Slaven Bilic doesn’t believe there is any comparison to be made between the Turf Moor point and the way the team has performed in earlier games.
And he is looking forward to Brighton and beyond with serious optimism so long as the lads can continue to play in the same way.
He said: “If you are comparing how we played in the last game with how we played on Saturday, especially when it was eleven against eleven, we were much better on Saturday.
“We were dangerous, we were attacking with many players and that’s why we had really missed players like Lanzini and Antonio, who is now back to his fitness and everything. It was really good and we have to build on this.
“I knew we would have a difficult start, because we had to play three away games, but more than that we were playing without three or four important players for us, especially if we’re talking about the players who are game-changers when we have the ball.
“Now, with Lanzini back, with Arnautovic back and with Michail Antonio getting into his really good fitness after a long break, it is looking much better.
“We are really looking forward with a lot of optimism, if we continue to play like this and work like this, then we should get many, many points.”
But he remains very unhappy with Andy Carroll saying of his sending off: “OK the first one can happen, but the second one, he has experience and he cannot go into that challenge, especially when you are playing away from home, two minutes after you got booked.
“I’m very disappointed with what he has done. It is important, but at the end of the day it’s not very important if it was deliberate or not, but you can’t do it with that experience that you have.”
“We are really looking forward with a lot of optimism, if we continue to play like this and work like this, then we should get many, many points.”
I can only hope that Slaven’s comments above refer to the team that finished the match and not the starting eleven, with the addition that Hernadez is still on the pitch.
The interlinking play between Obiang, Lanzini et al was superb and so much more productive than hoof ball required by AC.
The Brighton match with AC redcarded is the perfect opportunity to play Hernadez and Sakho together with Obiang providing positive forward link play.
The big money players have had their chances, now let’s get a ‘team’ out there and play good football on the floor.
It all sounds pretty hollow doesn’t it ? He knew the start we had and it was never as bad as he makes it out to be, we should have taken some points from the first three games the responsibility was his to ensure the players he picked went out and were focused which as we all know many were not and were ill disciplined to boot as they have been for his entire tenure as manager. I wish he would send a rocket up himself and his coaching staff as well as the players, I am fairly certain if he left this afternoon and you put Zaba in charge of training we would see an upturn in results.
Agreed with all that.
After a full pre-season where all last seasons problems should have been rectified, we still came out with no team organisation, and no intensity. We should have been fired up and all guns blazing like all our opponents do.
I also think Zab would eventually be a great manager, but I wonder if he has his badges yet.
I think I read somewhere he is studying for them but unsure if I imagined that, he certainly seems a no nonsense type of characterm I liked the story that Ashley Fletcher told when he wasted a good chance in training and Zab went mental on him, Fletcher thought that because it was training it didn’t matter so Zab told him he needed to sort out his attitude and focus as much in training as in the game. None of us know of course whether Zab will be a good manager but probably most of us like the fact that he doesn’t accept sloppiness and isn’t frightened to call players out 😀
What’s wrong with this morning 32 😁
lol Laz I guess I am getting soft in my old age, there is probably a rude joke in there somewhere…
😂