I would have kept Sarr on and brought Sema on for Mr Z, next weeks game will tell us a lot, starting 11 and application!
It never ceases to amaze me how poorly informed football pundits are. With his back to goal he is absolutely brilliant but in the box attacking crosses, he is terrible and his lack of headed goals is proof of that.
I doubt that Gino will be able to shift Dumb and Dumber so I would be inclined to keep going with Pedro. He's very raw but he needs to play and I'd rather him than D&D. This really is a terrible film.
I didnt watch you not watching it, but I'm told you sat there comfortably in fourth gear watching the remaining 86 minutes. Just thought I'd go on a forum and post an opinion about something I didn't observe.
Pedro has more technical ability than Gray will ever dream of. We need to find a striker ASAP to complement him. Zinc and Sarr as wingers and we should get goals. Junker perhaps ? Whiteman in midfield. We are seriously wasting an enormous amount of resources on players that just are not good enough. Players with the right mentality and levels of fitness as well. Chalobah injured again. Is Hughes one hundred per cent ?
Who needs Troy and Gray. Surely if these 4 all learnt to rotate positions, they would be a fookin handful. Pedro Sema Zincker Sarr
Some good performances from many players. Thought JP and Bachmann did well. That was the least sh1t game I've seen Trampoline Ghost play for a long long time. Navarro looked awful against James in first 20 mins, but came into the game and his crossing was decent. Am not holding my hopes too high for Xisco but that performance was worthy of commendation. So far he's had 2 out of 3 good performances. Am starting to feel Happy Clappy again.
I don't disagree with any of that but given the last two years can you see Gino benching G&D for Pedro and a n other? Moreover who on earth is going to buy them? I suppose a swap for Okaka with them is too much to hope for? I can see them still here in 2045,like those Covid "schoolchildren return to class" jokes going around,with OAPs sitting in the classroom. Terrifying prospect.
Nothing game, early goal meant they never got out of second gear. We were the classic neat and tidy but let's be honest, they let us as we had no threat whatsoever. Would love us to spend the rest of the season with Pedro or Perica upfront (notwithstanding their limitations), Sarr, Sema and Zinckernagel behind. We'd be forced to play the ball on the floor and try to rely on movement. But we all know what will happen. Deeney will start every game he's available, Gray will continue to feature heavily, the play offs will slip away and in the summer Pedro, Sarr and Hughes will leave. So hard to be optimistic right now.
It is indeed. For the good of the club Gino needs to do the right thing and cut his losses. Move them on. Lets go with young and hungry players with ability and mentality. Like Brentford. Let's overhaul the scouting system and keep working hard on the Academy. And Gino needs to understand along with his chums like Cristian and Scott not to interfere with the coach and undermine them. The culture of player power, laissez faire attitude in part stems from a clique in the dressing room. Deeney needs to be brought down to earth and his ego deflated. Deriding the club, fellow players is simply not acceptable. GT would have had him out on his ear.
Jurado - Schoolboy's short, back and sides. Neat and tidy ; better than a bowl cut; but never going to get you laid.
A much improved performance, but then it was so poor last week, that's not too much of a big claim to make. Still lots of issues with the forward play. That final ball, weight of pass, set piece delivery or close control at the vital moment, is just not there. Poor points were Gray (of course), Navarro offers nothing, Chalobah cannot pass to save his life, but lots of positives as well. I was impressed with Bachmann. Sierralta is growing into his role, great to see Hughes back and he played well. Sarr had some improved moments but still dwells in two minds at the vital time. Pedro didn't look out of place and Sema had a good cameo at the end. Really pleased with the Zinckerman. Great first touch and although he was fairly quiet there is a lot of quality in those feet of his. That was a good United team tonight, and although they tore us a new one for the first 20 minutes, we grew into the game and they didn't really threaten too much after that. Trouble is neither did we. Oh for the lack a a decent striker. Stick Toney in our team and we'd probably would have won that tonight. We're not going up unless we invest in a striker. I'm convinced this is the only thing we need now in order to win promotion. If we stick with what we have, we remain a Championship club.
That was a good united team? On paper but they’ve hardly played much minutes and some were proper lacking fitness. Like you say some positives, not all doom and gloom, hopefully see Hughes in the starting xi next few games and get moving up this league. It won’t happen but 4231 with Pedro sema zink Sarr Hughes cleverly should be creative enough to see off the next 2 teams. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A couple of central midfielders too probably. We started the season with 5 viable CMs. One's been sold (the best one), three are now out injured (one long-term), and the fifth one has only just completed his first full game after a long absence. Maybe Sema or even Wilmot could do a job in CM, but we're not going to go up if we have to resort to playing players out of position to cover the gaps.
