No goals again. Terrible 2nd half at home against a team that had previously lost all its games. Not looking good. Naive tactics, substitutions that had no or a negative impact. It's going to be a long old slog.
It’s going to be a joyless and horrific season. Such a pity. It didn’t have to be this way. Time for Eddie H, before somebody else snaps him up.
So we've got a head coach who continues to make multiple errors when it comes to tactical decisions - the support from the full backs to the attack being among them and ruinous, stock substitutions another, an unbalanced squad that includes multiple players still not fit for the season, and no clear attacking plan other than 'Sarr or Dennis and inshallah' i.e. hope someone does something genius and then we manage to hold on (which, of course, we have done only once in four games). This was a second very poor performance in three, against an opponent who were, being honest, very much there enough for the taking, if we had got it right at all. It's all looking a bit worrying in the way it's trending, to be honest. Not incredibly surprising, but disappointing all the same. We are already in the situation of needing quite a serious overhaul in motivation/mentality/attitude/something or anything else, and we're four games in. It's the manner of the performances at Brighton in general and here, particularly in the first 15 minutes and the entire second half - we have to have some kind of response to that, and stop it from happening, or we are in enormous trouble. At least Brighton did us a favour, although only by sneaking an injury time single goal winner, rather than Brentford getting absolutely shellacked as we did.
Well it probably won't be a popular opinion, but I thought we played pretty well against a very good team. We were certainly holding our own and getting the more dangerous chances and then came the OG and heads dropped (including mine). There were plenty of positives though. Excellent performances from Rose and Sissoko - both settling in nicely. Dennis was lively too.
Genuinely poor. Wolves are a bottom half team in poor form and we made them look like vintage Barcelona. The issue came from our attack which offered nothing. There’s a lack of quality. Deulofeu, Pereyra, Doucoure, Capoue, we lost quality players and couldn’t replace them as we are skint and it shows. We will stay up I think, but only if we can find a way of making our front line click.
Yeah, that was terrible. First half was OK, but it actually fell apart once genius Xisco bizarrely pulled out his one and only party trick in bringing on Cucho, today for our only proper striker, after only 50 minutes. Just a completely weird decision. No creativity, no real chances, no tempo, no aggression, no goals. A trend is setting in.
Yes, but it's how you respond to a setback. For the stuffing to be knocked out this early in the season, at home, is not a good sign. Talk about a squad with paper thin confidence this early on.
Harsh reality - we had an exceptional squad in a Covid ravaged Championship last season and also had a huge slice of luck with Deeney’s injury forcing Munoz’s hand. Now we’re playing with the big boys we need to be greater than the sum of our parts, sadly Munoz is completely out of his depth.
I still think the squad on paper should be strong enough to stay up. Xisco is not the man to get the most out of that squad. He's a clapping cheerleader who got us up by creating a good atmosphere amongst the players. That's not enough at this level. Not at all.
Well my first game back since we beat Liverpool and what a depressing watch that was. 2-0 flattered them, it could and should of been more. Quicker out the blocks, better passing, better marking and knowing just when to make runs. They probably should of scored right on half time and again just after it. Jimenez was a threat all game, and we barely created a chance of our own, actually I think Sissoco came closed to scoring for us with a good shot which was well saved. It felt odd that all the talk was serraltra coming back from the protential ban, and it was his mistake that gifted them a deserved lead. Not quite as impressive as Mapp's stunner at Brighton but still, nobody around me could say they didn't deserve their luck. I actually missed the second goal as I was in the girls room but I heard the cheer and the announcer. I cannot really say we played well, because we didn't. We had the odd flurry of passing but it lead to nothing. Sarr was full of running but we really lacked a killer pass and never threatened. Second half was even more poor as we faded badly before they took total control. I know we have a new side, I know we need time to "gel", and I know it's still early days. But, we better gel quickly otherwise we are joining Norwich in the bottom three at this rate. Xisco even seemed a bit pee'd off at FT. We lose our wonderful home record too today. There were a few bright passages of play, but in all seriousness we never got near them. They are probably the sort of side we could be if we invested and stayed up for a few seasons, and right now we look so shot shy and lacking in creative ideas I just do not know where our next goal is coming from. Norwich and Newcastle next up, Norwich is already a relegation 6 pointer as is Newcastle really. Three defeats in a row now - not scored since opening day - it's not looking so good right now. But we have time to change it - and I hope we do pretty sharpish. Changing the manager won't help - but what he does need to do is find a formula that works. We looked very sketchy today and Wolves went for it. I am not sure what to think about our chances, but in all honesty. we looked pretty congested and lacked any real get up and go. I'm not going to Norwich, I'll be in the Shout Box. Shout out to Lauren and Billy who shared their Ice-cream before the game, nice people. We will have better days I know that, but we have a week to get over this and try again Saturday.
