Atleti did their homework dilligently and recognised Rio possessed more threat to them than BB… 
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It had more to do with Atletico’s change of formation. It seemed like they were going to line up with Hancko at LB in a back 4, but they went out in a 3-5-2 shape. Baena coming inside and Lee being the right sided forward. Alvarez was not going to start according to Simeone at the presser, but he said post-match that he talked to him the morning of the game and decided he would.
Iraola said he was satisfied how we managed to somewhat adapt around mid-point in the first half by getting some messages across and then at HT. He kept the wingers on the sides at which they started the game though. I just thought that this early in Barcola’s career here and having Ngumoha as the second winger, I wanted Barcola to be in his best position and more involved.
Ngumoha did improve at the start of the second half especially and Barcola really should have scored with that chance in front of the Kop.
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I can’t come to any other conclusion. Losing Trent was the single biggest loss for this team. He is in his prime and his ridiculous passing ability from deep gave us control and fantastic attacking variety.
Bigger than losing Diaz, Jota (RIP), Nunez,
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Can we get him back…would he come back…???
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Nah losing Mo at his peak!
The other day again, I would’ve preferred Gakpo to come on his best side and Ngumoha to go on the right.
Having wingers able to play both sides is nice and in this case it’s coupled with a head coach that wants to do it, but I hope we don’t get lost by changing it too much.
Of course, it’s still early and some position need to crystalize themselves.
Lacking a bit of sharpness at the moment other than Isak and Gakpo (who hasn´t played recently).
Of course lacking creativity behind them as Wirtz is not at his best and the midfield, which we all can see, but in terms of the sharpness I think it will come soon. We have seen them looking dangerous as individuals already and with time, we´ll see a unit. Barcola hasn´t scored but he´s got in the positions and Muñoz got a great goal and you can see his threat.
No concerns from me at this stage. Isak looks more and more sharp, which is encouraging. That dribble which led to a shot was top class and his left foot effort was great too from a tight angle.
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Nah, I didn’t think that left-footed attempt from Isak was good. He didn’t even need to shoot immediately, the position was tight of course and the whole technique wasn’t good.
I think he could have taken a touch to bring him nearer the centre and open up his body even for the right foot shot.
But having taken the shot from that angle I think he couldn´t have done much better. Bit of swerve on it to get it into the corner but otherwise very very difficult to score from that angle with the direction he was running.
He went inside of the foot, I think. I have no idea how he thought he could score from there with that approach. Probably not even force a rebound or a corner.
I think laces but he needed hit it absolutely perfectly like that, maybe with an inch of room for error. I think outside of the foot so it went away from the keeper then swerved in, was his best chance. But still so difficult from there.
Hadnt really thought about it but taking a touch was probably a good option. Roll his foot over it onto his right foot.
Isak is really painful to watch. If that’s sharp I hate to imagine what he’ll offer when not sharp.
You just can not find a ‘striket’ with less presence on the field.
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See last season.
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Did he play?
Isak is a very good striker and finisher. We need to find a way to get him involved more and get the ball to him in areas he’s effective. A striker doesn’t need to touch the ball 50 times to be effective (see Haaland for reference). We have new players on the wings and a new manager. Give it time. He’ll be ok.
He has occasional flashes of brilliance from what I’ve seen. No real presence most of the time and his movement, reaction and agresivity is useless when crosses come in.
There’s an incredible amount to improve.
Improvement needed for sure. The service from wide areas (from fullbacks primarily) has been atrocious. How is Isak to know where to make a run if he has no idea where the ball will be played. That has to be incredibly frustrating. Also, in the match against Fulham, he made a vertical run between two defenders into the box towards the goal and Wirtz played the wrong ball that ended up going out of play. If that had been played to his feet instead of into space outside of the defender Isak likely would have finished that. It’s absolutely not all on Isak.
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Are you watching Isak?
Let’s stop polishing shit please.
It’s the overall contribution that matters.