pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Impressive improvement, thanks to some astute positional changes which made Liverpool look decidedly ordinary at times. It took some pretty sloppy marking and lapses of concentration to undo us, where otherwise, the front to back array looked a lot better and more capable than they have done all season. Put it this way, this side and play would have beaten Fulham and Villa and we'd be on six points now. I think now we have had our 'Gillingham Day', when Wilder realises what his way ahead is. We still have some fine tuning to do and save Wilder losing his head and reverting to say, using Norwood in the pivot and us being bummed endards again, I think tonight's performance deserved at least a point, if not three.
At the back though, the soft spot is still Enda Stevens. No matter where he plays, I feel Enda has reached his physical limit of capability and really, unless you are a top six side, you can't afford to not be better than you were last season. He isn't. He started to fray last season and now he's in full decline. Across the back three we were reasonably solid if apt to lose our player and some of the blocks and tackles were pretty much ace. IN midfield it was a typical (for United) game of two halves with Liverpool looking decidedly shaky against what seemed to be quiet composure and decent passing and moving. Of course, typical for United, we forgot all about that in the second half and were effectively watching them pass it round us and sit far too deep at times.
Up front, our fifty million pairing showed us nothing really. The tactic seemed to be to hump it long and hit McBurnie which is all very well and good, but from his head (which for a change was active) the ball rarely found Brewster who was sadly anonymous.
But, Liverpool still seem vulnerable and pensive in areas and certainly are not playing the flowing, targetted football we saw them outclass us with last December. I was quite surprised how hungove they still seem and would have been delighted, if not surprised with them not being able to answer our early lead.
The talking points of the game:
Mc B Penalty: Yes. It was. On the line is in the box and its good to see a decision go for us for a change
Berge 'Penalty': Yes, again it was
Baldock Handball: Yes, it was a penalty
Salah offside, Yes, it was.
Their two goal were simple lapses of concentration. We need t work on this because the second one, were Jack playing, wouldn't have happened. Enda isn't a LCB and isn't more and more a PL level player.
Ramsdale: 7/10: Played a lot better. Wasn't tested that much and maybe should have pushed Mane's header wide.
Baldock: 7/10: Thought he had a decent game TBH. Works well with Basham and Berge down that flank and did well with a better player like Robinson.
Basham 6/10: Good game but drops a point or two for leaving Mane to free head it for the goal. Again, some deft touches for a centre back
Egan 7/10: Again, thought he had a decent, busy game and got his head to a lot of crosses and balls into the box. His 2nd minute stop was brilliant
Stevens 4.5/10: Just don't think he's hitting the mark any more. Misplaced passes and again, like Bamford v Leeds, allowed a fairly unthreatening, lightweight player to better him in the area.
Osborn 7/10: Thought he played very well, and did his level best with Salah in a position we have hardly seen him in
Berge 7.5/10: First half, Liverpool seemed very, very wary of him and it's encouraging to see hi using his physicality at last to impose on the game and opposition, shielding, winning and heading. I think soon he will score a goal which will have everyone talking about him and for all the right reasons
Ampadu 7.5/10: Did think he made the difference for us tonight, vice Norwood.
Lundstram 6/10: Typical Lunny game of two halves. Fist half pretty decent and active. Second half anonymous
McBurnie 6/10: Nothing much for him to get at except the booted long ball which he won. Just wish he'd stop this fucking throwing himself on the deck shit. It foos no one. You're a big lad. Impose yourself and get the better of your opposition. Zero goals in seven starts now.
Brester 5/10: Not for his effort - I still think he is bedding in.
