TomC

I don't know that you can call what he did today as the #10 role...he was a wide forward.

To be fair, Naka was showing signs of growing into a good DM. But we still need one, whether as cover for Naka, or (preferably) whether top-notch and keeping Naka for cover. I agree that Dougie is better used as an 8 than a 6. Even if you could bring in any two of Ruben Dias or Bonucci or Chellini or Thiago Silva or Van Dijk or anyone world class, I would still keep Mings around as cover. He's only one step short of world class. Why sell him? I disagree. We're narrow in defense, but in attack, the outer midfielders move out wide (today, McGinn on the left, Ramsey on the right), Cash and Targett move up and provide width too (albeit Targett not very well), even the wide forwards drift out (Buendia and Traore could both be found out wide today). Targett was poor today. He's not good enough to take us to the next level. Grealish helped hide his deficiencies, Gerrard's system has helped hide his deficiencies, but they're there. I wouldn't sell him; he's useful cover. See comment about Mings above.

Good observation. They were both excellent to start the match, but at that point, it seemed like neither of them wanted the ball to have another go. It was symptomatic of our decline. I think you're right about his defensive performance. It wasn't his best. My compliment above was about his play going forward; his distribution was good. I wasn't surprised. Traore wasn't going to last a whole match when he hasn't played in so long. I saw Gerrard say something complimentary about Trez's performance in training somewhere in the press this week. He gave Trez a chance. Trez won't get another one on that performance. Couldn't disagree more. They were pretty good against City a few days ago, at least in the 30m that I saw. They're the best of the three promoted teams and also are better than Burnley and Newcastle. I haven't seen much of Leeds this year, but they may be better than Leeds, too. Good observation.

We were great for 30 minutes, then lost all edge and all sense of urgency. Disappointing. We seemed to lose our shape, we started giving the ball away, supporting runs weren't there. After the poor end to the first half, I thought that Gerrard would give the players the hairdryer treatment and they'd come out sharp to start the second half, but they didn't. Buendia & Ramsey: At the heart of all that was right the first 30m; both faded. Ings: Not only does Watkins look better without Ings, but Ings looks better without Watkins. Which do you play? We missed Watkins' pressing. However, I thought Ings was closer to being on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. He anticipates Buendia's passes better. Dougie: Very good. Helped set up the goal. Traore: Rusty. McGinn: Mediocre. Targett: Regressed. 100% at fault for the second goal. Trezeguet: The acting for the "penalty" was disgraceful. Best of Brentford: Have to give it to Wissa. The first goal was class.

Agreed. I saw about 30 minutes of it. Despite missing several starters, when they had possession (which wasn't often), they caused City problems and were unlucky not to score. On the other end, while City were not as clinical as usual, they still held them to one goal, and that was only because of one ball-watching lapse. This will be a good test. The top 4 is still a long way off, but these are the sort of matches we need to win if we're going to progress into the top 8, which is the next step.

Agreed. He's a good presser, among other things. Couldn't hurt to give Archer a go, but maybe Ings deserves a go without Watkins given that we've tried the opposite. Ings does seem to have lost his shooting boots, though... He didn't have "zero personality" last year but I agree that he seems a bit more aloof, that he seems to be playing with a bit less joy this year. I agree 100% with your comment about ignoring teammates. He has been trying to force shots from bad positions when he should pass.

Maybe in the second half, but I thought he was good the whole first half...

