EPL Week 3 Game Thread
- Thread starter Zomp
- Start date
Chambers' performance tonight for Arsenal reminded me of Nick Hornby's passage in Fever Pitch about Gus Caesar.
Only caught the end of the 2nd half but yeesh at the offside call. Really not a good call.
Liverpool look to be a much more stout team, full of strength and industry, but the creativity is seemingly lacking a bit.
Liverpool look to be a much more stout team, full of strength and industry, but the creativity is seemingly lacking a bit.
I have to see a replay, but I thought the shot they showed of the offside decision looked like his head was leaning slightly ahead of Skrtel, even though his feet were onside. Razor-thin either way, so I'm happy to concede it easily could have been called on.
I would say that these first few games show that your center backs can look much more confident when the holding midfielder and fullbacks are doing a good job. For as comically bad as Skrtel, Lovren, and Sakho looked at times last year, they were given very little help by Johnson, Moreno, and Manquillo.teddykgb said:
We will see if the creativity gets better as Firmino and Betenke settle in, and if Sturridge can come back healthy for any period of time. nice to have the ability to keep a clean sheet away if things aren't working, though.
SoxFanInCali said:
Yeah, I agree, and I think it's a smarter way to play. I mean, if you're going to sign Milner and play him with Henderson and Can you're definitely sacrificing some expansive quality for industry, which is probably what the doctor ordered for Liverpool because the CBs were just far too exposed and unable to stand up to the pressure. A lot will depend on the attackers finding ways to make moments, but plenty of teams in this league have been very successful playing for moments. You could argue Liverpool had several in this game and Cech made some great saves.
I thought Benteke was impressive. He's probably so used to being stranded up top whenever Villa put 10 men behind the ball that he's able to create chances when Liverpool find themselves in similar situations. Meshes well with the new Liverpool setup imho.
Contrast that to Giroud, who is probably better than Benteke when his side have deep possession (as in the 2nd half), but was invisible for the entire first half when Liverpool were pressing effectively.
Contrast that to Giroud, who is probably better than Benteke when his side have deep possession (as in the 2nd half), but was invisible for the entire first half when Liverpool were pressing effectively.
I don't think you can walk away from Emirates with a point and be unhappy - however, I wonder for how long Rodgers will get away with burying Sakho on the bench/outside the matchday 18.
3 clean sheets is what the record shows, but it's been much dicier than the scoreline - two pretty legitimate goals were called back in Liverpool's favor in the past 2 matches.
Agreed 100% on Benteke though - I thought he was more technically skilled than folks gave him credit for, but he's exceeded my expectations so far. A couple of breaks/one fewer incredible Čech save and he's got the scoring record to match his play thus far.
edit: would be remiss if I didn't mention Joe Gomez. For an 18-year-old playing out of position, he's been outstanding.
3 clean sheets is what the record shows, but it's been much dicier than the scoreline - two pretty legitimate goals were called back in Liverpool's favor in the past 2 matches.
Agreed 100% on Benteke though - I thought he was more technically skilled than folks gave him credit for, but he's exceeded my expectations so far. A couple of breaks/one fewer incredible Čech save and he's got the scoring record to match his play thus far.
edit: would be remiss if I didn't mention Joe Gomez. For an 18-year-old playing out of position, he's been outstanding.
