27 Aug 2025 10:01:22
Good result last night but It's actually left me slightly more worried than I previously was. Is it just me or are R Gomes and H Bueno just not wingbacks, their positional sense and marking is terrible and even if they do track their man there's no tackle or physicality to pressure their man. They're good going forward so play them more advanced?
Jackson conversely looks great attacking and defending.
That leads me to my other concern, how can forwards so easily ghost through the middle of 2 CBs in a 3 man defence? It may be a lack of organisation but they seem oblivious to who they're meant to be marking.

It's not all bad though Arias looks like he's almost up to speed, we're solid in the centre of the park, Sasa looks like he can do a job as super sub and JSL is top notch. If Fosun are even slightly tempted to take £60mil for him I can't see that they're achieving a thing. The going rate for a proven goal scorer at the top level is £65-£75mil (Mbuemo, Cunha, Pedro, Gyorkes, Sesko), and then you've got to convince the club to sell and the player to come.

1.) 27 Aug 2025
27 Aug 2025 10:33:14
I agree they are better at going forward than defending but if we had a proper leader at the back you would likely see them improve. Individually we have good defenders but you need that vocal commander to keep everyone switched on and organized. To many player runs are not tracked and that's why it looks and is so easy to get through our defence.

last night we looked good when we picked up the tempo. Moved the ball around quicker and players moving into space and coming short when needed. Most of the game players just didn't move into space or was that far apart a pass wasn't on. When pressing at times we did it well when all players pressed but then other times a few players didn't bother or timing was wrong and teams will just play through you easily.

I would like to see Sasa on with Larson as I think they would cause some problems if we get the ball into the box. Add another pacey attacker and midfielder and organise the defence I think we could have a half decent season.

2.) 27 Aug 2025
27 Aug 2025 10:33:57
Regarding ricardo and Hugo, ricardo dosnt have the defending awareness I agree and jackson has, coupled with blistering pace the rwb is his.
Hugo on the other hand is in the RAN mold (ish), good going forward, not as cutting as ran but a better defender and after his showing last night, imo, gets the lwb over Wolfe.
Having watched Hugo through the U21s he can be a wonder, capable of his fair share of goals from the left.
We've looked open at the back with toti and agbadu not seemingly communicating last night the pairings again didn't seem to know what the other was doing, Santi on the left supporting Hugo did well but what was going on behind him was the trouble. Maybe the new guy will level things out in there.?
Sadly I reckon we'll lose Jsl if Newcastle come back with a 60m offer and that'll necessitate a change of approach up front unless Sasa is to make his mark.
The roller coaster is now only just to begin.

3.) 27 Aug 2025
27 Aug 2025 11:16:10
As it stands Jackson is a shoo in, HUgo possibly just gets the nod over Wolfe due to his attacking threat, but the space he repeatedly gave Ward Prowse was criminal,

Santi had a very good game and has possibly given VP a headache, he also seems to marshal the defence and I wonder whether the best 3 would be him between Agba/Toti.

The JSL saga will play itself out but Sasa is surely not the answer, he was out of gas after 10mins, he'll improve but it might take until xmas for him to be fully right.