Think it’s 5 wins, 5 draws, and 7 defeats against Liverpool under Guardiola. Obviously they’re the team we struggle against most, but it’s hardly all one-way.
Yep, Ake was poor in possession yesterday, like a hot potato and his passes were never direct into the feet.I’m going to sound like a broken record with Ake and it’s nothing particularly against him but when he’s in the side, we suffer with build up. He’s a good defender but he’s too safe in possession.
My ST is the corner flag next to the away fans so have the perfect angle of any passes Laporte makes to the wing back/winger and he takes risks with bending it around their attacker. Yesterday I had a similar view with Ake and rather than picking Cancelo out and releasing him into space, he’d turn back and give it Dias.
It’s a tiny detail but one that’s really important to how we play. Like I said, nothing against Ake as he’s a good defender etc. but he needs to be better with the ball.
Stones and Laporte are the ones who, when they play, make us a lot more fluid in the build up because they’re brave with it.
Was stones carrying a niggle yesterday or unfit ? or was pg making a point to the players who didnt go on tour, because of supposedly not having covid vaccination.
I thought our fans were great today, they seemed extremely quiet. Is that how it came across on tv? Or was I just lost in our end and could only hear us. Loudest I’ve heard us in a long time
Unfortunately we can't afford a poor month. League a lot different these days.might take another month of games for the players to get up to speed and implement any new progressions in play but no doubt whatsoever we'll be tearing it up soon. Alvarez is already a fan favourite, cant wait to see him play in the flesh.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think we were that bad. The 3-1 scoreline flattered Liverpool I thought.
We had a few very good chances (Haaland x2, Mahrez start of second half), dominated the ball for the majority, fought well against them when they had it and overall looked composed.
For a third pre-season game and it being against that lot, I think it was a good exercise. We’ll obviously get better than we were yesterday and given we weren’t that bad, it’s a promising sign and performance IMO.