poitier

I'm not his biggest fan but he was very good today until he faded, might even say that was the best performance I have seen from him. Hope he can sustain that level.

He was very good at times today, showed some promise.

He played well today, but his inability to take on a defender when going forward is getting annoying.

You can already see how he has developed and improved as a player under Pep.

In before the pundits.

I only saw the last 25 mins, but he was quality. Great composure, brought the the ball forward well, and some very creative passing.

20 minutes ago, weedman said:

Dear god if Foden had done that they'd still be talking about it now! 

If Firmino had done it, Jamie Carragher would have exploded.

5 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Think GS will play it safe and go with Rashford and Sterling. As boring as that sounds.

I don't think so, Southgate has acknowledged that both have been out of form, and Sterling hasn't played in any of the warm ups so I don't think they will be the two right from the start.

I thought the commentary/punditry seemed fairly negative towards him given that, apart from a couple of fairly minor errors in the first half, he was generally sound.

From what I have heard from previous England get togethers, the other players really rate Jack and like playing with him, so I think he will be in the squad no problem.

Looked like minimal contact so shame he rolled around in agony, but Azpilicueta knew himself that if you put your arm in like that you run the risk of being sent off, he accepted it without too much fuss.

Good first half, poor second. Recurring theme.

35 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Yes, he sometimes gives the ball away, but I love the fact that it doesn't stop him from being brave.

He's always looking to move us up the field, through a turn or an unexpected pass.  He'll get better at knowing when to take risks, but the important thing is that he's willing to take them.

Strange you should say that, I think the complete opposite. I think he is far too timid in his passing, and the pass he plays is rarely the unexpected one. He seems happy to pass the ball back to Mings to boot up the pitch rather than play it forward himself.

I thought he did ok tonight.

We have had several games where Ollie has barely had a kick due to lack of service, so it is a problem with the team play rather than the striker to a large degree. Barkley didn’t do him any favours either with his lack of support. If Davis isn’t getting the ball into him and nobody is getting close enough to benefit from the flick ons then he isn’t going to look very effective.

I thought he was very good second half.

Stick that one in your stats book...

I thought he was good first half, bar one poor misplaced pass. I do think he was at fault for the goal, don't know if he was just tiring so much that he just couldn't follow the run. Even so, I wouldn't have taken him off.

Hope the injury isn't too bad. I thought he made a decent fist of it today considering how very many times we hoofed balls up for him to compete in the air for them. What a crazy game plan.

Poor performance and poor subs.

Our bench is frighteningly poor.

Wow, he used his right foot!

He knows himself he isn't up to speed yet. He has a bit of pace and gets around the pitch, but at the moment most of his passes seem to get blocked before he can get them away. One for next season.

I only thought he looked really good in one game, against Everton. He was playing quite well in the game he got injured. Scored a couple against  Norwich city's makeshift defence.

Other than that, not much.

14 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Unfortunately, once certain players have a stigma around around them, or it's fashionable for them to be ' shit ' it's a long way back for them.

It baffles me how people can't see what he offers.

In probably his first move of the game, he held off a defender, controlled and rolled the ball off his chest into the path of one of our players to fashion a chance.

He has strength where Ollie lacks it, he can hold a ball where Ollie couldn't, simply due to strength.

They could be great foil for each other in the right setup.

He allows other players to come into the game and creates another dynamic.

Sadly, his cameos and minutes have been so short over the years, due to a multitude of factors, its easy to just point to his 'record. In black and white without acknowledging the variables.

I think he'll possibly be off in the summer, but it will sadden me as I feel he has everything to be a great player.

Completely agree with this, he has real potential but he just isn't getting the chance to develop here.

He was frustrating today, quite often he did the hard part of collecting a long ball under pressure but then gave it away with a lazy lay off. He had some nice link up play with AEG at times though.