Hasa diga eebowai. In the first half I felt he was given defensive responsibilities beyond his ability, but don’t think it’s fair to hold that against him.
Pluses today were Sissoko and Ngakia. Dennis for his work rate , Sarr huffed and puffed but had no possession because he’s not a CF. Cucho at least threatened the goal with his trademark ( soon to be predictable ) step over and cut out to right foot swerve shot . The worst in order we’re 1- Rose 2- Cath-Kong ( the new EPL centre back power couple ) 3- Kucka 4- Kiko 5- The rest Very disappointing debut from Ranieri . I know he’s only been in charge for 2 weeks but there was the same lack of tactical identity as under Munoz but with even less passion . Absolutely no sign of a new manager bounce or players performing to impress the manager . Also some bizarre tactical choices that implied over thinking ie Rose at CB and Sarr at CF. If we had played that way under Xisco people would be demanding immediate dismissal .
Games against the top 4 aren't so much about the result, but the attitude and effort of the players Both were missing Our efforts lead to us committing just 4 fouls all game, which shows just how uncompetitive we were Men v Boys
In the long term it maybe a good thing as we haven't burnt any points against a team we should be competing against. Also Ranieri will have more clout in the next transfer window with the reinforcements that we require. Xisco never had the C.V. to demand the players he needed and had to get on with what he was given . The Tinkerman is a Premier Division winner and can use this as a bargaining tool when discussing transfer options in January
Perhaps they were awaiting the Rapture or that weird alien spaceship that will come and take them away or am I getting my religions mangled up.
TBF Rose was up against possibly the best player in the Prem But a like for "Cath-Kong" !! Trondre is dead ....long live the Cath-Kong !
I don't understand how this team gets pumped so often - if this were an FA cup game against Hartlepool you might see a score like this but 9/10 times they're going to at least keep it to 3-0. How many other teams are going to lose 5-0 at least 3 times to the big 6 this season? It isn't as if we set out to play a free-flowing tiki-taka game regardless of opposition either. Gutless players.
He also has a very sore throat. Perhaps someone ought to pass him a megaphone next time. Obviously his words were not getting across to most of the clueless numpties masquerading as footballers in the yellow shirts. Hope Sissoko lined a few of them up in the dressing room before applying a boot to their backsides. WTE needs to disappear. Desperate for Sierralta and Nkoulou to appear.
I think we need to find the right formation and stick with it. We fell into 4 3 3 last season and mostly won almost all our games with the new setup. We do not have the players or numbers to have such a narrow midfield in this division. Playing players out of position (Sarr today) is not going to win us many more points either. Claudio is known as a technical manager - so I hope he can work through the different formations in training.
The bloke disappeared up his own ar$e after the golden shower had that big banner of him, still cringing at that $hit and it was over 3 years ago. I think he seems to think we are just happy clappers that will bow to him like some deity at this point. All we want are two centre backs that can play the ball on the ground and not panic, thats it, everyone knows you build from the back and he is Italian who are famed for their world class centre backs over the years, the mind boggles.
Yep we have a higher proportion of spineless cowards than other teams. It comes from the culture of the ownership. Players treated like commodities by our ghastly arrogant owner so the players understandably have no sense of team spirit.
Stayed until the end of the game out of a feeling of responsibility, but I shot off immediately after full-time. I don't know if I'd have been so patient if I had further to travel!
Indeed. We claimed to have learned lessons, and actually spent a great deal of money in the summer to get rid of 'bad eggs,' but how are are we gonna build a good side out of players who are clearly here for the last couple of years of their career for a final pay off, kids who are just here to get a season on Sky and then a move and then a bunch of cannon fodder like Cathcart and Kiko. It's a broken model. They've not adapted as the game has moved on over the past 8 years. The end of the Pozzo model should have been the Sarr signing. It showed that they were high on their own fumes, splashing out peak potential value for a player, as if he would appreciate, rather than strengthening key areas of the team pragmatically. I pray that some despicable regime with billions buys us soon and gets the Pozzos out.
Abu Dhabi with City, Qatar with PSG, and now the Saudis with Newcastle, we're running out of human rights abusers to take us over!
I'm assuming Kucka started today because Ranieri knows what he can do from seeing him in Italy, but why are we asking a 34 year old to play in a midfield two against Liverpool after just returning from international duty? If he wanted a worker to give us some energy alongside Sissoko then he'd have been better off playing Cleverley. I'm glad Ranieri has a few different systems up his sleeve, however, changing it so radically to play Liverpool when he's only had a couple of days with some of the players was a mistake in hindsight. We were going to lose today anyway but the players were all over the place in the first half, the gaps were incredible. I lost count of the amount of vertical passes Liverpool made through the middle of the pitch in the first half. It was basically the same as watching us under Munoz.
We’re not in the Premier League of tyrants. I think we’re looking at obscure African despot standard at best.
It's only a matter of time that a North Korean fronted consortium will "invest" in a Premier League Club. With our luck, we would end up being the guinea pig. We would then be The Pariah Club of Pariah Clubs but might also end up with a reasonably competent defence.
Speaking of Liverpool fans in the home end. This guy seems surprised he got kicked out. https://talksport.com/football/9634...carage-road-watford-liverpool-stewards-video/