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Football: same old, same old


A Horse Named Stranger

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Leicester will be a tough opponent for Liverpool next week, especially with Liverpool playing midweek (and already looking a bit fatigued).

Leicester were naively confounded by United forcing them to take the initiative and dominate possession, but they (Leicester) can revert to their preferred counter-attack against Liverpool.

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I honestly don't think it was any sort of 'game plan' on the part of United. Leicester have been moving towards a possession based system since Puel and they have a better midfield than United so invariably they ended up controlling possession. It was just a happy coincidence that this ended up working in United's favour. 

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Yeah, Leicester aren't really that counter-attacky except by opportunity anymore. Some people have been ragging on Tielemans this season for not being as deadly in the final third as last year but their gameplan has been built around him and Ndidi controlling the midfield and running it through to whoever the partner of the day is (Maddison, Praet, and Choudhury have all been the guy depending on how attacking Rogers wants to be) and playmake from there, and most days even their wide players aren't that fast (or strictly dedicated wide players sometimes- Perez and Maddison both playing from there). 


Them and West Ham do share one problem - both have built incredibly deep and variable midfields, but both are entirely reliant on one striker. Vardy will need replacing soon and West Ham have no-one close to Haller's style to back him up. Probably a bigger deal for West Ham though, because Leicester's focal points are Tielamans and Maddison whereas West Ham's is Haller. Leicester can probably shove Perez into that role and be alright (just even less reliant on fast breaks and the midfield would need to contribute more), which is why I assume they bought him, as someone who can hassle from the front in need be but not be useless when Vardy is fit, but West Ham's style falls apart without Haller's hold-up play.

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17 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Them and West Ham do share one problem - both have built incredibly deep and variable midfields, but both are entirely reliant on one striker. Vardy will need replacing soon and West Ham have no-one close to Haller's style to back him up. Probably a bigger deal for West Ham though, because Leicester's focal points are Tielamans and Maddison whereas West Ham's is Haller. Leicester can probably shove Perez into that role and be alright (just even less reliant on fast breaks and the midfield would need to contribute more), which is why I assume they bought him, as someone who can hassle from the front in need be but not be useless when Vardy is fit, but West Ham's style falls apart without Haller's hold-up play. 

Good moment to point out that Haller basically did go for 1/2 a Maguire during the transfer window?

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15 minutes ago, Mme Erzulie said:

Yeah, Pepe's end product has been noticeably poor.

A lot of sloppy play and a lot of half dirty fouls. Neither team looks like a top 4 contender at the moment.

They look miles and miles behind leicester. And I see more scope for improvement for both spurs and chelsea. 

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3 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Games like this really make you realise how lucky Liverpool are to have such good set-piece takers. The corners tonight have all been diabolical.

Arsenal does; he's just the most expensive non-squad member in the world.

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He's out till October.

No enterprise going forward & no plan in attack. Saka was excellent but this arsenal team is relying on individual play to bail it out as opposed to having a plan whilst attacking.

I'd rather see us play in competitions other than the league, because at least in those we put out a midfield that isn't all about stopping the opposition.

Edit: I'm a little despondent because we have a very decent squad, but we don't seem to be really moving forward in terms of their cohesion as a team because the manager doesn't know what his midfield is, or how he wants the midfield to play.

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6 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Is Lacazette injured?  I was upset on his behalf that he didn't start tonight, but then I saw he wasn't even on the bench.

Yes. Muscle issue from a couple of weeks ago. Expected back in a couple more weeks.

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And that game was crap. Without analyzing it too much James is legit for United going forward, most everyone else was poor on the day except for maybe Tuanzebe. 

For Arsenal Guendouzi continues to impress me while Pepe continues to disappoint. I do think the attacking dynamic will change when Bellarin and Tierny step in at fullback.

But overall it was poor play, poor officiating, and honestly two managers who lack ideas.

 

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2 minutes ago, Joey Crows said:

James is legit for United going forward,


James is a menace when he's on the ball and running, but he needs to sharpen up his off-the-ball movement and also get some options outside of crossing/cutting back or shooting. More passing and one/two touch play. Compare him to Saka who's already more versatile.

Rashford as ever this season looked much sharper when moved to the right, but we're really starved for creative quality. Leicester and West Ham are both unquestionably better teams than us right now, how did that happen.

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25 minutes ago, Joey Crows said:

And that game was crap. Without analyzing it too much James is legit for United going forward, most everyone else was poor on the day except for maybe Tuanzebe. 

 

 

20 minutes ago, polishgenius said:


James is a menace when he's on the ball and running, but he needs to sharpen up his off-the-ball movement and also get some options outside of crossing/cutting back or shooting. More passing and one/two touch play. Compare him to Saka who's already more versatile.
 

James has made a very good start at United, especially for the cheapest and least known of three signings in a relatively big transfer window.  In fairness, and slightly worryingly, United made pretty good signings this summer -- probably their best window since RVP was signed.  Wan-Bissaka is perhaps still more defensive than what they need at FB (tackles and dribbles really well, but not yet a great end product), and Maguire is good but no VVD. 

So perhaps they're back on the right path if they can repeat that progress over the next couple of summers.  But it's hard to discern much progress yet in the coaching/tactics/set-up. 

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