| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better 11:34 - Aug 9 with 1711 views | GlasgowBlue |
If we are going to get anything against Southampton. Lots of lacklustre performances and some hangovers from last season.
Palmer worries me. He has done since his first couple of excellent games for us. He’s a good shot stopper but he’s not the goalkeeper for a McKenna team. Awful in possession. Wish we still Vas. Maybe the relationship between club and player has broken down beyond repair but it’s a shame we can’t rehabilitate Muric. Much better than Palmer.
Ben Johnson has poor discipline imo. Makes too many unnecessary fouls, gives the ball away in dangerous positions and doesn’t look particularly interested. We need to start Young next week.
Leif wasn’t at his best. But I put that down to not being 100% fit.
Greaves and O’Shea were class. Greaves in particular winning everything in the air and making some great tackles. Put Palmer under pressure in the build up to the goal but we had plenty of opportunities to stop the ball coming back. No issues with those two.
Last season we had a midfield problem. We knew this at the end of 2024. 8 months later we have a midfield problem. Matusiwa has had an excellent pre season. He looks quality. But last night he was very sloppy in possession. Could have quite easily had a red card after going in hard whilst on a yellow. I don't have any worries about him though. From what I’ve seen of him pre season he looks a stronger and fitter version of Morsy.
Jack Taylor, however, is a real worry. I know he’s just a placeholder until Cajuste is fit, but Cajuste won’t play 40+ games and Taylor simply isn’t up to the job. There is a reason that he has only started a couple of handful of games in the last 2 seasons. There was no creativity in the midfield, which left Hirst isolated. Cam Humphreys showed more forward thinking creativity in the few minutes he was in than Taylor did all game. We need that creative midfielder signed asap.
Ogbene is obviously some way from being match fit. He had zero pace. A shadow of the player we saw for the ROI against England last year. That pace will return with games but he’s only starting due to the injury “cough” to Omari.
Szmods didn’t have his best game and he hasn’t been great in pre season as a no 10. Chaplin is our best 10 at the moment and should start. I’d rather see Szmods on the left.
Which brings me to Jack Clarke. He’s an enigma. His stats show he was the best left sided attacker in the Championship for two seasons. He shows flashes of that but very rarely. I hope KM persists with him. He’s obviously a confidence player. A league goal will get him going imo.
Not much to say about Hirst. He had no service. He’s had a great pre season. Get the ball to him and he’ll score. More importantly, get the ball to him and he’ll bring our other attackers into the game.
Lots of work to do this week. Both in the training ground and in the transfer market. But on the evidence of last night, we aren’t going to live up to our top billing.
[Post edited 9 Aug 11:38]
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| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 17:43 - Aug 9 with 251 views | Vic |
Muric better than Palmer? You can't say that on here, unless you want to get sin binned again!
But I agree with you. |  |
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| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 17:54 - Aug 9 with 209 views | ketton_itfc |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 17:42 - Aug 9 by J2BLUE |
Last night will tell us nothing about how this season will go. I understand it's all we have to talk about and it will be analysed to death but people are reading far too much into it. [Post edited 9 Aug 17:50]
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Exactly this. I expected us to lose /have a slow start to the season. Why? 45 years of watching football. I'm no expert but time and again you rarely see relegated teams hit the ground running. Two years ago Brum beat Leeds 1-0. Look how that season ended up.
Games at the start of the season are a great leveller.
As KMc said it's a short turnaround from EPL to Champ we've lost some of our spine and have several injuries. And in losing Morsy we've lost a big, big player for us. So it'll take time. But knowing KMc and the talent we have once we start to get a little bit of confidence and start getting into our groove I've no doubt we will be up there. Just how long will determine auto or play-offs.. |  | | |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 18:12 - Aug 9 with 179 views | Swansea_Blue |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 11:40 - Aug 9 by GlasgowBlue |
Birmingham didn't play great football. I thought they were average. It's not about the opposition. It's about how we are playing and the players we have at our disposal. We are coming up short as a squad. |
What Birmingham did very well was close us down and rough us up. They didn’t give us a second and we couldn’t match their intensity to play through them. We were moving the ball so slowly. But they did look vulnerable at the back and struggled to create.
