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**Official OMT** - Who's going to the season opener? (Not an OMT)

Man of the match


  • Total voters
    53
  • Poll closed .
I want to see what Lo Celso does for us and our gameplay before I make a decision on how instrumental Eriksen will be for the rest of our season.

I went in to this game thinking we could just ditch Eriksen as he’s decided he’d rather be elsewhere. But can we really just ditch him? Is he essential until we have a real replacement?

I think we can’t just use today for answers as we had no Lo Celso, Dele, or Son,..
 
I want to see what Lo Celso does for us and our gameplay before I make a decision on how instrumental Eriksen will be for the rest of our season.

I went in to this game thinking we could just ditch Eriksen as he’s decided he’d rather be elsewhere. But can we really just ditch him? Is he essential until we have a real replacement?

I think we can’t just use today for answers as we had no Lo Celso, Dele, or Son,..

If we are going to play both of them, I think that we are going to see more of 4-3-3, with Lo Celso and Ndombele either side of Winks and Eriksen behind either Dele, Son or Moura off Kane.
 
I think poch needs to update his system and mix it up. We are just too predictable and too dependent on eriksen to open things up.

For instance sacrificing possession and build up with shots outside the box. I don't think we train for that. Everyone was hesitant. It was until we got desperate. Sissoko led the way and you have to give him credit for trying...

We lacked guile until Eriksen came on. Too many hopeful balls from wide into a packed defence. Our best chances throughout the game came from central positions.

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Don’t forget people that we rarely start well in August. Usually our best football comes from October. So I wouldn’t be too worried about performance issues, just be please with three points on the board and on to the next match. Players will get match conditioned, players will come back in to the team who missed yesterday, and the spark will come. We will get top 4 no doubt.
 
I think poch needs to update his system and mix it up. We are just too predictable and too dependent on eriksen to open things up.

For instance sacrificing possession and build up with shots outside the box. I don't think we train for that. Everyone was hesitant. It was until we got desperate. Sissoko led the way and you have to give him credit for trying...



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I think that we need to give it a few months and see how the new players integrate before judging. We mix it up every game.
 
Good point on MOTD on how close Lucas, Lamela and Kane all were in the first half, made it very narrow and easy to defend for Villa, while our midfielders struggled to find space to pass into. Eriksen came on and did really well for us, somehow opened up the game, but we had a momentum when he came on, and although he had the cross that eventually lead to Ndombele scoring, he wasn't directly involved in any of our goals.

How good was Ndombele though? Goddamn. So new, obviously not fully integrated or up to speed yet, but what a footballer that is, just the silky touch and the agility on him, awareness of team mates, always looking for the offensive pass. Very nearly played Kane through on goal in the first half. He will be tremendous for us.

Impressed with how we pressed in the second half, and good performances all around from our boys. Alderweireld was excellent in his pressing, same with Lamela and Sissoko. KWP doing ever so well on the right back, showing that he can definitely do a job for us if given the chance.

Disappointing first half, but overall a good performance and a much deserved win. I actually didn't think of it before I saw it on MOTD just now that those were Kane's first goals at the new stadium. Very pleased for him. His second goal was excellent. :)

Lots of reports of Vertonghen being injured before the game, but then Poch says he wasn't, he had just been left out. Weird one, but no point reading too much into it. I also find it quite strange that N'Koudou is on the bench, when we've tried to get rid of him for so long, instead of having Parrot there, who's been so much involved in preseason. But oh well, minor niggles.
 
I was extremely irritated watching that game, felt like nothing had changed from last season. Our build up play is so pedestrian, no teams in the PL win anything building up so slowly. Seemed that once we got the goal the pressure eased and we got into a much better rhythm with some nice one touch passing and far better movement.

One things for sure can we stop having Kane dropping deep all the time, he needs to be in the box actually scoring.
 
I have to say though, Villa didn't look half bad out there in the first half. Grealish, although he gave the ball away a few times, is clearly a good player. That McGinn fellow as well, knows how to play football. I reckon they'll do quite well when they get up to speed. A bargain for them getting Heaton in, quality goalie.
 
I was extremely irritated watching that game, felt like nothing had changed from last season. Our build up play is so pedestrian, no teams in the PL win anything building up so slowly. Seemed that once we got the goal the pressure eased and we got into a much better rhythm with some nice one touch passing and far better movement.

One things for sure can we stop having Kane dropping deep all the time, he needs to be in the box actually scoring.

I thought that the pace of our game improved in the second half and then again when Eriksen came on.
 
Klopp, Mourhino, Pep and I expect Fat Frank make a change at half time and it's a masterstroke, Poch just gets it all wrong in the first half, just a matter of perspective I suppose?
 
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