That means there has to be 3 teams even worse. Which is possible. It's usually 2 of the 2 teams who start poorly and then one from higher up the previous season who takes a tumble, like us and the Goldsands divers did 2 seasons ago, and Stoke previous to that.
Some promise in an even first half. Second half dreadful. Completely outplayed. Each change from the manager made things more chaotic. I think his lack of experience and pedigree will be shown up regularly in this league unfortunately.
Yeah, I agree it’s possible. But it’s far from definite that we will stay up, as some posters assumed after the Villa match.
Tough to watch. Plenty of flicks and tricks but a lack of real end product. We looked solid at the back for the most part but the ball movement out of defence gives teams way too much tume to reset. It seems like we want to make it hard to concede against, great - but playing this slow means we are static up front waiting for the ball to get there. We need a number 9 bruiser
I don't necessarily want to castigate Xisco for making that change, because I like the sound of that front 3 when he came on, but it didn't work one bit. I like Cucho, he's been central to two of our 4 goals this season (the only two he's been on the pitch for), but if we look like that when he comes on for our only real centre-forward option, I do wonder if there's a place in the team for him
I see Ross County put up a spirited performance away to Celtic. Perhaps their manager is the type of plucky appointment we need. Oh, er, possibly not.
Other than Jezza, Rose and Cucho when he came on, everyone was poor. But also we are all about counter attacking, but set up all wrong and with a team of players who turn it on 1 game in 4.
It's beginning to look more like the Villa game was a fluke against a side woefully unprepared for the opening day. Given that we really seem to lack goals in the side, and often defend deep inviting the other team on, then it puts increased pressure on the defence and any errors will prove extra costly. It seemed inevitable somehow it would be Sierralta today after it wasn't even clear until the day whether he'd be allowed to play. However the blame can't be put just on him - as with the start of our last relegation season it seems our players are now taking it in turns to have a massive brainfart in each game. Kucka was particularly useless today, wasted the ball whenever it came near him. Also King does not look the sharp goalscorer we need. Dennis I think seems more dangerous than King as the CF, but that leaves our LW a question mark still. Aside from his goal, Cucho has struggled to get involved in his cameos and I'm not convinced he's really up to it this season. There's a spot there for JP if he can come back and step up, but I'm not sure he'll be the solution either. Only minor positive surprise was Rose, who despite looking a bit chunky still put in a decent shift. Even then though their best chances came from Semedo running beyond him, though that's also partly the issue with the LW now following the man. Sissoko was also decent. Last thing - in Hwang and Podence, Wolves had two attacking options on the bench probably better than 2/3rds of our starters.
Absolute turd today. No doubt Gino’s been on the blower already so expect a new coach within a fortnight
Play that midfield 3 most weeks and we’re going straight down. Picking 3 disrupters in midfield and hoping our pace and guile will work on the attack every time is not a strong enough game plan. We need to get hold of the ball, Etebo, Sissoko & Kucka are all very good at taking it off you but also love giving it straight back. That’s not going to work. Thought Josh King was terrible, wasn’t that bad a substitution to be honest. Xisco needs to work out how to play against a back 3 ASAP but other than that struggle to blame him really, squad is terribly unbalanced.
