DMAA

15 minutes ago, buster. said:

To be fair, his concentration was probably a bit off for that chance just before HT. He'd have been thinking about his HT beefy bake and bottle of Irn Bru.

Fair point, I take it back.
 

I’d like a front two of Colak and Sakala. Colak for the goals and a decent aerial presence and Sakala for pace. We can’t stretch the game with Morelos up there, he is so slow. Colak and Sakala could compliment each other well and we would be much quicker counter attacking. 

53 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

I think some are being a bit harsh on Morelos.  He's always been prone to missing the odd sitter but he was one of the few players who had a bit of bite about him last night.  Christ knows we need some of that.

For me, it’s just not good enough though. Scoring goals is his main job and he is wasteful more often than not. There was one other notable occasion where his lack of any pace whatsoever meant a very good chance with him through on goal ended with a fluffed shot because a defender had caught up with him. If Sakala had been in that position he’d have got right in on goal. There were other instances too where he was sluggish. He did have good moments but it isn’t enough. 

Just now, CammyF said:

Supporter defends one of his teams player shocker. I think Lundstrum is the least of our worries. A player playing through pain and injury maybe deserves to be cut some slack? 

I’ve criticised him for two specific incidents and he deserved it. 

5 minutes ago, CammyF said:

He's gone full circle - whipping boy, EL hero, now back to whipping boy. 

You are very overly defensive of him. I haven’t criticised him before, but that goal was on him, he was on the man and then completely lost him. 

Classic Kent ruining a great breakaway there. Why is he still on the pitch?

Pathetic from Lundstram there. 

We should bring Colak on. Morelos has done ok at times with some decent passes, but when opportunities come along he is just so slow and the chance goes. 

2 minutes ago, CammyF said:

Heard Kamara has handed in transfer request and will leave in January

Only explanation for that is that he is unhappy with the manager surely. 

1 minute ago, CammyF said:

Yeah, someone who is playing through an injury whilst others hide. Heyho.....

Irrelevant, you can’t defend that when he knew a yellow ruled him out of the next game. 

What an incredible moment of stupidity from Lundstram. Did he just not fancy the Ajax game? Outrageous from a so called leader. 

I’ve been impressed with Yilmaz too. Much better defensively than Barisic, and more positive in his play too. 

9 minutes ago, Bill said:

Tillman is wondering around like a disinterested bystander. He must find a way to get into the game

I actually think he’s been ok. He’s playing as the furthest forward midfielder so will be involved a bit less. 

That was a great example of why Kent is not a goalscorer. He should be anticipating that pass from Morelos but he never does, he’s hiding behind their full back as usual. Abada would busting a gut to get into the penalty box area there. Kent just doesn’t see it as his job. 

Morelos just doesn’t have any pace at all

Yilmaz was being far too positive for Sands there 🙄

I’m looking forward to seeing how Yilmaz does. To be honest it’s more out of curiosity, we could learn more about how good he is at defending in one game than in a few months domestically.

Midfield, I don’t know anymore. Looking forward to seeing Sands. I think we are weaker than we were with the Jack and Kamara of 2019 though. That’s not a good place to be. 
 

The front three, I’m not a fan of any of them so my expectations are low tbh. Very low. Wright will at least have a bit of hunger and energy surely as he is being given an opportunity, but he lacks much quality. 

All in all I’ve rarely had less optimism going into a game. 

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

We have frighteningly quick "wingers" in Kent, Sakala and Matondo, but we don't/can't use them properly.

I think Kent has lost a yard of pace since joining. You never see him flying past people anymore, and most full backs in this league are slow. Matondo’s pace is on another level but he isn’t being utilised well at all. 

1 hour ago, Frankie said:

Wide positions really worry me tonight with Tav so obviously injured/out of form and Barisic less than dependable defensively.

 

I'm assuming we'll go three at the back again as we did in the first game.

Barisic’s one on one defending has been brutal in the Champions League, and Napoli have good dribblers of the ball. The higher standard has really exposed his weakness in that area, and I generally defend him too. I’d really like to see Yilmaz at this level to see what his one on one defending is like. 

I’m relieved we finally have it, long overdue and we have already seen why. 

13 hours ago, Franc Ergs said:

Here's my line up for the Napoli game, consists of the classic 1-10 format.

 

                                                      MCGREGOR

 

TAVERNIER  DEVINE  KING  DAVIES   SANDS  JACK  DAVIS  ARFIELD  YILMAZ  BARISIC .

Are you sure that isn’t a leaked starting 11 for the Aberdeen game on Saturday?

4 minutes ago, Nevermind said:

One of the things I hate about being an older football fan. Is that experience tells you what game is the one where the league died. Today was that day. This team has collapsed out of it's own arse. I've got better things to do with my time than dissect the multiple reasons why millionaires are pretending to have forgotten how to do their job. 

Until next season troops. Take care. 

Still time if we change the manager. 

It genuinely looked like both teams were time wasting until about the 80th minute. 

We create nothing in the deck. It’s all about lofting it into the box. 

1 minute ago, CammyF said:

This is torture to watch to be honest

Antiques roadshow is pretty tempting right now tbh

The only tactic I see is the Barisic overlap, and they’re reading that one every time now.