what a game
we looked like a completely different team out there. proud of our boys for doing all they can
we need to work on defending set pieces though
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and it was POSITIVE football. some stretches of truly impressive control and shot creation.
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Turns out we are not as bad and we can be competitive with Real.
Good start for Diego Alonso.
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really impressed of how well we stopped reals attack
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Great point and great effort by the team. We attacked and defended well. Very positive performance.
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This is true. We are better than our league position suggests. However, we need to start recording wins soon to back that up. We canāt let the top 7 pull further ahead.
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Yeah and again, Real was not great today. Always the question which or why? But I believe we played a big part in it why that was the case.
Also not just holding on sitting back but till the last moment trying to win. I applaud that.
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SoumarƩ had a very decent game.
Not much to critique.
Sub wise, Suso was risky imo. Thought the pace would be over his head and watching him run back is a horror with his pants full. But be created decent danger.
Lamela, just brings that crispness, directness, to quicken things up that others donāt do. A bit late for my taste.
CB for CB and ST For ST nothing much difference.
7 Likes
Watched the game in the gym. Happened to be there with only one other lad, so I turned all 8 televisions to the SFC vs RM game. It was definitely a fun match to watch! The start of the game was in our favour, luckily. Finally we are playing on the half of the opponent, playing with some cojones with the ball, all this against the number one of the league!
YEN couldāve and shouldāve done better defending Carvejal. How I wished that SRamos header wouldāve gone in just for the scenes! Anyway, I am happy with how Alonso set things up today, letās hope it continues.
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Well played by the team. We deserved to win this one, a pity that we didnāt in the end.
Performances like these increase optimism, and if we can keep up playing like this consistently then weāre in for something good this season.
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I liked the aggressiveness at the end, they were playing to win, not for the tie
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the whining on the r/soccer thread was crazy. was the ref really that bad??
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Only watched the match in patches, so i canāt really speak on the game as a whole, but i paid extra attention to Soumare to see how he would fare. I think heās a breath of fresh air. His quick turns & plays in tight spaces helped us get out of our own 3rd of the pitch, which was our eternal undoing whenever we tried the possession game. It also helped to have Sow & Rakitic in the mix, who are very versatile midfielders, and allowed the trio to rotate their roles at times.
From what i saw, the forwards struggled a lot, particularly Lukebakio who seemed off his game. Wish he & Ocampos tried to combine more. I once wanted YEN to receive the ball more, now i donāt want him anywhere near the buildup. The amount of times he nearly misplays a 5yd pass does my head in. But inversely, he often he finds himself in the right position to be an imposing threat is why he gets to start. Iād still want to see Rafa under this system, but hopefully we build off this performance and become more solid.
7 Likes
Thatās La Liga every weekend. Not sure what the main topic at hand is today, but the ref seemed to let some challenges go, which i still find to be rare in Spanish football.
Navas was holding Vini on one of his runs into the box. Vini never went down or reacted to it, so nothing got called. Had he made a meal of it, VAR likely wouldāve intervened. Itās almost as if players are obligated to exaggerate contact. I hate that part of the game, cause it no longer rewards honesty.
2 Likes
i actually thought the ref was decent. yes, he let the behavior get a little out of hand, but i dont mind a ref who lets things play a bit and didnt impose himself on the gameā¦ the first goal being disallowed was close but probably the right call. the second, heād whistled deadā¦ sure he couldāve whistled again, but that didnt actually affect anything.
i didnt think fouls were wildly in favor of either team. i had no issue.
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the first goal was offside confirmed by var. it was close but lines were drawn and bellinghams left foot was offside i believe
1 Like
in this system rafa mir would be miles better than en nesyri. we are playing a lot more build up centrally rather than sending it through the wings and crossing
in that old system youssef was a huge threat with his aerial domination, but now that weāve generally moved to controlling the game a lot more, its shown more flaws in his game when it comes to composure and ball control.
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Unless we see some renewed and improved version of Rafa Mir, I donāt see how we can contribute to the build-up play any better than YEN.
Have you seen his latest matches, especially the one where he screwed every possible build up chance?
I think Mariano has better odds on this than Mir to be frank.
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First time in ages Iāve ever agreed with this statement. YEN wasnāt showing up much.
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Please, Lord, let it be true. YEN wasnāt impressive today, but canāt imagine Rafa doing much better. Hope Mariano can make both of them sweat.
1 Like