That was very worrying. A very ordinary looking Wolves side showed that all you have to do is turn up and get the basics just about right and you can beat us. Front to back we don't look good enough and the lack of quality and balance is indicative of a transfer window where we were preoccupied with outgoings over incomings. There are some useful players in there, but the spine of a Premier League side? I'm not so sure. Bachman - made some useful saves, but not sure he shouldn't have done better for both goals in the build up Rose - a massive improvement on Massina but still looks 2 stone overweight, which is bizarre given the time that's passed since he started training for us. He's a good player, but imagine how good he could be for us if he wasn't carrying the equivalent of a 3 year old child around with him on his midriff. Ngakia - I have been a staunch fan of his and wanted him to play, but he was woeful. Diving in with hopeful lunges and getting caught out. A very bad showing. WTE - what a day for the man - he wasn't even our 2nd worst defender today! His adequacy was enough to make him rise into blameless mediocrity. El Gaucho - just no idea what possessed him to nod into his own net under what looked like no pressure. A match losing moment which we simply cannot afford. Sissoko - looked busy but as Spurs fans told me, pretty much devoid of any ability. Etebo - messy and weak - brushed past by Wolves on multiple occasions. Kucka - No idea where he was playing. Seemed to pop up all over the place but without any real impact Dennis - looks like he's got something about him but was largely ineffectual King - good first half showing as a target man, but inexplicably pushed wide, then subbed off. Injured? We looked clueless once he'd gone off. Sarr - always involved and getting into all the right positions, but dreadful lack of end product. If he was anything close to the £40m player we believe he is, he'd have done a lot more with the ball when he got behind their man, than the tame crosses to first defender and routine shots he popped off. At least he gets into the positions, but given the outcomes nearly every single time, he might as well not bother. Cucho - came on and did some stuff. Some of it was good, some of it dreadful. Sema - I left not long after he came on. The worst part is, there's virtually nothing else behind this lot. This is it. There are no hopeful noises about other members of the squad. This is our first 11, barring perhaps Kiko and the Fat Turk coming in here or there. There's little else to give hope that we've got someone we can bring in and change things up. Fletcher? It's pretty dismal stuff. There's hope this team can gel/click or whatever, but even then, there's little possibility of being much more than a very ordinary side and with Xisco pulling the strings, we lack any chance of getting much more out of them than we've seen so far, which is 3 defeats in a row, and a good start vs Villa before a shaky finish. I can't see how this side isn't going down, sadly. Just nowhere near the strength or depth needed at this level.
There is absolutely no chance we are staying up. That’s just being realistic. We can’t score goals. We can’t keep clean sheets. We lack much creativity. We have a very inexperienced head coach. We will go into our very tough run of fixtures with barely enough points in the bag to act as an insurance policy. By the next international break I’m sure we will sit bottom of the league. A joyless season ahead grrrr.
The much better team won and we looked like strangers at times. If Xisco loses the next two Gino will probably act. I think we do have enough quality in the squad to have a good go at staying up and I hope Xisco can turn it around but the signs arent looking good are they going by that performance.
The Rose weight thing genuinely blows my mind. I don’t care for the arguments he still played well (he did) or the comparisons to Luke Shaw. That is all totally irrelevant, any excess weight in a footballer will negatively impact their performance, however good they may be, they could be better without the additional weight, it serves no purpose other than to make them slower and impact their stamina. This isn’t the 1970s, Rose is probably paid about £50k per week to literally run around and not be fat, and he has a team of people behind him whose job is to make sure he is as fit as possible. Genuinely mind boggling.
So... a lineup everyone is very happy with fails to impress against Wolves. Sound familiar? In the relegation season Wolves away was the first time (I believe) we started a front 3 of Deulofeu, Welbeck and Sarr. Everyone was ecstatic. We lost 2-0.
Lol. We haven’t even played any of the big boys yet. We are going to get our pants pulled right down at some point this season. First game the high point? Trying to stay optimistic but my hope is starting to ebb already. Lose to Norwich and oh dear.
