Hugo needs to play as well though, so Gakpo should be dropped or Salah. He can’t become another Chiesa when he seems the most inform attacker we have.
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The team comes first, ahead of individual cases. For me, Ekitike should’ve started against Forest, but I also know we don’t know everything behind the scenes. We cannot now just go full “let’s get Isak into shape”. We have points to win and we’ve lost a ton in last weeks. Build him with coming off the bench and starting some games in which it makes more stylistical sense than against Forest.
I also don’t like the lazy shouts of a front 3 that would be Salah on the right, Ekitike on the left and Isak.
That doesn’t seem like a good fit at all.
We cannot continue with the same under-performing starting 11 and clueless tactics game after game. Players like Chiesa, Gomez, Endo etc should be given playing time - this will reduce fatigue/injuries and give us more options going forward.
Do I expect Slot to do this? Nope…
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I’m alright with some changes, but changes that make sense altogether, not random and just because a few of them are out in the cold. Gomez? Yes. Be it at RB or CB. Chiesa a bit more? Yeah, why not. Endo? I don’t see the point, with all of our midfielders fit.
Yeah whatever
(Those are my expectations)
(As discussed in the AS manager thread) we got a number of things wrong in the preseason and now getting a number of things wrong on the pitch. Plus a number of things wrong in the injury department.
His knee seems fucked given that he needed painkilling injections on it.
Given how fragile he already is, just for the sake of his career and resale value, I would not start him.
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Since when do we use games to get players’ fitness back up especially given how unfit Isak is?
He needs both gym work and speed + speed endurance work. He is simply not fit to start any match for us right now.
Murillo made him look like a chump all game. We were practically playing with 10 outfield players. I didn’t even notice him until someone mentioned his name.
We won’t be able to sell Gomez, as I don’t think he would pass a medical. We’ll just have release him on a free at the end of his contract.
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Just to clarify, Gomez would make the medical, just getting injured during the medical is the problem.
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He’s our CB and RB backup on paper.
Might as well be in reality as well as he’s a durable as a piece of wet paper.
Not having a go at the lad, just his and our rotten luck.
He does need minutes in order to get himself match fit.
No training can replace that.
I made this point elsewhere but here goes. To even start a match you need a modicum of fitness base.
From my amateur eyes at the ground, Isak is far from it. He is lacking the strength and speed he showed for Newcastle last season. Also he took longer to recover from sprints than the other players on our team.
He is not ready for games yet. He will injure himself again at this rate.
His base isn’t there because he hasn’t had a proper preseason plus he’s been stagnant for a while.
He needs at least a month’s training block (as the tennis guys do) before he’s ready to work on match sharpness.
I think he’s gone past that stage.
Surely there’s a good balance between not playing him at all even at this stage and forcing starting him in games in a row (not what we’ll do anyway) in order to get him match fit as soon as possible.
There are different stylistical games, opponents, situations off the bench, that will allow us to do that. Against Forest, I don’t think he was the right fit, but there you go.
I know he didn’t have a pre-season, but that doesn’t mean he should not play in 2025. We try to build him up with training and games, there’s nothing else we can do.
He had the latest Swedish camp in which he wasn’t used, Slot said it would’ve been useful if he got some game time.
He needs rhythm now, match intensity. He will not reach that by training alone (no matter how intense it it, there’s not even enough training at the moment when you’re in congested schedule) and not playing.
That said, Ekitike (and of course we can’t expect him to score in every game, if that’s the criticism he’s also getting lately) is ahead of him, but we have many games and there will be enough opportunities for Isak to play and prove himself. Salah is also off to Africa soon.
I thought Macca had turned the corner after Madrid.
Looks like he’s back to bad Macca again
Many things are not linear.
But it’s true that Mac returning to 100% is taking longer than hoped/expected.
Not helped by the fact that we are not compact enough.
Hang on.
You’re saying our no one option centre forward wasn’t the right choice for facing Nottingham Forest??
Well then either he wasn’t fit and strong enough, in which case he needs gym and sprinting training.
Or we have a £125m problem on our hands
He’s not our number one option at the moment, the price doesn’t dictate that.
I was thinking why Slot went with him ahead of Ekitike (like I did against United), but stylistically, Ekitike would’ve been the better choice.
Reasons: Forest sitting deep most of the time and also us playing Szobo at RB, which meant our midfield shape was without a #10, which created a disconnection centrally between our midfielders and Isak.
I thought Ekitike’s link up play would be a better fit and then Isak coming off the bench, either instead of him or to compliment him, if we’re struggling to break Forest down or chase the game.
Mate, this is not a weightlifting competition, he does gym training on every training day… now he needs to remain fit (goes without saying), train further and match fitness. Which you get in - matches.
And as for the problem, we can call it whatever we want, but yeah, there are questions aimed at the decision makers how they imagined all this. I also spent the second part of the summer in questions, not really knowing what are we trying to build.
Right now though, we shouldn’t care about who cost how much, but bloody find and create a team that has sense and balance, to turn performances and results.
Long term, how that plays out, we’ll see.
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I was ready to pull my hair out as it was happening yards in front of me. Given the ball to Mo and leave him completely isolated against two defenders wtf?
Then pass the ball in and out of the box, proceed to lose possession and get countered.
Yeah, guess we will. I’ve just got a bad first impression of the entire thing, the player fit and the tactics.
I’m also very suspicious how this works with both Ekitike and Isak long term.
Short term, right now we have to find a functional team, regardless of names and prices.
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