Trouble is since Ray, we have had quite a few average keepers - I liked Erik 'The Viking', and Robbo, and Brad Friedel was a step up from Gomes who was so bad with his feet he makes Hugo look like Messi! As for the worst Bobby Mimms was awful, Kasey Keller and Ian Walker distinctly average how Walker got Englands caps I will never know. Barry Daines suffered for being the chosen man to replace big Pat, a job he was never up to in my opinion. Tony Parks was a penalty saving hero, but in all honesty that was his 'day in the sun' he didn't really prosper after that though Ray,was a hard man to displace.
I've noticed a lot of criticism of Sessegnon and I'd like to offer some mitigation on his behalf. The formation and system may have asked for him to get forward and attack, but the balance of it didn't support that. Aurier and Lo Celso had a good understanding and covered each other well, which allowed one of our most unpopular players to look good. Alli did nothing similar for his fullback, often seemingly having a free role and spending a lot of time on the inside. Norwich used Aarons as an out ball very effectively and you can see why he's valued highly. None of our attacking players tracked him or forced him back, so he was able to double up and get at Sessegnon. They also failed to pick out numerous runs that Sessegnon made off the ball, despite his movement starting well. He received far too many passes to feet and/or with his back to goal or with nowhere to go. Did he have a good game? Definitely not. Was it on his head? I wouldn't say so, no. He's probably not the answer to the left-back conundrum, but we need to balance the side better if we pick an attacking pairing. The lopsided system just left an inexperienced winger under pressure and struggling.
"The only thing I want to say is that normally players and teams are lucky against us. Capoue was lucky, Watford was lucky, Robertson was lucky, Liverpool was lucky. Normally teams are very lucky against us. In this specific situation, I can’t comment.”
It's not just the left back slot that has looked cut off from the rest of the team but it has been noticeably bad and probably the worst. It was the same for Tanganga against Watford. However, until recently, there's also been a hole in central midfield too. Lo Celso has been very good at sensing where Aurier was and where he needed to be to cover him. Winks being positionally disciplined helps a bit too but there are just too many forwards on the pitch and without Kane, they aren't offering enough in the 'defensive process'. Whilst we're fitting players into unfamiliar positions and some get used to this league, I'd say we need 3 midfielders. A left sided midfielder to partner whoever plays left back would definitely help. A bit more control in midfield would help a lot too because most games are just so open.
A supercut of Lo Celso from last night. Is it just me, or does his running with the ball glued to his left foot remind anyone of Messi just a little bit?
Honestly think we’ve a proper player on our hands with GLC. Great touch, happy to receive the ball in traffic, can pass and carry the ball forwards. Great combination of speed of thought and action with the ball and he gets stuck in without it as well. He’s building a rapport with Lamela and maybe Alli too by the looks of things and if he can get NDombele and Gedson on the same wavelength too then that midfield 3 could be tasty, or even two of them with a proper DM behind.
Pass map time please log in to view this image Bloody hell, that's a lot of sideways passing along the Aurier/Lamela/Lo Celso/Lucas/Dele/Son front five, isn't it? We need one of them, probably Lucas, to be breaking forwards
Not quite. But he is a very, very intelligent player. One criticism I have of a number of our players (especially Dele, Lamela and Lucas) is that they take far too long to make a decision when in possession, often requiring 4 or 5 touches of the ball before deciding what to do with it. Their best moments tend to be when don't have time to think and act instinctively. Lucas and Lamela in particular. Lo Celo can clearly see 3 or 4 moves ahead on the chess board. His anticipation is already superb for such a young player. More and more people online are comparing him to Modric and I have to admit, it's been a long time since the Croatian played for us and so perhaps my memory is fuzzy...but watching that back there was more than a sprinkling of the Lukas about him.
Know what you mean, but would shy away from mentioning it!! He's certainly got a wand of a left foot and I love his positivity - something that's been sadly lacking of late. Sees a pass really quickly and gets things moving forwards. And it looked like he won more tackles last night than Eriksen has managed in 5 years!
He's a really exciting player and he scores goals as well - 14 last season for Betis, He's not the same player. Even I'm not so mad as to suggest that, but the way that he runs and just keeps feathering the ball, with his left foot all the time. He just looks reminiscent of him.... Not the same...not as good...just looks like him...a bit.
One thing that's being asked now is what this season would have looked like if GLC didn't get nobbled in an international incident friendly with Chile It's not unreasonable to believe that the way he's starting to click in recent games could have happened in October/November, at which point you start to think that potentially the results against Watford, Everton or Sheffield United could have been very different - and we all know what those results being very different would have meant...
"On the other hand, I think we are [joint] fifth now so we're not doing so bad. It's the next step that this club has taken whereby if you are fifth everyone is not happy, so that's positive as well. Let me say so again: no negativity. I don't know where that’s come from. Maybe there's a player that’s not happy and maybe he wants to say something? It's all possible, but from 99% I'm telling you we're happy with the group." - Toby Alderweireld Hmm, I wonder who he could possibly be referring to...?