Football: International Break-Up

[Mme Erzulie]

I had 23 points on my bench last round. I think my bench could rival my on-pitch team so far this season in terms of point. 

Had a shocker of a start.

Happy with the win, but would have been a massive shock if out of two teams whose philosophy and tactics are so similar, the better squad didn't win. We needed a bit of luck to break the deadlock (although Sturridge's anticipation is fantastic - real poacher's goal), but it's conspicuous how much confidence is a factor with Klopp's Liverpool. It helps that any team chasing the game will leave more space to exploit, but Huddersfield never really gave it a go, but as soon as we had the first goal, it was as if all the players improved remarkably. Vision, dribbling, first touch, lay-offs, suddenly it all gels, and we look like the team from the start of the season. It's a psychological thing Klopp has highlighted before, and it's an interesting challenge to deal with. 

Happy to see that we work relatively well without Coutinho. I don't think losing him would be as devastating as losing Gerrard or Suarez was. He's a fantastic player who contributes with goals and assists, and his free kicks are world class, but it does feel a little bit like everything has to go through him when he's playing, and all the other players seem to look to him to do something extraordinary to break down the opponents. Without him, we look more like a team. It's harder to know where the threat is coming from. 

Also, while I don't like Milner in games where we have to defend against quick opponents, his set piece expertise makes him a valuable asset in games like this. 

[Daemon the Leaner]

So Spurs are basically the Harry Kane team lol, it will be a devastating lose if he leaves to another club. (or... when he leaves?)

Otherwise, happy for United and for Martial, that goal is deserved considering his good entrance and the global improvement in his behavior this season.

[Iskaral Pust]

I was surprised Utd won.  Even with Kane out, I thought they'd play for another draw.  Perhaps the dropped points in recent weeks added some pressure. 

Liverpool eventually woke up and played some decent football but Huddersfield lacked any forward threat.  Neither Matip nor Klavan looked solid early on but fortunately they had less and less to do all game.  Nice to win with Mane, Coutinho, Lallana, Can, Lovren and Clyne all missing from the starting XI.  That's half the first choice outfield (until we buy a better CB anyway) no matter how you line up the team.  But even with that many absentees, Woodburn and Grujic still didn't get a chance among the three substitutions.  Our squad is definitely deeper now but I hope the kids get some game time when we're cruising like that. 

But I wouldn't say we've turned a corner yet. 

[polishgenius]

That right there was the best counter-attacking goal I've seen for time.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Quality counter attacking goal from Leicester. Demarai Gray with a lightning burst of pace.

[Mexal]

15 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I was surprised Utd won.  Even with Kane out, I thought they'd play for another draw.  Perhaps the dropped points in recent weeks added some pressure. 

They more or less did play for a draw, just got lucky with a goal kick to flick header to good finish after poor defending. Perfect combination of literally two touches.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Howler there from the young man Kenny. 

[Rorshach]

We look bad. Both in attack and defense. Factor in that the ref can’t see a blatant penalty, and DCL not hitting the ball with the goal empty, we struggle indeed.

I can’t see Unsy getting the job on the basis of these last two games.

[Art Vandelay]

16 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I was surprised Utd won.  Even with Kane out, I thought they'd play for another draw.  Perhaps the dropped points in recent weeks added some pressure.

I wouldn't say we played for a draw against Liverpool, that was more lazy punditry than anything. It goes along with the whole "Lukaku needs to do more" lazy statements. We did sit back, but not to the point we were camped back intentionally for 90 minutes. We were just too poor on the day to get out and attack, our midfield was woeful, Lukaku got very little service and was crap at holding the ball up when he got it. It wasn't Mourinho playing for a draw so much as we were so poor we were lucky to get a draw.

We got a bit lucky yesterday for the goal, but on balance probably deserved the win. There's plenty for the media to get on Mourinho's back for, which they seem to wilfully ignore. To then blindly jump on him for something he's not really doing is odd at best.

[Consigliere]

Yeah, I don't think we played for a draw against Spurs and just got lucky. The first half wasn't too good apart from a bright start. We were much better in the 2nd half and pocketed Spurs for the vast majority of it apart from the Alli chance. Both sides are strong defensively and were very committed to their defensive duties which didn't make for an end-to-end game of football. The weather conditions didn't help with a free-flowing game either.

