Hear me out....

[chasetownbaggie]

In contrast to last week's disappointment, I'm quite heartened by today's performance. Lots of positives and good to see others, including Ancellotti, acknowledge that we played really well first half.

I think today showed that, as an attacking force, we are going to give a lot of teams some problems. I thought Robinson did really well until he tired and it was great to see Diangana and Pereira display the quality that we know they have.

The downside is clearly defence. I've always been of the opinion that in the Prem we have to go 451 but Sav has played a back 3 in both league games which makes me think that this is how he sees us having to set up this season. If so, we deffo need an organiser in there (which is why I think he's brought in Ivanovic) and we need someone who enjoys the battle and can be relied upon to deal with crosses into the box (I'm really hoping Hegazi's absence is due to injury and not a sign he's off). Of the current incumbents, I think Ajayi has looked the most comfortable, which is particularly harsh on young O'Shea but he has advanced quite rapidly in 2 years so maybe needs handling right now.

Playing with 3 means we need wing backs, a role clearly suited for Gibbs (cost us today, but ostracising him for it would be ridiculous) - more concerned about the other wing, where I think Furlong isn't good enough. A bit worrying that, because don't think anyone else can do that job.

Anyway, let's just sort out the back 3 first, see what happens.

BTW, throughout our Prem years, I always felt Everton were a bit soft and always fancied getting something from them, but under Ancelotti, they look a different beast. Possible top 6 finish.

Ostracizing him maybe over the top but as a senior professional it's unforgivable. Hardly touched and raised his hands I mean a complete joke.

The lack of press on the ball in midfield second half allowed their midfield to drop balls over the top all the while. Furlong had limited help but agree didn't cover himself in glory. You don't comment on Sawyers or Livermore the former who was mainly anonymous.

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Playing with 3 means we need wing backs, a role clearly suited for Gibbs (cost us today, but ostracising him for it would be ridiculous) - more concerned about the other wing, where I think Furlong isn't good enough. A bit worrying that, because don't think anyone else can do that job.

Good points and real positives going forward this week.
However, the defence looked even worse than last week and by that I mean THE TEAM defending as a whole not just the defenders.
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Phillips on his day?
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I've always been a defender of Phillips, oldun. I think the work he puts in is always undervalued - but I think he needs a RB behind him tbh. 

the whole 3 CBs thing is a conundrum IMO. Not sure we have the personnel to fulfil it. I trust Slav - just hope his plan comes together.

[Hopalong]

Good post. Despite the cries of how we have the worst attack we've ever had as a Prem team this week and that none of our players are Premier League standard I thought our attack was very good. I wouldn't have been surprised to see us score more with 11 men.

I don’t think many are saying the squad hasn’t got some Prem class players but it’s really not strong enough currently if we are to carry on trying to play ‘nice‘, ‘good’ ‘proper‘ (insert own adjective) football against established Prem teams. We need at least three or four genuine Prem quality before the window shuts to compete properly over a season. We aren’t built to battle, we aren’t built to be be difficult to beat we were built to play entertaining football but that’s not easy on a shoestring budget in the Prem when you need to secure points not plaudits.

I agree with you Derek, but we don’t have the players to play any other way really... even with a motivated Tony in charge he’d struggle to coach organisation and defensive nous into our options at the back.

We need to get better in possession and find a way of getting the ball to stick further up the pitch... we also need to shield our defence a bit more.

Field Livermore Gallagher 
Townsend Ajayi Hegazi OShea

For me.

We're definitely going down with that SW4. The 3-4-3 is worth pursuing with Ajayi--Ivanovic-Hegazi /Kipre.. The rest of the team for me would be Gallagher, Livermore, Krov, Diangana, Pereira, Grant Deeney/Robinson

Doubt there are many buyers out there at the moment

M for me would be