DMAA

2 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Disappointing first half. We remain disjointed in our play and still lacking that understanding that will take time to develop with new players. Very early days but food for though for the manager. 

 

In terms of individuals, Dessers clearly lacking sharpness, Sima underwhelming and Cantwell struggling to get into the game. Impressed with Lammers again though but he's another that doesn't seem to know where he should ne playing.

Yeh, we need to get Dessers up to speed asap. Fortunately, Danilo will be coming fully match fit I believe. 

A bit of bad luck about the goal. It’s no coincidence that it came after a spell of Olympiacos moving the ball really well from side to side and stretching us though. Not great from Davies with the missed clearance. 
 

Lammers, Souttar and Davies look good. Cantwell in flashes. Not sure anyone else has shown much?

The other whipping boy, Ben Davies, has been pretty good though. 

Would like Sima to be a bit quicker with the ball. Slowed things down a few times when he’s got it. 

Why is that a free kick these days? The player ran into him. It’s only obstruction if you move to block the person. 

Missed a trick not getting the away top sponsored by Aquafresh. Bisgrove is normally on top of that kind of thing. 

Sterling is by far the strongest competition Tav has had. I don’t expect him to displace him though. 

37 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Davies (I'd prefer Yfeko, tbh)

Ooft. Very early to say that. Apparently he barely impressed in the B team last season. 

I don't really know how Lammers got man of the match? Looks ok, but pretty wasteful in the final third. 

12 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I can't believe Rice is 16. 

 

He's taking the piss out there.

Looks a very promising player

I like the look of Dessers. Has a presence about him. 

Would have liked to see a bit more of an identity forming. Still looks a bit disjointed to me. 

Sakala makes both goals lol

Not much quality on display. 

3 hours ago, compo said:

Let’s pullback from this Danilo transfer a striker with 14 goals from 47 games no not for me I would be looking elsewhere for some value something to sell on .

From looking at the stats, I don’t think any of our signings are prolific goalscorers. Danilo and Dessers underperform their xG slightly, Lammers underperforms it significantly, and Sima outperforms it but his xG is quite low in comparison. Caveat being that it's impossible to know for sure from those stats because they all played at different clubs in different leagues and with different roles. 
 

I don't think it matters if they aren't as clinical as Colak for example because they seem to have a variety of skills and abilities and I expect all will score plenty, maybe with the exception of Lammers who will probably score at a moderate rate but might create a bit more. I'm just glad that we seem to have recruited a lot of goalscorers in the forward positions, having relied heavily on right back and the whole team to chip in in recent seasons (my favourite player Ryan Kent scored 3 in 44 games last season!). 
 

Looking forward to seeing Dessers today!

A good comparison of our forwards (including Danilo if we finally get him). A couple of surprises in there. xG vs goals for Lammers and Dessers in particular. Sima on the other hand has a low xG but outperforms it really well. Danilo just looks like an all rounder and he’ll be a star if he joins. Compliments Dessers well too as they are very different players. 

It’s fairly early days but I like Ridvan. A much better defender than Barisic, good at quick passing and getting involved in build-up play and far more capable of getting to the byline and cutting it back than Barisic. I like how he makes underlapping runs too. He’ll never be as good a crosser but I don’t think he’s as bad as made out at crossing either. Needs a proper spell without injury this season to prove himself but I’m optimistic. 

9 hours ago, Rousseau said:

Dowell looked like a good passer, but not the most mobile; although, perhaps it's because he's not match fit?

 

I wonder if he'd be better playing at DM as a deep-lying playmaker, dictating play, etc. which would free up a place for Raskin as an #8 so he can use his energy to get about; he does score goals when playing for Belgium U21s in a more advanced position.   

No I don’t think so. Everything I’ve read about him is that he is far more comfortable as a 10 than an 8, and struggles with the defensive side of the game. Raskin needs to be the 6. Dowell will chip in with a good number of goals too. He will definitely be better than what we’ve had in midfield on that front, even if played as an 8. 

6 hours ago, Bill said:

If Matondo, Sakala and Barisic don't show more against Hamburg I think they're going to spend a lot of time on the bench this season if they don't leave.

Jack and Lundstram struggled too. 

7 minutes ago, Graeme Ro55 said:

Why o why bring on Wright ? 

Bear in mind it was a testimonial for Greegs. 

A bit of a sucker punch really. Frustrating to lose even though it doesn’t matter. A good workout and a few good signs. 

The stats did say he would be good at that!

1 minute ago, Rousseau said:

I don't see the diamond. 

 

It looks like a flat 4-3-3 and flat 4-4-2 in different phases. 

 

The front three are definitely changing positions. 

 

To be fair, we've not had a lot of the ball to see it develop. 

Off the ball there was definitely a diamond at times. Cantwell was behind Sima and Lammers, and Jack was behind Lundstram and Dowell. 

13 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

It looks like a flat 4-4-2 in defence which is nice to see - it's quite common at the top of the game - but it's not done anything to stop them passing through us...

it’s been a mix between 4-4-2 and a diamond hasn’t it?

I like Souttar’s ability to break the press with his dribbling. 
 

Some better play now.