Another decent performance against the top 3 that showed the narrow-but-significant gap between us and them... Ings and Watkins: Given all the possession we have, we should have had another goal. The fact that we didn't shows that our strikers are a problem right now. Ings continues to get into good positions but has lost his shooting boots. Watkins has been scoring when he gets into good positions, but continues to try to force things from bad positions. We need to do better up front. Sanson: My MOM. Best match I've seen him play in a Villa shirt. Not because he was spectacular, but he did a lot of good things and showed a touch of class. Dougie: I was curious how he'd react to playing deep again in Naka's absence after having more freedom under Gerrard. Did well with it. Ramsey: Have to mention him, too, because midfield as a whole looked good despite missing McGinn and Naka. Some good runs. Cash: Excellent except for two moments of madness, one of which proved costly. Targett: Getting back to his best defending. Crossing is still a little off, but getting better. Mings: Why oh why oh why didn't you jump? Martinez: He's Emi, need I say more? Best of Chelsea: I knew we were in trouble when Lukaku came on. He always plays well against us. As for Mendy...in the past, he's impressed me with his reflexes. Today, he impressed me with the Neuer sweeper-keeper imitation that cost us a couple opportunities.

10-39 released today. Other goalkeepers named are Donnarumma (#12), Mendy (#20), Oblak (#33), and Neuer (#36). Mendy's profile says he's the second highest goalkeeper on the list, so that means Donnarumma is the highest and no goalkeepers will be in the top 10 when released tomorrow. And that means that Emi is ranked as the fifth best goalkeeper in the world. For those not familiar with how the top 100 is chosen, the panel isn't a bunch of Guardian journalists. It's ex-players and journalists from every corner of the world, so it's truly a worldwide recognition.

The Guardian is releasing their 100 best footballers of 2021...and in the latest batch, Emi makes his first appearance on the list at #52. (9 slots ahead of Grealish, who is at #61, down from #59 in 2020.) The top 40 are yet to be released, but among #41-100, Emi is the highest goalkeeper so far, ahead of Courtois (#53), Alisson (#67), Ederson (#75), Schmeichel (#77), and Navas (#94). Finally some recognition!

We lacked a bit of a cutting edge at times today, but you know what…good teams find ways to win the games that they’re supposed to win. We should beat Norwich. And we did. So well done. A few comments… Ramsey: My MOM. Good game, not just because of the goal. Rest of midfield: McGinn and Luiz were both pretty good, if not quite their best. Young: Looked tired. Almost seemed to limp off when he was subbed. Needs a rest. Watkins: Still trying to force things too often. Chuk: Starting to look more comfortable. Deano: If he keeps Norwich up with that bunch, he’s a miracle worker.

I don't think of El Ghazi as a winger...he's more of a striker. But that's off topic so I'll leave it at that.

Sorry to sound like the former ref that I am, but it depends on how you read the exception. Putting numbers into the clause: "The ball is (1) between the hands or (2) between the hand and any surface (e.g. ground, own body) or (3) by touching it with any part of the hands or arms, except if the ball rebounds from the goalkeeper or the goalkeeper has made a save." Is the exception an exception to all of #1-3, or just to #3? I think that's an exception only to #3, because it makes no sense as an exception to #1. The ball wouldn't be between the hands if the ball has rebounded from the goalkeeper. The point of the exception is that, if you touch the ball to make the save but it rebounds from the arm and is no longer in contact with the arm, the mere fact that you touched the ball is not enough to be considered possession.

Sentimentality does not seem to be part of his personality at all...or at least his on-the-job personality.

I don't think too many people questioned his work on set pieces when we're attacking. We had a few set piece goals earlier in the season where he was rightfully praised (e.g. after Hause's winner against Man U). The question was whether he was helping us defend set pieces. We gave up quite a few goals from those late in Deano's reign.

And I've been one of his biggest defenders, but I think that we agree to some extent...he's all about what he does in the final third, the killer ball, the cleverness to find a way through the defence. He is no Grealish bringing the ball forward (not to say that he can't dribble at all). A more forward position benefits him...not as a striker, but feeding others by playing in the hole, or cutting in from the wings. He's certainly no regista. I don't think the club ever expected him to be a player of the same ilk as Grealish. I think Bailey was brought in to replace Jack's abilities carrying the ball through midfield, and Buendia to replace his abilities passing in the final third.

While I wouldn't put him on the level of Paul McGrath, he's like McGrath was in that he is making up for lack of pace in his old age with smarts.

