Al Ain (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

A very good performance, and it was great to see Aït-Nouri and Echeverri not only settle into the team well, but also work strongly together down the left. I thought they were our two best players in the first half. Claudio's free-kick was outstanding, despite the commentators trying to blame the goalkeeper.

It was great to see Oscar and Rayan C. both get on the scoresheet and brilliant to see Dave continue his progress back to full fitness.

It was a bit worrying that Joško went off with what looked like an injury, but we aren’t exactly short-handed at centre-back, and we have a ready-made replacement in Nathan.

All-in-all, a good couple of hours.
 
oldius said:
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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Good summary. Bobb looked a bit worried about getting injured but still scored - will get his confidence back
Nothing but good things to say about everyone. What a great club we are with really respectful players. Unlike many other entitled clubs
 
chesterbells said:
Reckon we’ve nothing fear from Juventus, and whatever happens there we’ll be a tough game for whoever we face in the last 16. Lots of positives these last two games, even factoring in the opposition.
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Well if we expect to be able to trade punches with the best in Europe next season we really should be beating the likes of Juve.
 
Vienna_70 said:
A very good performance, and it was great to see Aït-Nouri and Echeverri not only settle into the team well, but also work strongly together down the left. I thought they were our two best players in the first half. Claudio's free-kick was outstanding, despite the commentators trying to blame the goalkeeper.

It was great to see Oscar and Rayan C. both get on the scoresheet and brilliant to see Dave continue his progress back to full fitness.

It was a bit worrying that Joško went off with what looked like an injury, but we aren’t exactly short-handed at centre-back, and we have a ready-made replacement in Nathan.

All-in-all, a good couple of hours.
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Any updates on Josko & Claudio injuries. Watched the match but not the after interviews
 
I woke up and watched the 2nd half best as I could, but was it only me or were we passing with a fluidity and one touch and more emphasis on getting forward into dangerous areas fast. Mixing it up a bit.
I know the opposition won’t have been great but there was an excitement to our play and passing not really seen last season
 
When do we start worrying about Haaland missing these chances? Even his penalty - if the keeper had gone the correct way he'd have saved that with ease. Aït-Nouri put in a great cross and Haaland was stood on the edge of the area. It's worrying me a bit

Does he have that hunger after being given a contract for life basically?
 
IrishBloodEnglishHeart said:
When do we start worrying about Haaland missing these chances? Even his penalty - if the keeper had gone the correct way he'd have saved that with ease. Aït-Nouri put in a great cross and Haaland was stood on the edge of the area. It's worrying me a bit

Does he have that hunger after being given a contract for life basically?
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He really should have had a hat-trick today, especially considering the opposition .... but can't have too many complaints, with a goal and a nice assist.
 
Very good performance, particularly given the number of changes, although the opposition were poor. Shame we didn't get the extra goal we needed, but beating Juventus shouldn't be beyond us. Ait-Nouri was excellent, and great to see Echeverri and Cherki open their accounts for us. Plenty of positives from the game.
 
IrishBloodEnglishHeart said:
When do we start worrying about Haaland missing these chances? Even his penalty - if the keeper had gone the correct way he'd have saved that with ease. Aït-Nouri put in a great cross and Haaland was stood on the edge of the area. It's worrying me a bit

Does he have that hunger after being given a contract for life basically?
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All strikers go through disappointing periods.
 
IrishBloodEnglishHeart said:
When do we start worrying about Haaland missing these chances? Even his penalty - if the keeper had gone the correct way he'd have saved that with ease. Aït-Nouri put in a great cross and Haaland was stood on the edge of the area. It's worrying me a bit

Does he have that hunger after being given a contract for life basically?
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"We" won't start worrying about him at all.
 
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