Al Ain (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

I really enjoyed the game and there were some super performance, especially from Ait-Nouri, Gundo, and Nunes, IMO. The former looked pretty complete in attack and defence, which is unusual for such a new player in our team, so it will be nice to watch him develop as he clearly has a lot of the tools already. Nunes is a great athlete and looked very confident in his wing-back role. Having an athlete (Khusanov) inside him allowed him a lot of freedom and he took that chance well. Though it goes against forum wishes, I see absolutely no need to replace him and Lewis as the first-choice right-back/wing-back in a high performing team.

It was great to see Oscar Bobb back and scoring. He is such a talent, IMO, but I think he was rightly disappointed with his performance and that is good to see (IMO). He is someone who wants to take his chance and to operate at the highest level. He has seen a lot of competition arrive in the attacking areas and he wants to stay and compete with them - good on him - but it will take a few games to reach the sharpness he needs.

I thought that Akanji improved as the game went on. He became less conservative in his passing and more decisive. I believe that he is a player who needs to feel confident in those around him. If he doesn't, he becomes very slow and predictable in his movement and passing and it slows down the attack. Whether someone had a word with him, or it was just a feeling he had, I don't know, but he improved as the game progressed and I thought he did well.

Cherki looked sharper and as dangerous as hell. He is clever, unpredictable, and could be a game-changer for us. When he gets used to teammates and they get used to him, he could be unplayable.
Echeverri has some of these qualities too. He is more predictable (than Rayan) but has that Argentinian work-ethic and constant movement, buzzing around. That he is also blessed with skill and technique (much more so than Alvarez, IMO) makes him a menace. He could be an absolute diamond.

It is looking good. Rodri's return is pivotal as he creates the platform for success. Gonzalez isn't there yet, IMO, but most new arrivals take time to adapt and I think he is still in that cycle. Fortunately, Reijnders looks like he might be, so we have options. I thought Khusanov looked better on the ball and his passing was crisp and confident. I think he is on his way to being the player we hope he can be, but he is very young for a central defender at this level and he will need a bit of patience from us. We are easily swayed by players who offer his athleticism but our constant possession means that ability on the ball is key.

This could be a very good tournament for us to get players familiar with each other and how we play.
 
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I've been banging the drum for playing wingbacks for a while, so it was lovely to see that's how we set up. Essentially turns into a 3 1 6 but with better cover.
With different personnel in the midfield, I think it would have been more fluid but still looked good. The tactical flexibility in the squad is much much better than last year already.

Ait-Nouri looked great and loved Cherki's goal & cameo. Big Erl is rusty.
 
IrishBloodEnglishHeart said:
So was Khus bad?

People saying he was good, others saying he was crap - there's no in between!
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Nobody was crap. A few loose passes and getting caught on the ball near the halfway line from two or three players but that’s about it. The defence didn’t have much to do really although if Al-Ain could shoot it might have been interesting.
 
Citizen of Legoland said:
Nobody was crap. A few loose passes and getting caught on the ball near the halfway line from two or three players but that’s about it. The defence didn’t have much to do really although if Al-Ain could shoot it might have been interesting.
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He’s got brilliant pace and I like how aggressive in the tackle he is.

Just needs to sharpen up on the ball and he’ll be fine. There’s a few like that though, Nico being one who springs to mind.
 
theholysmurf said:
First time we’ve played well in about half a year and it’s during the middle of the bloody night.
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I really really enjoyed the game, both halves whizzed by.

Passing, pressing, running and some actual tackling impressive. Still a bit lacking with decent balls in final 3rd, although scoreline would appear to indicate otherwise.

Still a bit of reluctance to shoot ( apart from Cherki and Evvis ace free kick), wingers infinitely better imo than Sav and Doku.

Alt Nouri was fab, I continue to appreciate Nunes, the mid played well, but wtaf is up with big Erl??? 3 of those chances, well 2 years ago would have buried. Is he missing mate Jacky boy? Serious question.

Pity we couldn't get that 7th goal. Be very interested to see how we fare v Juventus.

I watched in bed on ipad ( where am not logged into bm, so I couldn't post on match day thread, but like Eccles for about 15 minutes I didn't know who half the team were as it was 6 minutes in before I joined the viewing. I did see that bloke adjusting his tackle, not good to witness at that ungodly hour :-). Then the girl with the match ball, she will treasure.

As a result I am jiggered this morning, fortunately I am an FOCish retiree.

Still think we need to get to grips with finding the right pass in final 3rd, put some more direct crosses in and hope that Rodri and Oscar find their feet soon after both having such horrid injuries.

Oh and we scored from 2 set pieces, plus the pk, which I honestly believe had been in the PL we wouldn't have got. It was so obvious and blatant but for pigmob unless you wear a red shirt means feckvall.
 
Just finished it.
Played well. Some impressive performances from Ait nouri, Nunes and cherki when he came on.
Found it interesting that when we got the 5th, we were clearly going for 7 to top the group.
3 at the back with wing backs for the first 60 minutes or so which dont think we've seen very much of from pep so may see that more often next season.
 
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