Yeah it’s a dumb stat just designed to make it look like we couldn’t do anything but anyone who watched the game would have seen that Liverpool were good for the majority of it. Mac Allister should have scored, Isak should have had a penalty, Wirtz hit the bar - and we were playing against the reigning PL champions who stacked all 11 players behind the ball. It’s obviously tough to break down.
Didn’t Ngumoha also have a shot that was on target then deflected out for a corner?
Anyway, we played well. I don’t see why it needs a major dissection and questioning of every player’s abilities. It’s ok to lose a game every so often. The only question for me would be what we can do to keep Nyoni in the team because our structure really breaks down with Szoboszlai and Mac Allister in the deep roles, they are struggling to be disciplined enough to play enough.
He’s peripheral the whole game unless he gets a tap-in or a decent through ball, something which he isn’t going to get too often in this team. The 2 he got at Ipswich are complete outliers.
There was a moment late on yesterday when he came over by the touchline by the SKD stand and I’d completely forgotten he was still on the pitch. I genuinely couldn’t remember him being involved at any point during the 2nd half.
His reaction after the shirt pull was shocking, like he was playing in a fucking charity match or something.
He’s got no fight, no heart, nothing.
I think in the 4-2-3-1 he can’t drop in as much as he has previously. That’s Wirtz space. He’s playing in more of a Haaland role. Maybe he doesn’t get as many touches but is ruthless around goal. It didn’t work against Arsenal but doesn’t mean he’s not being effective. He’s scoring in general so hard to argue it’s not working. When he doesn’t score it looks like he doesn’t do anything. Same goes for Haaland, though.
This is where I am. I commented during the game that it was one that had parallels to one from earlier in Arteta’s tenure the season before they would mount their first title challenge. We won that game, but for an hour or so it was a hell of a contest with Arsenal giving as good as they got. But the important context was it was a game between a side at the peak of its powers several years into a cycle vs a side only starting to emerge. That was the performance that demonstrated to a lot of people there was something legit they were building towards. The following summer they brought in Gabriel, Zinchenko and brougth back Saliba and found themselves in a title race and haven’t looked back since. That’s how the game felt to me as it was playing out.
If I have to view it as a glass half empty situation though is we already had our 3 x 100m forwards on the pitch. It was the 7 players behind them who gave the team the platform to be so on top in the game and it is these exact situations, where you’re up against a resolute defensive effort, that this expensive attacking talent is supposed to show its value. Its far less easy for me to point to where our next step forward comes from with this team than it was to do that with that Arsenal side. But I think if we play game 5 times we probably win 3 of them so maybe that is enough and it doesnt warrant such teeth gnashing
We also appear to have had two that Opta just chose to ignore or in one case (a long range dipper from Mac that failed to dip) that they initially tallied a shot on target and then later changed. It honestly feels like some sort of prediction market manipulation.
But yeah as you say, even if it were technically true, it does not mean what so many are taking it to mean. We had a high number of total shots some of which were just wasted but less quality a chance as a result, and some of which were blocked by a rear guard defensive effort and so didnt registered in the stats. But those are just as likely to get deflected into the goal or into the path of another forward as they are to go out for a corner. We just didnt get the rub from any of them.
I am happy for people to condemn it. But if you take that position then hold the line on it properly. In the Foden and Bentacur red cards save your criticism for Bruno and Shaw, not the player who got sent off as a result of pretty transparent play attacking.
Putting aside the farce of Isak’s should-be pen, I’ll say that I see promise in what Iraola is building with this side. We are not quite in the title picture, but we’re much closer then the point totals suggest. And that’s still with a side that’s bedding in Iraola’s tactical approach. There is something to look forward to.
Noway is Wirtz a passenger. I’d agree he isn’t offering what many thought he would and probably should be.
Yes we need more from him offensively however that could be said of a number of our players at the moment.
I suppose we’ll see. Personally I wish Nyoni was a bit older and experienced to provide that midfield spark we seem to lack that could unlock Wirtz.
I thought Wirtz was better than Ødegaard.
I thought Wirtz was very solid against Arsenal. But we brought in players like Wirtz and Isak and Barcola in order to beat compact defenses like Arsenal’s, and they failed to break through.
But the point here is that putting your head into the head of another player is an act of aggression. It shouldn’t be that it needs to be hard enough for the player to go down for it to be punished.
However, what normally happens in situations like the Mac Allister one, if he stays on his feet, is he’ll get booked too as the ref sees it as six of one and half a dozen of the other even though there’s a clear aggressor in the situation.
If he stands his ground it’s pretty much a certain yellow for himself. If he goes down maybe they get a red and he avoids getting a card.
What’s inexplicable in this situation is Madueke is the aggressor and is already on a yellow and yet a second isnt shown despite Timber getting one. Maybe if Macca had stood his ground and pushed his head back Madueke would have been booked too but then you run the risk of him going down and Macca getting a red.
Basically a competent referee should give Madueke a second yellow no matter what Mac Allister’s reaction is. If he does, the media narrative changes too. It’d be “well it’s soft and Mac Allister makes the most of it but it’s silly if you’re already on a yellow as you’ve given the ref a decision to make.” The fact he doesn’t book him gives the rent-a-gobs a different narrative.
Yeah I dont disagree. I have a take on this that may not seem coherent but I both absolutely hate the entire game responds to these situations, but at the same time have zero sympathy for anyone who gets sent off when initiating this sort of head to head confrontation. You dont deserve a red for dangerous or violent play. You deserve it for being a fucking penis because you know the ref is going to send you off if the other guy throws himself on the ground.
Except for on Sunday and then I get angry at the ref and the people who inexplicably have done an about turn on when something that isnt really a headbutt but they pretend to believe it is, now accept it isnt.
I think Jaffod’s issue with the front 3 and Isak is that they have very little fight, they aren’t competing for the ball hard enough or making runs to make the game difficult for the defenders.
Just look at Rio or Munoz, they are at their defender all the time, they want to beat them and make something happen.
Look at the cross towards the end of the game where Munoz gets his head to it in between 2 towering defenders, compare that to Gakpo, Barcola or Isak all 6 foot plus and timid as.
Dom has played there and not delivered, remember Slot saying he needed more from him, Wirtz is a give and go type of player and apart from Hugo none of the ther forwards strike me as that and the movement of the forwards in general tends to be poor in condensed games where the opposition sit back.
