United next !!!!!!!

Ah now i see it. We played against the former Red Bull Salzburg Coach. 

Enjoyed that really did had everything bad start succumbing to high press dodgy defending. But the 2nd half saw an improvement. And not to be cliched their keeper had a blinder. Zouma & AC improved Mount grew into the game and at least Tammy scored. A week at Cobham working on fitness & tactics then. 

It looks like Drogba is our new penalty coach.

8 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I just don't see him getting those types of goals for us. Premier League defenses won't give him those chances.

I get that but he also has better players supplying him, all a decent striker needs to do it take up a good position, have good movement and his team mates will create chances, draw away defenders etc.

How many do you think Giroud or Higuain would score in the championship, I don’t think anywhere close to 26, so in all cases I don’t think we are worse off than last season if Frank goes with him. 

10 minutes ago, Deino said:

The difference between Championship CB and PL/CL level CB are in the way they read the game. Against your Huths and Zoumas, Tammy won't have a problem but against people like VVD and Hummels, he still has a long way to go

He managed against Barca...I’m under no illusion that it’s a totally different level but I think movement and positioning with good players round you amounts to goals, he has that and also confidence that he can score goals hopefully that translates to a decent return 

I had a game on football manager the other day. 40 shots, 20 on target and scraped a 2-1 win. This match reminded me of that. 

Its the old adage of every keeper plays a blinder against us even in pre-season now!

Zouma, AC and Mount grew into the game. Pulisic has good technique but if things go the way it has, it will be another Hazard-like situation where everyone passes the ball to him and expect magic every time. We desperately need CHO and RLC back to increase our scoring chances.

Tammy needs to impose himself and cause trouble to opposition more. He is too used to playing against lower level CB that defends based on speed and strength. 

The midfield's dynamism adds a lot to our play which is why I'm baffled why Kovacic and Jorginho were so static early in the game. Kovacic needs to use those runs more, we can create a lot of FK and penalty opportunities if he dribbles like that more often.

All in all it was a very good exercise and hopefully this showing gives insight to Frank and the team to work on instead of winning by huge margins just to be thrashed when the season opens. It was a good showing that plays down the expectations.

3 hours ago, WalterWhiteCFC said:

It will be near enough, more importantly cheeky little Frenchman on the bench 

Yeah, not sure he will start since he missed practically the entire preseason but he’s a freak of nature so he might be fit enough.

@mwblue10 He needs to start or we'll be exposed big time on the counter. It looms as a huge issue from what I saw across preseason. 

I still don't understand why we don't tactically foul. If you're playing a high press you just have to foul to avoid those sort of situations. Either win the ball or stop their momentum. City and Liverpool are masters at it.

Edited August 3, 20196 yr by Spiller86

it will be tough against manure with so many holes and so many goals conceded in pre-season. not looking forward to next sunday afternoon. my hopes are Kante is fit enough.

Main problem at the start was Zouma not having a long pass.i suppose you could say same about Christiansen but Zouma struggled a bit on the left making us easy to close down.  Kepoa was very average this game I thought except at the end. 

I was actually quite happy with Tammy. His hold up play was ok, his last e stretches the defence and his pressing was way better than I’d seen before. He’s no Harry Kane or even son Ming but he’s the best we have right now. 

It wasn’t the best first half for Kovacic and Jorginho but way better as the game went on. I doubt Kante will start against Man U. 

‘I think the only spot really up for grabs against Man U is mount/Barkley however if Willian was fit I’d definitely be starting him over Pedro. Despite the Pedro  wonder goal v Salzburg he’s looked pretty average in pre season. 

Edited August 3, 20196 yr by ozboy

3 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

@mwblue10 He needs to start or we'll be exposed big time on the counter. It looms as a huge issue from what I saw across preseason. 

I still don't understand why we don't tactically foul. If you're playing a high press you just have to foul to avoid those sort of situations. Either win the ball or stop their momentum. City and Liverpool are masters at it.

Completely agree but I’m just not sure he’s match fit yet.  But if anyone can miss almost an entire preseason and come back in a short time ready to go, it’s Kante.

Main problem at the start was Zouma not having a long pass.i suppose you could say same about Christiansen but Zouma struggled a bit on the left making us easy to close down.  Kepoa was very average this game I thought except at the end. 
I was actually quite happy with Tammy. His hold up play was ok, his last e stretches the defence and his pressing was way better than I’d seen before. He’s no Harry Kane or even son Ming but he’s the best we have right now. 
It wasn’t the best first half for Kovacic and Jorginho but way better as the game went on. I doubt Kante will start against Man U. 
‘I think the only spot really up for grabs against Man U is mount/Barkley however if Willian was fit I’d definitely be starting him over Pedro. Despite the Pedro  wonder goal v Salzburg he’s looked pretty average in pre season. 

This is why Luiz is so important to us. When teams press high we need a ball playing defender. No better than Luiz. Now Zouma and Christensen left the job for Kepa who made the eventual mistake. Zouma is not very useful to us against this type of opponent. Rudiger and Luiz will probably play a ton of games this season as well. Rudiger is also very good with feet.

Rudiger is what we are missing. He was easily our best CB last year. You could mount an argument for him being second only to van Dijk in the CB stakes in the Premier League.