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srsmithusa

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Everything posted by srsmithusa

  1. after there is a goal or two, the game will open up. when the match is more open, with more space, Diaby will come on.
  2. Tielemans is better in tight spaces where incisive movements and passes are key, Diaby is better in open spaces where speed and movement are key. I think the line-up reveals what Unai is expecting from Lille.
  3. 10 -15 minutes of completely unacceptable defending. You cannot be satisfied with a. o.K. positioning thinking it’s likely they wont get to it. Every moment needs to feel life and death stakes to have their forward controlled with a “ no way he’s playing this ahead of me”. Attitude. instead we got a “we’re better and have a two goal lead, good enough effort is fine” attitude. orher than that completely unacceptable, intolerable, run all week and still lose starting in the next match lapse, it was a good day. Well done lads.
  4. commentators say that we have not won here since Martin O'neal and John Carew, but some of ya'll act like it was a certain win if we had only started different unhurt players.
  5. IMO subs came too late. Zaniolo, Rogers, and Luiz were dead on their feet.
  6. i would suspect that Darren England has not booked a player for simulation in this league.
  7. he's not eligible to enter as a sub. they are. BTW spoonful of cinnamon works better than imodium.
  8. Alex Moreno was clearly not at his best. But I think that was partly a chosen strategy from wolves, based on our clear intent, from our likely, and announced starting roster (and the fact that Cash was hurt). When you see that our back 4 is Konsa, Carlos, Torres, and Moreno its doesn't take a genius to realize that Morena will be used farther forward as much as possible, leaving a back 4. Wolves then lined up with Ait-Nouri, a very attack minded and skilled left back and shifted to play him in the left side of a back three. The also rotated their left and right midlfielders to take turns attacking down their right. Their clear intent was to attack down our left pinning Moreno back and wearing him out, it worked for a while. Early on, thet pinned him back more than we wanted, and when he did attack, either feeling rushed or pressured or tiring, his crossed were pretty abysmal by his usual standards. Rogers was not as strong a defensive cover as was Zaniolo, his redeeming factor was how he carried the ball through traffic who were more handsy and grabby that I was when I first started driving my own dates out for an evening. (In fact, I voted Luiz MOTM mostly because he endured the entire match with hands pushing, pressuring and pulling on him so frequently it made me feel sorry for the ladies who suffered under my over-exuberance.) Even Emi's incredible save from Ait-Nouri resulted from the repeatedly attacking our left which drew us left and pretty much the whole match was being played down or left. Konsa was drawn toward the left which left Nouri unmarked behind him. Things changed when we started attacking more on the right, mostly Diaby and Bailey, with good support from Konsa. Their right side had to stay back to protect against crosses going to their right side. IMO that's why the momentum shifted well before halftime and well before Digne and Zaniolo came on. They were excellent but to say that Moreno and Rogers were awful was to completely miss what was happing in the strategies of the match.
  9. Good observation, but I think the managers that do well with positional philosophies tend to be those with significant resources to recruit and sign the player skills that suit the role. IMO, thinking positional in your recruiting is ideal, but thinking in a player capabilities mode is essential to succeed when you have multiple injuries and availability issues. I think the best managers are able to do both and switch based on the resources available.
  10. Team shape is always interesting but it's entirely abstract. It depends entirely on the skills and capabilities of your roster. If you don't have speed, you cannot play high pressure, or a high line, or a counter-attacking strategy. Part of our problem this season is that Mings, Pau, Longlet are all most natural and comfortable at LB. Similarly, for our double pivot, Kamara and Luiz are great. Kamara more comfortable and effective more defensive, Luiz more comfortable and effective more attacking. But with Kamara out. Tielmans, McGinn, Luiz are all more attacking. So, does someone play outside of comfort? Both of double pivot play outside comfort? or change to a different midfield scheme. Even though Emory prefers the double pivot and we've had great success, we might be better to shift to a diamond midfield to push Luiz, McGinn, or Tielmans much farther forward. But that might mean that a back 5 with attacking wingbacks might suit us better. Shape must follow player abilities, not vice versa.
  11. So, does a free kick coach work on both the attacking and defending of free kicks? I somehow thought McPhee only dealt with attacking. And those have improved. But are the defending free kicks part of his responsibility?
  12. That last line is quite the condemnation. You must not have read any of my posts.
  13. Honestly think any of the three subs could easily deserve MOTM, but it's hard for me to give MOTM to someone who only plays 45 of it, after the opponent is tiring. On that bias alone, I gave it to Torres.
  14. I'm going to disagree. The more obvious first. When he threw the ball away to delay a throw in, the WH were screaming for a caution and to be consistent, the ref should have given it, having just booked them for delaying our restart. I agree with you that he was pulled back, but the ref did not call it. The problem was, after the ball was away, he waited until the defender was stepping over him and then jumped up into the oppenents leg and then squared up like he had been offended. It was stupid as it gave the referee the easy out of booking them both. If he had just waited to stand up rather than trying to jump into the opponent, or even just acted like the whole thing was just a coming together it would be much more intelligent and controlled.
  15. I think Zani has some great potential, but he gets and earns stupid cautions every single match. Could have (perhaps should have) gotten a second stupid caution for a red today (throwing the ball away). Having passion deos not mean that you can't also be too smart to risk stupid cards.
  16. the block was brilliant. Celebrating it so emphatically was the icing.
  17. Thank you for reminding me that VT can always find a way to moan. Even when the manager tries something and makes the right subs when the roster is threadbare, and we've pulled back to a draw and showing some attacking menace, use that exact time to complain about a decision the manager made 2 hours ago. Find the cloud i every silver lining.
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