The narrowness is the whole key to the system...clog the middle, contain on the sides. So far it seems to be very effective at preventing good scoring chances. It does allow the other side to pass the ball around and maintain possession...we've seen Palace, City, and Leicester hog the ball for long stretches, but mostly harmless possession on the periphery. (One of City's goals came on the counter, not after we had the formation set.) SG has said in the last two matches that we've been too passive during stretches, so maybe we'll see a little more aggressiveness in contesting those spells of possession. Fortunately, we've been winning lots of 50-50 balls, and once we get possession, we've gotten better at keeping it, too.

In the few matches that he played under Deano this year, I think that his passing had already improved. Maybe he worked on it during the summer. As for his defending...maybe it's the 3 man midfield and the way we use him in it? I'd have to go back and look how often he played in a 4-3-3 under Deano, but it seems to suit him. Or maybe SG has just given him some good advice in training.

That was a really good performance, at least in the 70 minutes I saw--I missed the first 20, when Leicester apparently had the upper hand. Did anyone have a bad game today? Not that I saw. You could nitpick a few things--Mings with an awful pass that nearly cost us a goal, Watkins really really should have passed the ball to Cash instead of shooting around 55'--but that is nitpicking. MOM for me? I would have said Ramsey until Konsa's second goal, but I have to vote for Konsa after that. I wasn't ready to fire Deano, but I have to say that Gerrard is getting more out of these players than Deano did. It's still early, but it's looking like the right move. If I can nitpick one thing about Gerrard today...the tactics were good, the first two subs were good, but why did he bring on Tuanzebe? Nothing against Tuanzebe's performance...but in the time between the second goal and the third sub, we were in "attack is the best defence" mode. You didn't think Leicester had a chance of getting back in the match because we hogged the ball. We looked a little like Man City Lite. After that sub, we retreated into a shell, and they looked dangerous again. I think that sub backfired. One person who did have an awful game? The ref. I can forgive him for disallowing Ramsey's goal. That was right on the borderline. I think that the ref may have gotten suckered by the slow motion replay; it made it look like Schmeichel had the ball for longer than he did. I think that it should have counted, but it could have gone either way. But...for the disallowed Watkins goal, he got suckered by a dive. Nakamba's yellow card was a joke; Nakamba was the one that was fouled. To be fair, Leicester probably should have had a penalty around 75' (though it's justice that they didn't get it after the wrong decisions the other way). But most annoying of all, and the easiest to get right, was the fact that he kept letting Leicester obstruct our free kicks. Every time we had one in their half, they ran right up to the ball until they set their defence. I reffed for 15 years, and I can tell you: If you caution someone once, that problem will go away immediately. He wouldn't do it. Just terrible. When you have almost as much to say about the ref as the team, either your team was very good or very bad. Fortunately, in this case, it's the former.

I agree. Ash played well enough against Palace to start against City, but I think SG left him out of the starting XI to rest him for this weekend. After being forced to play him 65' against City, he's going to have to sit him this weekend instead. Back 4 are obvious, midfield will probably be Nakamba, Dougie, and McGinn. I suspect we'll see Sanson later in the game. That leaves the forward line...who do you play with Watkins and Buendia? If Bailey is fit, he'll probably start. If not, do you start Ghaza, do you try pushing Ramsey forward on the left side, or do you try to fit Ings and Watkins together again? Choices, choices...I suspect he'll try Ghaza.

But he was consistent. We got away with some of the same stuff. Furthermore, it's not just Dean. All the refs seem more lenient this year.

He's one step short of world class. Which means that he's not world class, but pretty damn good.

I've been one of his biggest defenders on here, but I thought he was just so-so tonight. He was a real threat in the final third, but didn't look quite as impressive in the centre of the park.

This is a good point. I generally liked the way that we tried to play through the press calmly, but some of our most nervous moments were when Konsa, Mings, and Emi started playing the ball among each other while pinned back against our own goal line. When you're the last line, you can't get pinned back like that.