I just felt the referee was robbing us minute by minute and that has a cumulative effect and it was probably the reason we didn’t win comfortably.
Gagnon’s best game so far and thene goes off injured.
Roque Mesa much much better, but effective?
Banega does almost nothing, he’s a statue in the centre, not wanting the ball except on his conditions, raises his hand to direct where the defence should play out. It’s almost like having 10 players on the field.
The season is a marathon and we have to hang in there despite the injuries (and yellow cards) and so far we look like worthy top 4 incumbents at the end of the season.
A good game and I’ll take it, Atletico never looked like winning and it was down to the barest of margins, a couple of inches to the left and ben yedder would have been taking home the matchball while giving us the win. Gnagnon really impressed, I was afraid Lemar would take him to the butchers but he held himself well and only intervened when really needed, if he scored near the end that would have been a dream game but Oblak showed why he is one of the top keepers in Europe.
Speaking of keepers, Vaclik also did very well, that 1 on 1 stop with Griezmann was a vital along with his customary solid performance, Carrico made a bad tackle but I remember that someone lost the ball which led to the fiasco in the first place so not much can be done.
Again, the team is screaming for reinforcements in the middle, in this game we only had Mesa and Banega who could play centrally while Mudo is serving his ban and Gonalons is injured, we had nobody who could come in on the bench and even forced Promes to play there, feel sorry for the guy. Buying at least one player in the middle is the absolute priority in this month and not some far-fetched wet dream at Morata.
All in all, we did alright against Atletico while Valencia and Betis (the latter to Huesca), a pretty good week wouldn’t you say?
Agreed with your assessment but Suarez I think is more of a winger? He also spent a season here on loan and didn’t do much. I watched a bit of Joan Jordan yesterday and think he can be solid.
Suarez would be a good option to back up Mudo and Sarabia at attacking midfield. Not so much Banega. Would love Jordan. He’s been great this season. I don’t see it with Campana. I know he’s a canterano, but he’s seems like an average midtable midfielder.
Campana has had a great season and is in the top five for winning the ball. I would love him for a backup to Banega to learn from him for a year. Suarez is rumored to go to Arsenal.
The ball-winning is nice but it’s more a product of their style. They’ve conceded 34 goals, second most in the league, so it’s not like he’s proving much of an impediment to the opposition attack. Mesa and Amadou are both competent ball-winners. What we need as a Banega-backup is a regista, someone who can control the tempo of the match and provide some deep-lying playmaking. Problem with that is there aren’t many players like that available at a reasonable price.
Fair result. We started well, and Atleti played like their typical selves by sitting back. We were really on top after the opening goal, and WBY could have doubled our lead shortly after. That Griezmann goal really deaded all that momentum.
A lack of flexibility prevented us from changing the complexion of the game in the 2nd half. Koke was switched to the left to stop Navas. It stopped him from dominating, but Jesus was having such a good game they still couldn’t contain him.
I can’t really fault Machín for his subs cause there’s no one on the bench. Promes simply hasn’t found any way to fit in our 3-5-2. Although he tends to play centrally for the Netherlands, it hasn’t worked here yet. A change felt needed midway through that 2nd half, but sometimes sticking to your guns can prove to be fruitful as well. WBY squandered another chance after Mesa redirected Navas’ cross.
I was very happy to see Gnagnon play well. Don’t want to get carried away, but i’d like to see him against different types of opposition. Not a bad outing against a Big 3 side. Deserved applause. Hope he ain’t injured though.
After this game, as y’all mentioned, we need more in midfield. Not sure Banega can be a true regista due to his lack of discipline. I’d rather have Mesa back there instead of seeing his shots fly to the Canary Islands. We need a box to box CM.
We never get anything from Mateu Lahoz, my heart sinks every time he’s announced to ref our games. He seems to really hate us.
I did notice as we were leaving the stadium that all the Madrid players were queuing up to embrace him, I’m even sure he got a kiss on the cheek from Godin!
The linesmen gave us nothing, he gave little more than nothing, all the 50-50 challenges went to Atletico, like I said, it was robbery in slow motion but every contra-decision is cumulative, they add up and take the steam out of Sevilla. He did get that kiss and one or two more from Atletico.