Brentford (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

Mr HJ said:
Tonight showed why we are bringing in 2 centre backs this window - Johnny is too injury prone, Ruben from being a beast physically is struggling now. Manu has been unbelievable value at 15m and is a decent player but this year he has lost all dominance in challenges. Maybe injuries? so big credit to him for playing through them same with Ake. He looks like a player Dortmund were ok to let go whereas last year he looked like a 50m player.

At least we didn't lose but when Erling struggles to score we are a team that needs twice as many chances to score a goal.
Onward and upward hopefully with 3 young players coming in this week.
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Those 3 players should have been in the squad for solford
 
SWPISHOME said:
I'd love to see Gvardiol been played as a centre back, Obviously he offers alot going forward but we have to go back to basics and find our way again.

Akanji RB, Ake LB both incredibly good in duels, One of the main reasons we won the Champions League was due to these lads as our full backs.
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I just have a bad feeling whenever the ball is near Gvardiol when he's in our half, I think I'd try him further up the pitch as a defensive midfielder maybe, he is strong, pretty fast and technically good with a good range of passes, just for the most part he can't defend to save his life! - agree with you re Akanji and Ake, except as Ake is getting older he can't stay fit.
 
eyalluvitt said:
Two and a half months and we’ve not got any better unless we are playing absolute dross
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We're getting some key players back fit and they're showing glimpses of form.

Brentford away is a tough game so i would've taken a draw before hand.

However we still lack legs in midfield and it puts our defence under pressure every game.
On top of who we're buying this month, we still, badly, need two new, proper fullbacks and an energetic defensive midfielder.
 
Bottling tackles / challenges cost us 3 points.,Shameful at any level. Especially shameful from top flight players.
Actually that’s wrong : it’s fucking basics from the day you play your first game at junior school.
 
jimharri said:
Did we deserve any more than what we got? Definitely not. You could say there's an argument about whether we deserved the draw. However; when you go into the last 10 minutes of a game 2 goals to the good, you really shouldn't be not winning the game.
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There appears to be a complete lack of confidence throughout the whole team at the moment, and other teams and their coaches are capitalising on that. A complete overhaul is needed, and quickly if the club is going to salvage something from this season!
 
argyle said:
We didn't draw the game because of Gundogan.

We drew as we kept missing chances.
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Most matches, Haaland couldn't bag a sitter to save his own life. He is a shadow of the finisher he was his first season with us.
 
SWPISHOME said:
I'd love to see Gvardiol been played as a centre back, Obviously he offers alot going forward but we have to go back to basics and find our way again.

Akanji RB, Ake LB both incredibly good in duels, One of the main reasons we won the Champions League was due to these lads as our full backs.
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Hmm, maybe. I think Gvardiol is actually quite weak in duels, both in the air and on the floor. I’d like him to be stronger. His passing is generally good, but he does have a few misplaced passes in him each game too.

His standards are still very high, and he has an excellent shot on him, but he does give me palpitations two or three times every match.
 
Chak19 said:
Yeah mate because Silva and Gundo have been superb in midfield haven't they ? give it over, Pep is too stubborn and has his favourites.
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Nope, both of those have been absolutely abysmal. And I agree with you on pep’s stubbornness.

But if you think Nunes is the answer to our midfield problems I think you’re wrong.

He’s atrocious. Not switched on tactically and clearly doesn’t have what it takes to play in midfield for city. He’s weak defensively and even weaker going forward.
 
geoff hammond said:
I’m no expert on overseas football but are there any obvious ones out there who are available
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Nor am I Geoff. But my view is this is a short term burning problem. Perhaps we don’t need the top draw long- term replacement. Maybe a stopgap who you could sell on in a year or so. Just someone with legs and energy. A simple destroyer perhaps. Screen the back, tackle and make a simple pass to the more creative players. Oh for a young Gerry Gow.
 
knuckles said:
I just have a bad feeling whenever the ball is near Gvardiol when he's in our half, I think I'd try him further up the pitch as a defensive midfielder maybe, he is strong, pretty fast and technically good with a good range of passes, just for the most part he can't defend to save his life! - agree with you re Akanji and Ake, except as Ake is getting older he can't stay fit.
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To be fair he was getting very little assistance of savinho - he was out numbered for a huge number of their attacks
 
I thought it was a really good game and one of the first times this season I have enjoyed our performance. Brentford are no mugs. Just count the number of successful forward passes they play in a game. I would take their two forwards as well. I thought the defence was miles better and all of them had better games. Akanji looked like he was moving far more freely. Kevin was good today and Savinho also did some really good stuff. Well done Phil. Two lovely goals and he looked like his confidence was starting to return. Shame we let them in at the end but that was as much about them as us. A draw at Brentford is a decent result and I for one saw some really good signs in that performance.
 
knuckles said:
I thought Nunes was pretty good, and has been in the last few games he's played. There are far worse problems than Nunes to fix, like left back, defensive midfield, extra striker, play makers.
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Thought Nunes was okay too, not outstanding but certainly not a disaster - a few mistakes (you can level that at most at some point) but also showed some good stuff as his confidence grew
 
Positives:

We looked better going forward...final ball/correct choice missing at times but we did look to be attacking quicker...
Savihno played well - again needs to pick better options at time butt he technical ability is clear to see,
Haalands hold up play was good.
KDB moving better - way off it pressing wise, and defending from the front (as were the others) but his attacking performance was better
We didnt lose a game that we would probably have lost before Xmas.

Negatives
Midfield is non existant defensively and became worse with the introduction of Gundogan - Pep sayign we dont have the defnsive minded player proves what many have been saying for a while -Brentford on another day with better finishing could have had 5 or 6. None of our current midfield has that defensive awareness...we arent picking up the second balls, we arent tracking runners or if they try they simply cannt keep with them

overall - still nowhere near good enough but there is improvement.

We need that defensive minded midfielder now.....unless we are thinking of using both the new lads in the back four and moving one of the current back 4 into the defensive midfield position - Stones would be the ideal one but he cant manage more than a few games at at time....so he is nto the long term solution and I dont thinkoverall akanji is good enough on the ball especially with his passing....

No back 4 can constantly defend attack after attack in waves.....they will crumble in the end and it is happening on a semi regular basis - this is where the mistakes are then happening
 
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