Match Threads Ratings vs Antwerp

[guiltyparty]

I’m sure someone’s said it but they’re top of the Jupiler league after 10 games, the premier league of the No 1 rated footballing nation in the world, and haven’t lost at home in 15 months.

We were shit but they’re not shit, and this “it’s a mediocre league” shit needs to stop when clearly it’s a league that is fuelling Belgium’s footballing renaissance. Remember Gent? They’re 13th.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

disagree. On paper that line up should have worked. Everyone was off and they were better

Not at all. And it's not a hindsight thing because I alluded to it early on in the match thread.
That line up was a rare combination of 2nd choice players, players who are seeking match fitness, players who were out of position and players who have been left out of the squads entirely for a few matches. Eg. that specific CB partnership has never played together in those positions. So it's not accurate to say it should have worked. It could have worked. But it didn't.

 

[14/04/91]

So our m/f was Winks/Lo C/Ali what other outcome could we expect

Our m/f is Hojbjerg/Lo C/Ndombele
I know they couldnt play/start but I expected shit and shit is what I got

But thanks to the poster who actually put up some ratings I am too angry to myself

Personally I’d expect those 3 international footballers in midfield to perform much, much better than they did in many ways.
That really is not a bad midfield and should’ve been good enough to match their opponents.

 

[cabinfever]

On a lighter note.... did anyone spot the look that Doherty gave to Toby when the camera panned to the subs during the 2nd half?

it was a pure “aren’t we glad we’re not playing” look.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Antwerp pressed us well . This always disrupts us when the opponent covers every blade of grass . But with a collection of half fit, untried
and fringe players we were taking a risk which Jose obviously realised by half time . He tried to repair the damage. ' I'd have replaced all 11 if I could' he said .... but it was too late .As he pointed out in the Presser , he fucked it .

Bale(5) has a ton of credit in the bank...but that doesn't alter the fact that he was way off the pace. 600k earned this week looks a lot for that performance. He obvs has loads of work to do .

Lo Celso(6) had a period last season where he was superb...then he got injured and that player has yet to fully return , another reason we weren't at it creatively .
Bergie(4) has yet to show acceptable form imo .Plenty of opportunities but I now worry that he's even a squad player. Looked strangely slow on occasions.
Dele (5). I'm far from a friend to this player , but I wouldn't blame him particularly for the shitshow . He's gonna disappear tho now
Vini (6) I'm still assessing him overall, some possibilities still .

Our only on the case creative midfield atm is NDombele . He's become irreplaceable imo as even Son (6) and Kane (6) couldn't make any headway against an efficient defence .

We are sputtering a bit , the Burnley win for me was a flipped coin result...could have easily been a different outcome .

The best thing on the night is we got a proper wake up call in a non-crucial match .

 

[Japhet]

I thought the team looked good on paper but once on the pitch looked complacent and unmotivated. Mourinho's 'I'll show you now' subs at half time were bizarre and blew up in his face. No doubt some players needed to come off, but why Vinicius and not Bale? You'd honestly think we'd travelled by bus to the middle of Armenia to put on a performance like that.

 

[Darrkespur]

I thought we played very poorly with Bergwijn and Alli particularly off the pace but I also think our players and fans really underestimated how good that Antwerp team is. A lot of superb performances their side from a team unbeaten at home for over a year. De Laet was inpenetrable in defence. Whilst we should have done a lot lot better we should give credit to their performance - they were just as excellent as we were poor.

 

[yid-down-under]

Not at all. And it's not a hindsight thing because I alluded to it early on in the match thread.
That line up was a rare combination of 2nd choice players, players who are seeking match fitness, players who were out of position and players who have been left out of the squads entirely for a few matches. Eg. that specific CB partnership has never played together in those positions. So it's not accurate to say it should have worked. It could have worked. But it didn't.

Pretty sure we played the same cb partnership in the last Europa League match

 

[sausage]

Don't shoot me, but we seemed much better without Bale in the team ?

I'm sure that'll change, but it's maybe affected our balance a little. As some predicted.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Pretty sure we played the same cb partnership in the last Europa League match

Not so.
Alderweireld/Sanchez -> Two CB specialists who have played before
Davies/Sanchez -> Only one CB specialist and haven't paired up before

The line-up was a gamble, and it didn't pay off.

 

[Thenewcat]

Lloris - 6 Did nothing wrong
Aurier - 6 best outfield player
Reggie - 3 dreadful
Davies - 2 worse than Reggie, dreadful error for the goal
Sánchez - 5 because I can remember a good thing he did
GLC - 4 didn’t impose himself
Winks - 1 woeful positioning, zero progressive impact, terrible back pass.
Dele - 1 sad to see
Bergwijn - 3 invisible
Bale - 3 see Bergwijn
Vinícius- 5 held up play well on occasion, didn’t deserve the hook

Son - 2 worst I’ve seen him play
Moura - 4 not the worst
Lamela - 3 rubbish
PEH - best of the subs
Kane - 4 couldn’t quite get into the game

 

[yid-down-under]

Not so.
Alderweireld/Sanchez -> Two CB specialists who have played before
Davies/Sanchez -> Only one CB specialist and haven't paired up before

The line-up was a gamble, and it didn't pay off.

sanchez and Davies have played both Europa League group matches as our centre back pairing mate

 

[bigfrooj]

I think Mourinho went too large on Bale getting fitter all the time rhetoric. He’s clearly miles away yet and at least Vinicius and Dele could get about with more energy and more frequent sprints. Nearest Jose will get to an apology post match I suppose but Bale should have come off at halftime.

 

[CowInAComa]

Like Jose said, makes future selection choices a lot easier.

It seems to me we took the west ham come back quite hard and lost a bit of a our mojo for last couple of games.

Not gonna shit my pants over one bad result , if we were due one EL is the place to do it.
Think we will get a response against Brighton

 

[fortworthspur]

disagree. On paper that line up should have worked. Everyone was off and they were better

it might have worked had he stuck with it.

 

[hughy]

Don't shoot me, but we seemed much better without Bale in the team ?

I'm sure that'll change, but it's maybe affected our balance a little. As some predicted.

To be fair Bale's replacement was the most in-form player in the world right now, so that's no real surprise.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

To be fair Bale's replacement was the most in-form player in the world right now, so that's no real surprise.

Sissoko didn’t come on!

 

[shoggy33]

Poor all round. I do feel a bit for the players. If you'd stuck any one of Bale, Lo celso, Dele, Vinicius in a team with Kane, Son, Ndombele, PEH from the start they'd probably have played better. Stick them in a team with a bunch of other players who haven't played in months + Harry winks and they all looked shocking. I really hope Vinicius still gets plenty of opportunity, think he has looked good so far and didn't deserve to come off yesterday. Don't think we'll see Dele again for a while though.

 

[Zippy1980]

Everyone was shocking, glc probably best of a bad bunch, why winks is anywhere near playing is beyond me, i fail to see what he offers

Winks will be gone next summer. My local side is looking a centre mid

 

[Ionman34]

We didn't show up and Antwerp defended like trojans and were solid throughout.

One of those days. They happen. Let's move on.

I'm confused here. We didn't show up but they defended like Trojans?
It's one or the other surely, not both?