The big problem for us right now is the poor form of Mkhi and Herrera not offering anything in the creative department. The result of which is our midfield is good at winning the ball/disrupting play but looks clueless in possession and is struggling to link up play with the forwards. This was particularly evident in the 2nd half against Liverpool where we could barely string three simple passes together and it wasn't as though Liverpool were pressing us off the park or anything.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Joey Barton with some lovely words about David Unsworth. There must be some kind of beef (pun intended) between them for Barton to come out with this.

[Rorshach]

Saw that now. Can’t say I remember any incidents between them.

On the other hand, is there anyone Joey Barton hasn’t had an incident with? I think that list may be shorter. Far shorter.

[Consigliere]

Well, we are 1-0 up and we missed a penalty but that was another dire half. Benfica were the better side and are unfortunate to be a goal down, although we did come more into it towards the end. Mctominay is having a poor game and allowing Benfica far too much space in midfield. Bailly has not played well either and Lingard has no business playing at #10 especially when Mata is being wasted on the right. Lingard just runs around alot which can be useful if he played on the right but Mata is by far the better technician and actually has the skillset to play at #10 - baffling why Mourinho can't seem to see this. It's downright depressing seeing the team look this clueless in possession and resorting to aimless long balls.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Serious, this three at the back system needs to to. All three of our centre backs chasing down one Roma attacker leaving acres of space for a man to come in support. It's like watching kids play.

[Mark Antony]

Atleti done dug themselves a hole I don’t think they can get out of. 

[Consigliere]

A slight improvement in the 2nd half. At least we managed to control possession a bit better and string together a few good attacks. Mctominay played better once Herrera came on. Lukaku looked more lively in the 2nd half as well. Bailly was poor tonight. Still far from impressed. Lucky for us Benfica are pants; a better side would have smashed us.

[Jordan La Cabra]

7 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Atleti done dug themselves a hole I don’t think they can get out of. 

Chelsea owe Atletico one for how bad they've been in the CL this season potentially saving our asses. 

[polishgenius]

3 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

A slight improvement in the 2nd half. At least we managed to control possession a bit better and string together a few good attacks. Mctominay played better once Herrera came on. Lukaku looked more lively in the 2nd half as well. Bailly was poor tonight. Still far from impressed. Lucky for us Benfica are pants; a better side would have smashed us.

We've been so poor since Pogba got injured. It's embarrassing. Especially creatively. We've got nothing. I'm not especially with you on the necessity of playing Mata central- he just goes missing so often regardless of where he plays. After a decent start to his time under Jose he's gone back to his reflexive timidity and hiding from responsibility.

Martial had a really strange game where he was more involved than he often is from the start and looked really dangerous but, apart from the penalty, never actually really created anything.

[Consigliere]

1 minute ago, polishgenius said:

I'm not especially with you on the necessity of playing Mata central- he just goes missing so often regardless of where he plays. After a decent start to his time under Jose he's gone back to his reflexive timidity and hiding from responsibility.

I thought that Mata was one of our better players today especially in the 1st half. The problem for us is that Mkhi has gone missing as well. He can't even hold onto possession properly and when he does get some space, he inevitably makes the wrong decision. Lingard does not have the skillset for that position. Tbh, I'd rather give Mata a shot there. The bar is set so low that he can hardly do worse than Mkhi or Lingard.

[polishgenius]

Mkhi's been pathetic, yeah. But Lingard, while not having the technical skill, is the only player other than Rashford who offers intelligent movement and keeps things moving a bit. It might well be true that he can give us that just as well from the right, but I'm just not convinced putting Mata central will make a huge difference.

Mata wasn't terrible today, but I just get so frustrated watching him knowing he could be better. I mean, he has the skillset to be a player a lot like Dele Alli, we know that from his early time at Chelsea, and he has the passing skill to be not far off KDB too, but those two take responsibility on themselves and he seems to shy away from it. Which is a terrible habit in your chief creator.