Burke 5.5/10: Great pace and a bit of a bruiser of an attacker, but fuck me, that injury time effort was fucking bobbar
McGoldrick 6/10: Not really on enough. Great effort over the bar and some link play, but really, what benefit did he give us except that Lunstram wasn't on any more? We shifted to a 5-2-1-2 when he came on and tried to link between midfield and front but by that time Liverpool were just soaking us up and threatening to break quickly on the change over of play
Wilder 8/10: A much improved if somewhat undeserved and disappointing outcome. He should not change anything for Man City ... if not McB for Burke maybe, but Man City are far quicker in defence and able to cope with pace better
pommpey
At the back though, the soft spot is still Enda Stevens. No matter where he plays, I feel Enda has reached his physical limit of capability and really, unless you are a top six side, you can't afford to not be better than you were last season. He isn't. He started to fray last season and now he's in full decline. Across the back three we were reasonably solid if apt to lose our player and some of the blocks and tackles were pretty much ace. IN midfield it was a typical (for United) game of two halves with Liverpool looking decidedly shaky against what seemed to be quiet composure and decent passing and moving. Of course, typical for United, we forgot all about that in the second half and were effectively watching them pass it round us and sit far too deep at times.
Up front, our fifty million pairing showed us nothing really. The tactic seemed to be to hump it long and hit McBurnie which is all very well and good, but from his head (which for a change was active) the ball rarely found Brewster who was sadly anonymous.
But, Liverpool still seem vulnerable and pensive in areas and certainly are not playing the flowing, targetted football we saw them outclass us with last December. I was quite surprised how hungove they still seem and would have been delighted, if not surprised with them not being able to answer our early lead.
The talking points of the game:
Mc B Penalty: Yes. It was. On the line is in the box and its good to see a decision go for us for a change
Berge 'Penalty': Yes, again it was
Baldock Handball: Yes, it was a penalty
Salah offside, Yes, it was.
Their two goal were simple lapses of concentration. We need t work on this because the second one, were Jack playing, wouldn't have happened. Enda isn't a LCB and isn't more and more a PL level player.
Ramsdale: 7/10: Played a lot better. Wasn't tested that much and maybe should have pushed Mane's header wide.
Baldock: 7/10: Thought he had a decent game TBH. Works well with Basham and Berge down that flank and did well with a better player like Robinson.
Basham 6/10: Good game but drops a point or two for leaving Mane to free head it for the goal. Again, some deft touches for a centre back
Egan 7/10: Again, thought he had a decent, busy game and got his head to a lot of crosses and balls into the box. His 2nd minute stop was brilliant
Stevens 4.5/10: Just don't think he's hitting the mark any more. Misplaced passes and again, like Bamford v Leeds, allowed a fairly unthreatening, lightweight player to better him in the area.
Osborn 7/10: Thought he played very well, and did his level best with Salah in a position we have hardly seen him in
Berge 7.5/10: First half, Liverpool seemed very, very wary of him and it's encouraging to see hi using his physicality at last to impose on the game and opposition, shielding, winning and heading. I think soon he will score a goal which will have everyone talking about him and for all the right reasons
Ampadu 7.5/10: Did think he made the difference for us tonight, vice Norwood.
Lundstram 6/10: Typical Lunny game of two halves. Fist half pretty decent and active. Second half anonymous
McBurnie 6/10: Nothing much for him to get at except the booted long ball which he won. Just wish he'd stop this fucking throwing himself on the deck shit. It foos no one. You're a big lad. Impose yourself and get the better of your opposition. Zero goals in seven starts now.
Brester 5/10: Not for his effort - I still think he is bedding in.
Burke 5.5/10: Great pace and a bit of a bruiser of an attacker, but fuck me, that injury time effort was fucking bobbar
McGoldrick 6/10: Not really on enough. Great effort over the bar and some link play, but really, what benefit did he give us except that Lunstram wasn't on any more? We shifted to a 5-2-1-2 when he came on and tried to link between midfield and front but by that time Liverpool were just soaking us up and threatening to break quickly on the change over of play
Wilder 8/10: A much improved if somewhat undeserved and disappointing outcome. He should not change anything for Man City ... if not McB for Burke maybe, but Man City are far quicker in defence and able to cope with pace better
pommpey
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