way more reliable for me and can cross, unlike Milos who should have put an easy one on Isak’s noggin in the second half
Sorry but that is wrong it was Szob that was behind their player, goal side who let him turn and beat him if he hadn’ over committed then Wirtz would have won the ball or Wissa would have turned into Szob.
Your hate for Wirtz is laughable blaming him there!
Ah welcome to the new season…
I disagree 
Kerkez makes blocks, defends 1 on 1s like a full back should. He had a tough game today and maybe didn’t perform at his best, but in my opinion Frimpong offers nothing. He gets bullied, he doesn’t win headers, he can’t beat people, when defending his positioning is lacking and in today’s game alone got caught with his body square to the attacker.
He comes across as a nice person and on the back of that I have willed him on but I just don’t see a player in him.
I think both fullbacks should be staying back after training and just hit cross after cross after cross.
Also, we miss the likes of Hendo, if the ball was played back to him from the RW on the right side, you knew it was going to be crossed in and the attackers knew and would make runs accordingly.
Tell me today when Frimpong was beaten by his opposite number, he had no issues today defensively, on the ball poor but did his job well when defending and so did Kerkez.