Aston Villa (H) | PL | Post-match Thread

eastmanc said:
Eto left Barca under Pep because he was a cock, much the same as Ibra and Cancelo. The last thing I'm saying is sell Haaland.
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Haaland will go back in sooner rather than later. He will score bagfuls again and the collective amnesia that abounds on this forum will kick in again.
 
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I felt empty inside after the Arsenal game, so when I saw last night's line-up, it gave me the more cavalier attitude of: "We've nothing to lose & everything to gain, so let's go for it". I was seriously happy to see the attacking changes Pep made, & it worked.

It was an uber attacking team selection, but with the wide solidity of a resurgent Grealish who can drop back or go centrally to defend, where this is the weakest part of Doku's game.

The disciplined solidity of Grealish on one side, & the rapid attacking jeopardy of Doku on the other had a natural synergy about it, & worked very well.

The movement & control through midfield & upfront was vintage Manchester City, & is something we don't seem able to do as regularly with Haaland for two reasons:

1. Teams tend to keep 2 CB's & a CDM around him at all times this season.

2. He's a supreme goal scorer as opposed to being a baller, so doesn't contribute as much to our build up play which would help others to score more.

Without Haaland there's no focal point, so nowhere for the opposition to concentrate their central defence. Our resultant fluidity, pulls opponents all over the place, because they can't pinpoint where the danger will come from.

Last season, everything Erling touched turned to gold, so the different way we played with him was obscured by the unbelievable amounts goals he scored.

However, with him in the side & not scoring as many this season, we lack his record-breaking goal contributions, AND the all round pre-Erling goal contributions we became used to throughout the team to make up the difference. ArseAnal (with) & Villa (without) being recent cases in point.

Last night highlighted the awkward point many have been making regarding our team shape with & without Haaland. With Erling, it's all about getting balls to him to score. Without him, it's about pulling teams apart from every angle until an opportunity presents itself for other players to score.

Against Villa we were presented with an uncomfortable truth, & one which we need to face. Against Real do we revert to Erling as our scoring focus knowing how the opposition will try to nullify him, or adopt Last night's formation & attack from multiple angles which haven't even been invented yet?

Sometimes it's just not a player's day. There's times it seems to be the case regarding Erling, but Pep seems reluctant to replace him, in the hope he gets that one chance & buries it. It worked last season, but less so this.

The problem is if Haaland is fit for a major match & doesn't play, it becomes the headline. It's hard to say he was being rested against Villa because we've got Palace away on Saturday, so after Keane's & McCoist's comments after ArseAnal, did last night kind of prove their point?

What do we do?

It seems we have to rapidly improve Haaland's all round football skills & contributions, & hope he still retains his lethal instinct when presented with scoring opportunities.

A job easier said than done????
 
eastmanc said:
I think after all their achievements they definitely deserve our backing.
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Every player who signs for this club deserves our backing until such an occasion arises where they don’t.
Haaland having a couple of quiet games after coming back from injury doesn’t quite hit the threshold of deciding he’s not good enough anymore.
I think people just enjoy looking stupid online reading his thread and others similar.
 
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