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We got a point, and before the game that would have been a great result, after the game and having seen how little threat we provided and how we rode our luck, it's an amazing result.
Like everything so far this season, Villa game aside, I haven't enjoyed watching us play. I was trying to put my finger on during the match, and maybe it's because last season there were no expectations, we just rode the crest of a wave and found ourselves 3rd in the league with a handful of games to go.
Last season we had a clear identity and every player knew their role. This season after what now looks like a transfer window where we needed to do better, we have lost that identity, but gained some very expensive players in the process, money which was supposed to help us on nights like this, after all, this was a team 2 years a go fighting relegation, so you have to buy well and buy well quickly to climb this far, but this summer was so huge as we had to get it right, and I just don't think we have, despite thinking at the time that we made some really good signings.
Barnes - 39 million - 3 minutes
Livramento - 35 million - 0 minutes
Hall - up to 30 million, 0 minutes
Tonali - 55 million - looks lost in the current system
By good signings I don't just mean the individual ability of a player. For me a good signing is a signing that fits the system, a signing that provides added value compared to what they replace. I think we are 120-130 million deep on players that so far either haven't been given a chance or don't seem to fit the way we are playing. Now this isn't terminal and Howe and the coaching staff need to find a system that works for all these new players. Naturally some won't play every game, but equally we are not good enough as a squad for nights like tonight, to be carrying expensive substitute players when the first team is lacking in key areas. Left back, right wing, a creative central midfielder, all areas we need first team options for, and instead we just have a very expensive bench with players covering for positions that we already have a stack of other options for.
I shouldn't vent on a night like this, I need to give my head a wobble, but I do feel really frustrated with the way our transfer activity is playing out and how we look like a completely different side to last season, with the only consistent loss being Joe Willock.
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I think you have every right to vent.
The team we had last season, with a system that played to our strengths, would have won tonight.
Bruno looking to pass back instead of charging forward with the ball was frustrating to watch.
I know we are missing Joelinton and Willlock who were key to our attacking play, but there is still surely enough quality to do more than just settle for a draw?
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I completely agree KMK, we go there with last season's team and we have a proper good go. I watched this Milan side in last season's campaign, and it was shocking to see them reach a semi final, as they were one of the poorest teams in the knockout phase. They just scraped past a Spurs team that were playing absolutely shit at the time and were there for the taking, and yet they still struggled to get over the line. It is a really unpopular opinion tonight elsewhere, where I have seen fans get absolutely hammered for being disappointed with the performance, but it's a valid disappointment, because last season we played with a high press, high intensity and had one of the best midfield structures in the league, and we are miles off this, miles. This season through form and injury we have lost Joelinton, through injury we have lost Willock, but then we spent 55 million on Tonali and yet so far all that signing has done is destablise Bruno's role in the team, without getting anywhere near the best out of Tonali at the same time. It feels like a squad pegs in round holes scenario, yet the pegs and holes should align.
Knowing how crucial Willock was last season, and this isn't hindsight, his performances and the team's performances pretty much all season were testament to that, and equally knowing he was injured long before the transfer window opened, and knowing we only had one of his type of player in the squad, didn't we look for a player of similar profile to provide cover for that position, instead of stacking up on left wingers? Isak looked absolutely shot after 70 minutes, having been really poor all night, and yet Barnes isn't trusted to come on and do a job until the 90th minute?! What was the point in signing Barnes when there were other more pressing areas that we needed first team players for, like the aformentioned cover for Willock.
None of these critcisms take away how amazing it is to be in this position, or what an unbelievable job Howe has done, or how fantastic the recruitment was prior to this summer. Likewise you look at 0-0 in the San Siro after 20 years out of the competition in group game 1 and in isolation, it's a great result. However to ignore the way this season is going, focussing on performances and not results by the way in the analysis, would be a silly thing to do, as there is quite clearly something not working, with the system or new the signings or maybe a combination, when you compare how we are playing this season compared to last. We have devolved as a team, which when you spend circa 130 million, is not really what you'd expect to happen.
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Brilliant result, even though we pinched it.
Disappointed with the reaction of some of our "fans" on Twitter who are actually moaning! Seriously.
They seem to have forgotten Queen Amanda's clear message when the consortium took over - about it being a 5 year job, develop squad, develop infrastructure, develop commercial revenue etc etc?
We've made phenomenal strides in the last 2 years but we're nowhere near the top teams yet and are lucky to have somehow got this far.
