Pretty ordinary start for us, obvious signs of rust and under done pre season against a lively Brighton. Wonder goal from a very impressive Reece James, excellent showing from Zouma and Christensen, Werner looks every bit the striker we need, Havertz was low key, and Kante more like his old self. RLC sluggish and slow, Mount non stop Kepa, well Kepa like. Lamptey the best player on the pitch by some distance, another one that got away. He gave Alonso a serious workout all day. 3 points a bit tough on Brighton, but signs of better things to come from us.
We were dreadful! Loftus Cheek...I like him a lot but all he did was give the ball away, he was horrific. Havertz was almost as bad but he’s never in a million years a wide player, I can see that after one game. Werner reminds me of Aguero which is obviously a good thing and our centre backs were good too. Special mention for Kante who continues to stand out in this team when played in the right position. Will need to play a lot better next weekend but 3 points is the main thing.
With the players we’ve got a 4-3-3 doesn’t suit us. I dare say a 4-1-3-2, 3-5-2 or even 4-2-3-1 would suit us better. Havertz will be wasted where is right but I’m sure Frank will know this and is figuring out his best selection. Werner on the other hand looks the absolute business. He’s exactly what we’ve needed in a striker and I’ve no doubt that he will be a big player for us over the years. A long way to go. We look rusty, we’ve got new players to integrate and old players to get back fit. I’m not expecting miracles at the start of the season but it’s certainly looking good!
All true, but bit early to settle on best formation. Will be a while until the best 11 show themselves , and then Frank can work out his best set up. I suspect there will be more than 1 set up depending on opposition. Werner is a serious player, Tammy looks like a baby compared to Werners speed, positioning, intelligence. My tip, Tammy sold or lent out come January, Same with Loftus Cheek. He's slow, lazy and exactly like Barkley, has no instinctive compass.Bit harsh after one game, but always an excuse for not doing his job. Zouma and Christensen both lifted , RLC didn't.
I agree, I don’t rate Barkley at all. Yesterday however, he changed the game when he came on. Credit where it’s due I guess but we just looked more comfortable in possession when he came on.
Indeed, Lamptey was the best player on the pitch and Brighton bought him from us for just £3 million according to the SKY commentator. Timo Werner looks like he could be awesome, a very fast sprinter with great football skills. All in all, a disjointed performance as you’d expect with the two new German outfield players in the side. A good sign with us getting the win against a decent looking Brighton side - I was at the Monday night game we won against West Ham when Antonio was manager and we went on to win the title. If the current squad can gell quickly we could run Man City and Liverpool very close for the title. Although, all the Sky pundits yesterday were berating Kepa and I have to agree with most comments they made about him. He flaps on crosses and lets in shots he should easily save as per yesterday evening. My confidence in him evaporated when he acted the idiot by not coming off in the League Cup final against Man City and I thought he should have been sold after that.
Kepa is a strange one alright, it's difficult to understand what we saw in him . Suppose he must have been outstanding at some time, so why has his form become so awful?
only caught the 2nd half. I thought werner was okay (i heard he was awesome in the first half) but i'm putting it down to the dead leg. Kante looked good, James played great and the CBs weren't too bad. Was a bit disappointed with the shot that were in against Kepa. Mount had some great movement and great positions but the final ball and end product with it was pretty atrocious. Hopefully that improves. Barkley played fairly well when he came on and Havertz looks a bit weak and slow. Hopefully he fills out a bit in that big frame. You can tell he's technical though as he likes to put his foot on the ball (minus that one disgusting pass of his that went out for a throw in lol). Please don't go to a back 3. We always look **** in the back 3 and leak goals. Good to get the 3 points. I saw Lamptey last year for brighton after lockdown and he looked great. He was the best player on the pitch yesterday from what i saw.
We all know goalies are a bit mad but he seems to be on a different level. He just seems so unsure of what he’s supposed to be doing. Is it that he’s lost confidence?
Sure looks like it ! Remember when Beasant's confidence got shot...even simple back passes became an ordeal for him. Like Bristol said earlier...Kepa's idiocy against City left a bad taste.
I think that's what's going to happen. No one would pay more than 10 bob for Kepa at the moment, so a loan looks the best way out. Never seen Mendy, is he up to the job?
