Wouldn’t really be on the same side though as Foden would be central. Not having that Foden couldn’t get on the ball and give us more control than Alvarez. Curly wouldn’t be getting forward too much with Doku to contend with. The way we set up without Stones was open as it gets and Grealish coming on did nothing to change that.You cannot play Foden and Doku on the same side of the pitch especially when Walker is not in his best form. It will be too easy for the opposite to cut through. But I agree with subbing Alvarez with an 8 (Kova or Rico IMO).
He messed up there but don’t think that’s been very evident over all. Simple solution for the kid is stop taking on fullbacks. Stop wait for more defenders to get back then play sideways or backwardsAlways seems to want to do that extra thing, he put someone on there arse yesterday but then decided to go back outside and Palmer got a tackle in for a corner when he should’ve just crossed it.
As a winger the onus is on creating not allowing the defense to 'move up the pitch' (whatever that means???).At the same time our defense gain enough time to move up the pitch and occupy the desired spots. Thus even if the ball is lost in the next steps, the opposition can hardly break though easily.
Our big defenders are not the quickest. It is crucial to allow them push up comfortably. Otherwise you will see today's version of Dias and etc.
Bit knee jerk on your part?
Palmer is a talented player, that's why he was in and around our first team for three years.
Doku is a different type of player. He wasn't at his best today but still looked dangerous. I wouldn't swap him for Palmer.
He wanted to go, we couldn't guarantee him a spot. Pep said himself that he told Palmer he had a chance to make the spot his own when Mahrez left but he wanted to leave. If it was Foden and we knew what we were getting from him, we'd have probably moved heaven and earth to convince him. As it was, Palmer was injured a lot & when he got a chance he didn't really take it so it is what it is. He's stepped up, we knew he was a good player and he's getting a chance to show it so fair play. Not exactly the same situation but something similar happened with Sancho, we will never push as hard for these guys to stay as we do with someone like Bernardo for instance - we know his level but we didn't know Palmers or he'd have been playing.Well like you mentioned, they are completely different types of players, and so could play in the same team and certainly be part of the same squad.
Doku has loads to work on but that's to be expected. But regardless of my thoughts on him, I think it was a poor decision to let Palmer go which I'm entitled to.
Yep and this is one of the reasons i personally don't go over the top when he has a class game. He's going to have a lot of these types of games, but then he will also have Bournemouth games where he's unplayable. We just need to let him develop.Don't think he needs much analysis at the moment. He's doing alright. He's a young, exciting player who's basically the antithesis of what we're used to under Pep. Sometimes it'll produce games like Bournemouth, other times it'll produce games like Chelsea.
He'll be a mixed bag this season and I think, when it comes to crunch time, he will probably play less and less in the second half of the season as Pep prioritises control over speed. But then next season he'll have learned that bit more and will be ready to go.