Welcome back btw. I must have missed that. |  |
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| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 18:17 - Aug 9 with 154 views | DJR |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 17:38 - Aug 9 by longtimefan |
Palmer got away with a poor short pass versus Bournemouth with all but no mention made of it. It was one that Maurice would have been slaughtered for but Palmer was saved by O’Shea clearing off the line |
To expect a player (whether or not a goalkeeper) not to make mistakes is rather unrealistic.
As it is, Muric comes in at number 19 in the following list, despite having played nothing like the same number of games as other players on the list. Indeed, his errors to games percentage is far higher than anyone on the list.
https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask/premier-league-most-errors-leading-to-goal
To take an example, Jordan Pickford, top of the list, has 21 errors in 324 matches. Muric has 7 in 28 matches (this includes the 2 errors he made in 10 Burnley games).
It is also worth pointing out that the above list doesn't pick up, for example, the two goals he conceded against Southampton and the winner for Brentford, where he was clearly at fault.
Anyway, it doesn't really matter what I think. McKenna clearly doesn't rate him. Hence his replacement by Palmer, and the fact that we are looking to offload him. Indeed, the lack of decent suitors is rather damning. [Post edited 9 Aug 18:34]
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| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 18:59 - Aug 9 with 101 views | cressi |
We need recruitment's in Ogbene never went by his full back before his injury a steady eddy does simple things without exciting anyone.
We need 2 centre midfield players at least one striker and if Hutch was to leave a replacement as I have mentioned Obgene, Burns not fit Philogene still to prove himself here.
Lots of work to do. |  | | |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 19:01 - Aug 9 with 94 views | cressi |
Can we just get over this Muric love in he was absolutely dross.
Made the defence shake like a jelly . | | | |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 19:20 - Aug 9 with 52 views | Churchman |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 19:01 - Aug 9 by cressi |
Can we just get over this Muric love in he was absolutely dross.
Made the defence shake like a jelly . |
It’s not a love in. Nor is it the hate so many are engaging with such pleasure. Perhaps if our so called wonderful support had actually tried to support him instead of ridicule and mock, he might have done a little better. Same with AAH. It must have been such a relief to go to Stoke on loan where their supporters actually support rather than hurl abuse.
The defence shook like a jelly after Muric was replaced too, hence the goals against and the ease with which teams wiped the floor with us. If West Ham had needed 10 at PR, they’d have got them, same as if Man City wanted 15 they’d have scored them with ease too.
The keeper is one player. The fact is that most of the rest collapsed including beloved Cajuste, the ghost of Phillips and the sadly lamented Morsy - the one midfielder I’d like to have seen stay.
None of the keepers are great tbh. All have their weaknesses, but none are that bad either. As positions go, it’s the least of our worries.
I’ve forgotten. Did we get a hiding last night? Looking at the boot going in on this forum, I presume we did. Oh well, maybe we will do a bit better next week. |  | | |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 19:25 - Aug 9 with 41 views | cressi |
| We’re gong to have to play a damn sight better on 19:20 - Aug 9 by Churchman |
It’s not a love in. Nor is it the hate so many are engaging with such pleasure. Perhaps if our so called wonderful support had actually tried to support him instead of ridicule and mock, he might have done a little better. Same with AAH. It must have been such a relief to go to Stoke on loan where their supporters actually support rather than hurl abuse.
The defence shook like a jelly after Muric was replaced too, hence the goals against and the ease with which teams wiped the floor with us. If West Ham had needed 10 at PR, they’d have got them, same as if Man City wanted 15 they’d have scored them with ease too.
The keeper is one player. The fact is that most of the rest collapsed including beloved Cajuste, the ghost of Phillips and the sadly lamented Morsy - the one midfielder I’d like to have seen stay.
None of the keepers are great tbh. All have their weaknesses, but none are that bad either. As positions go, it’s the least of our worries.
I’ve forgotten. Did we get a hiding last night? Looking at the boot going in on this forum, I presume we did. Oh well, maybe we will do a bit better next week. |
We can dress it up how we like no good making good saves then keep passing the ball in dangerous areas to the opposition his 26 not 19 and is he ever going to learn. Palmer is fine in the championship with Walton as back up. | | | |
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