If you never tire of hearing the same thing said in slightly different ways then listen to footballers after a defeat …or even maybe a victory.
I knew it was going to be another long old winter doing this job when I read Angelo Ogbonna’s quotes on the Liverpool defeat this morning.
Thoughts of groundhog Day are never very far away on such occasions as we were treated to another post morten on the Liverpool defeat.
For the record here’s what the central defender had to say:
“Liverpool is a good team who want to compete this season, and there are not a lot of negatives to talk about because it is the first game and I think we showed that we have quality.
“We had our chances in the first half, but we didn’t score, and they were clinical with their chances
“The second goal was crucial, because we were really close to getting in at half time at 1-0 and we didn’t want to concede the goal at that time.
“But we’ve got a long season and we have very positive things to talk about. We have a really good dressing room, we have signed good players and I saw good things on Sunday. We have to be positive.
“We have to be all together for the next game at home to Bournemouth. It’s important to bounce back and we are positive for that.”
Yes, Hugh: Groundhog day indeed. or perhaps, another opportunity to politely say ‘my narrative differs from yours, Angelo!’.
There are, of course, positives to extract from Anfield. It’s simply not possible to do that immediately after the way that hope was anesthetized on Sunday by a potent Liverpool team. A bit like being asked to provide feedback on your dental surgeon as you recoil from a brace of root canal jobs. So, what are the positives as I see them?
Well, here goes: i) we have Adrian sitting on the bench rubbing his gloves together, ii) in Fredericks, Cresswell and Masuaku we have wing backs who have sufficient pace to bomb-on, if not always defend; iii) in Masuaku we have a left sided player with the skill and pace to deliver in midfield and free up Felipe to take on a roaming brief…perhaps once he’s fit enough to deliver that; iv) Felipe can only get fitter, surely, and that has to be a positive; v) in Balbuena, Diop and Ogbonna we have the tactical option of playing three across the back. Balbuena is not the sort to take prisoners and given the awful midfield arrangement at Anfield I think he will find himself picking up the executioner role!
So, £100 millions spent and we are short of a striker who can lead the line, and a genuine midfield enforcer. So, let’s see what Perez can do. Well, the positive here is that the Club has a month to plug obvious gaps with European loan signings. The squad now has pace and guile, no doubt. This is a huge improvement. No PL team is sustainable without both.
Perhaps Mr Pellegrini needs to experiment at home against Bournemouth where the risk is about as low as it can realistically get in the PL. I am not writing Bournemouth off, simply being measured about the risk assessment. Play Adrian between the sticks with Balbuena, Diop and Ogbonna across the back. Fredricks and Cresswell bombing on. Antonio, Wilshere, Felipe and Masuaku across the midfield. Arnie up front. Go for a high press to start and we have Perez, Yarmolenko, Rice, Noble and Chicharito waiting in the wings.
Bournemouth now presents Mr Pellegrini with a window of opportunity to woo the fans, explore the qualities in his squad, and restore player confidence.
I may be wrong Ruff but am 99% sure we can’t plug any gaps with European loans our window shut last week, they however can buy or loan from us. I can’t see Pelle going to 5 at the back, the players didn’t defend as a team against Liverpool if they had we would have contained them maybe got a nil nil, Pelle wants the players to form as a unit, unfortunately the tempering of that has to happen in the cauldron of the PL, the beating of the iron on the training ground, I expect us to be better next week and to continue to get better across the season 🙂
well put ruff
Sorry Ruff, not allowed any more signings, loan or otherwise.