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I think the biggest issue Mick is the unexplained change in style which has impacted the performances and results. We were a high intensity team that pressed high, on the front foot for 90 minutes, looking fitter than most of the teams we came up against. We then invest a lot of money in the transfer window and start the season looking like a completely different team, and not for the better. We are not pressing, we are not high intensity, our passing has become extremely passive and the performances have been by and large, poor.
Granted you have ups and downs when you are taking a team from heading down to the Championship, up into the Champions League in such a short space of time, but the foundations we needed to build on were around fitness, a high press and playing with a level of intensity that most teams struggled with, and right now those foundations are not being built upon, we are unrecognisable in our style so far.
It's not terminal, Howe has proven himself to be a top coach, but whilst we lauded everything last season, and in fact everything since the takeover and Howe coming in, I think we are equally entitled to ask why the team looks so different and what the possible reasons for this are. I find comments I have read elsewhere incredibly hard to digest, whereby the mere utter of suggesting we should be grateful for anything other than a 5-0 away humping is shouted down, after all, if this was the mentality we had last season, we wouldn't even be in the Champions League this season.
Performances have to improve, we have to find a role for Tonali in a 3 man midfield, we have to get to the bottom with Bruno's drop in form, we have to find a left back better than Burn, we have to find a position for Isak that doesn't leave him isolated, and we need to find two wide players who will contribute both offensively and defensively. I don't think there is anything wrong with these questions, maybe the way some have gone about it, but so many of our supporters are starry eyed at the thought of playing Milan away from home, and that's great that they are pleased just to watch us in the competition. I had hoped for more though, and my hope wasn't without foundation, we had an entire season last time around, bar the odd blip in form, to look at and see a team that wouldn't have just dug in in the San Siro, but gone there and caused them real problems, we did it against teams that would make light work of this Milan side. Hopefully we can find the answers soon with a more favouable run in fixtures as I loved watching us play last time around, just not so much so far this season.
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(21-09-2023, 02:04 PM)GhostfaceKillah Wrote: I think the biggest issue Mick is the unexplained change in style which has impacted the performances and results. We were a high intensity team that pressed high, on the front foot for 90 minutes, looking fitter than most of the teams we came up against. We then invest a lot of money in the transfer window and start the season looking like a completely different team, and not for the better. We are not pressing, we are not high intensity, our passing has become extremely passive and the performances have been by and large, poor.
Granted you have ups and downs when you are taking a team from heading down to the Championship, up into the Champions League in such a short space of time, but the foundations we needed to build on were around fitness, a high press and playing with a level of intensity that most teams struggled with, and right now those foundations are not being built upon, we are unrecognisable in our style so far.
It's not terminal, Howe has proven himself to be a top coach, but whilst we lauded everything last season, and in fact everything since the takeover and Howe coming in, I think we are equally entitled to ask why the team looks so different and what the possible reasons for this are. I find comments I have read elsewhere incredibly hard to digest, whereby the mere utter of suggesting we should be grateful for anything other than a 5-0 away humping is shouted down, after all, if this was the mentality we had last season, we wouldn't even be in the Champions League this season.
Performances have to improve, we have to find a role for Tonali in a 3 man midfield, we have to get to the bottom with Bruno's drop in form, we have to find a left back better than Burn, we have to find a position for Isak that doesn't leave him isolated, and we need to find two wide players who will contribute both offensively and defensively. I don't think there is anything wrong with these questions, maybe the way some have gone about it, but so many of our supporters are starry eyed at the thought of playing Milan away from home, and that's great that they are pleased just to watch us in the competition. I had hoped for more though, and my hope wasn't without foundation, we had an entire season last time around, bar the odd blip in form, to look at and see a team that wouldn't have just dug in in the San Siro, but gone there and caused them real problems, we did it against teams that would make light work of this Milan side. Hopefully we can find the answers soon with a more favouable run in fixtures as I loved watching us play last time around, just not so much so far this season.
Totally agree Ghostfacekillah.
It is possible to support and applaud everything the new owners have done, and are continuing to do, to move the club forward and still be able to ask why the team is not playing the way it did last season. I don't see the two issues being in opposition or conflict. I also don't think it is criticism of Howe to ask the questions. The decision to appoint him, and how he has brought us to this point are beyond reproach. Calls to sack him are ridiculous. He will find a way to solve the problem with performance given time. To get him that time however, and to silence the idiots, we need to get some convincing results in the easier run of fixtures that we face.
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