Situationally play Hincapié/White instead of Timber/MLS. If fit, Merino could play for Eze or Odegaard. Gyokeres rotates in with Trossard. Madueke can rest Saka. The pieces are there. Use them correctly. We currently don’t (partly due to fitness issues, of course!).
Secretly think our most balanced line-up might be Raya-Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-MLS-Rice-Odegaard-Eze-Martinelli-Havertz-Saka when everyone is fit but Calafiori. Creativity, width and our best press.
Exactly. Gabriel can deal with 95 percent of what Hincapié deals with. MLS can solve a lot of problems in possession Hincapié can’t. Yes, Hincapié has a better cross, but what is that cross worth when you cross the ball twice a game? I’d rather keep more control via the ball/open up the middle more.
Still don’t see how Hincapié adds anything when Timber plays on the other side in games like this. We should have kept the ball better yesterday. MLS should have played. But as Mikel hasn’t used him, he probably isn’t match fit.
Would not at all surprise me. We should have immediately used him as an 8 at top level and he might have had a chance in the right system.
Martinelli has been better than Trossard since December and has been one of our most dangerous players in that timeframe to me. He has had poor games but he has had far more good ones than Trossard. I actually want to See Saka/Madueke more instead of Trossard when Martinelli doesn’t play.
Can’t understate how valuable he is as a prospect. Nwaneri is good at this too. Myles actually is good at that too. Hale End in general produces quite good ball carriers (Smith-Rowe, Iwobi, even a guy like Willock).
This is also why Max Dowman is probably the number one talent in his age group Because he has the touch and skill to beat you on the dribble and close a gap to profit from besting you to have the time and space to make the correct decision within that time and space more often that not.
Yup. In fact I’d argue it’s a net positive play. He’s a weird player in that most of his best work usually doesn’t result in goals and he scores most of his goals in weird, uncontrollable situations.
I’d however argue the combination of carrying and dribbling is more important than before. If you beat the first guy, you need the athleticism to quickly eat space more than a few years ago. That combination is rare. Rice is good at carrying but not at dribbling, for instance.
Guys who can dribble in central areas are the most valuable players in the world from a perspective of scarcity. If I’d have unlimited money, I’d buy Pedri for that reason. Valverde is also a very underrated dribbler for such a big player. It’s also Odegaards main point of value (next to the press).
The real question is: why is dribbling less effective? I don’t think the technical level is necessarily lower, but it does look that way on a pitch. The spaces are smaller between defenders. Everyone knows how to limit things. Especially in central areas.
That Henry quote on dribbling and Yamal is a bit too narrow. I get what he is saying but for instance there are multiple PSG guys that can actually murder you on the dribble. Kvara, Barcola, Dembele already. You can name quite a few other good dribblers from several teams.
Chelsea played that last 10 minutes after 4-2 really, really dumb. Committing everyone forward like there wasn’t a 2nd leg. Very naive.
If you think Martinelli should 100% have finished that chance that he puts on the bar you are a weirdo. Hard chance, the fact he does really well with his first touch and the following shot just makes it look easy. He actually almost gets the most of it.
Ousmane Dembele is a fucking nightmare to defend man. Hardest thing to do as a defender is defending a player equally good left to right as right to left.
A 3-1 loss would be better than a 3-0 regardless. Make them at least really, really try next game vs. Madrid.
What we did learn yesterday and today is that generally, winning away in knock-out CL games is really hard. Only Bayern so far.
Max, MLS, Kai, Mosquera (for Timber).
Team has been shit. Manager way too reluctant. Should have subbed someone way earlier.
Also, if you are tired, it helps to keep the ball once in a while.
In good positions too. Very weird. Just totally off it.
Timber does nothing to help Saka. So isolated.
Can’t keep the fucking ball. Play MLS and Kai.
Going to say it. I think we’ve been shit for this whole game and you saw that coming from a mile away. Our fullbacks have been terrible, Zubi has been non existent and our wings have been poor.
The central areas in this game scream Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Don’t love our full back positions.
Dobson gave the ball away cheaply for 2-2 and gets a red soon after. What an idiot. Also was very tired, should have been subbed.
If he plays Guiu in after the first dribble it’s a massive Chelsea chance but he goes on and on and on and shoots from a very dubious position and it’s just… nothing.
We make everything so difficult.