Overall that was a much better team performance, and I think the absence of TD had a lot to do with it! It was so refreshing that he was not there to constantly brow beat and criticise everyone else, rather than admitting that a lot of any blame for how the team has been playing is down to his own more and more lack lustre performances. Tonight we at least played more like a team and actually created quite a lot of decent momentum. Unfortunately we still have that GLARING ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, which is having nobody who is capable of scoring goals. Bachmann - Had a steady game and acquitted himself well, he had no chance for their goal IMO. Navarro - Does not look like anything more than a emergency backup player, he has never filled me with confidence whenever he has played so far. Serrialta - Had a decent game tonight, but he seems no more than a backup as he appears to have one decent game followed by a dodgy one, no consistency. Troost-Ekong - Is similar to Serrialta, maybe they should rotate every other game and hope that they put in their good performances when they play. Masina - I thought was playing OK tonight, not sure why he was taken off, was he getting tired maybe? Sarr - Is so frustrating, Glen Hoddle commented that even though he gets to the ball with his pace he often loiters and does nothing with it. Hughes - Terrier like as usual and looked better than he has for a while tonight, hopefully he is beginning to get back into it after his injury. Chalobah - I thought had one of his better games tonight, but he looks like he could now well be out for a while, as it looked like he pulled a hammy. Zinckernagel - Started slowly, but I thought he grew into the game, I have high hopes we might have actually got a good one this time. Pedro - As laid back and smooth as ever, but maybe needs a little more urgency to really come good, however overall I'm well pleased with him so far. Gray - Sorry but the man has got to go, he adds very little to the team if anything. Ngakia - Is not a LB though he tries his best, however is a decent RB, hopefully he will improve on the left if "The Kid" insists on playing him there. Hungbo - A decent cameo, might have potential. Sema - did ok, but I'm surprised "The Kid" did not switch Zinc to the right where he often plays, and play King Ken down the left. Phillips - Not on long enough, as just a late injury replacement for Chalobah. Wilmott - Not on long, but was adequate. All in all a reasonable team performance IMO, but we never looked like scoring as per usual.
Decided not to watch or listen to the match and instead have dinner, watch Michael Palin and Spiral on BBC4, then watch the lowlights on MOTD. Scruffy and preventable early goal to concede and then I suppose Man Utd didn't really have to go above third gear to protect their lead. Gray's headed miss was laughable. The Popstrel's Wastrel strikes again, or rather he doesn't. Under GT, you used to rub your hands in anticipation of Cup games as you knew there was always a chance of an upset and there often was. These days it's either scraping through with a weakened team or a limp exit as seemed to be the case today. At least we weren't mauled but it does seem that United just did what they needed to do to get through.
I am not having it that United were comfortable and allowed us to play. We conceded early but we clearly grew in confidence and stopped them from playing. They hardly created anything because we stopped them from doing so and United looked bang average when we pressed high. We were not very clinical but we had a number of set pieces and United struggled against them. Massina had one cleared off the line on another day we may have had a penalty for handball (it was soft but the way football is now it's a good shout). United may not have been hanging on but we had 18 shots and got the ball in the box on multiple occasions. We were in that game for the whole match. Additionally I am usually one of the first to complain about Amdre but although it may be an unpopular opinion on here I thought Gray did alright today, his hold up and link up play was alright.
Just saying it as I saw it along with a glance at this thread and the 2nd half shoutbox comments. A toothless attack leading to another damp squib cup exit.
But you just said that you never seen or listened to the game. I think you are probably off the mark with your assumption, we played some good stuff and caused them a few problems and limited them. We had 18 shots and 8 corners , so I wouldn't say they were that comfortable.
Well, I did see the highlights, so did see a bit of the game but just not live. Good to hear it wasn't a surrender, just disappointed that that's the best we could have hoped for in the current circumstances.
The match of the day highlights was 5 minutes long if that. We give just as much as we got away from home against Manchester United who are currently joint top of the league above us. They had a team full of top quality players. What were you expecting?
We also made 8 changes . Plus they still had top-quality players, they brought on Rashford and Martial at the end we subbed on Hungbo and Dan Phillips.
I agree that Gray didn't do anything horrifically ****, he controlled the football and he completed his passes. That's what people are seeing as "not that bad" since he's set the bar so low, so I get it. That's just not good enough though is it.
