Greenlizard0 PL & Championship Football Thread ** spoilers ** [13th - 15th Aug 2021]

[Pigeon_Killer]

City need a focal point for their attacks which neither Jesus nor Torres offer them. Most of their play yesterday was outside the box because Torres was too static and too weak to hold up the ball. I can't imagine Sanchez and Dier having many easier games this season but Kane solves most of their problems and suits the way Pep now wants to play to a tee.

 

[Andybtsn]

I've been away all week/weekend so didn't intentionally avoid this thread

It's going to be a difficult season for Leeds, we now have a weaker squad with players leaving and I am surprised Bielsa signed on again as he has not been given the backing. Being forced to spend 18m Augustin has blown our budget.
It's criminal we never bought backup for Phillips as it's clear whenever he doesn't play we are so poor, Koch isn't a CDM and I'm afraid Cooper should be a squad player now although he was always going to play due to injuries. I don't also understand if Kalvin isn't match fit then give him 20 mins to gain some fitness, he is very much needed against Everton.

I guess the stature of the clubs showed in the fire power Pogba/Fernandes gives you, we're miles away from having players like that. All in all, a very bad start but I guess no better/worse than the game at OT last season.

 

[Shamikebab]

I thought it was worse than the game last year despite the similar scoreline. Last year you defended naively but at least threatened on the attack. This time you created very little and still defended naively.

 

[fez]

I thought it was worse than the game last year despite the similar scoreline. Last year you defended naively but at least threatened on the attack. This time you created very little and still defended naively.

It was but to be fair to them, the xG suggests that we were absolutely clinical with our finishing (which we were). Greenwoods goal was a hard finish, 2 out of 3 of Fernandes' goals were great finishes. Fred pretty much can't hit the back end of a barn door usually. We never looked in any danger of losing but 2/3-1 wouldn't have been unfair.

 

[Reuben klang]

City need a focal point for their attacks which neither Jesus nor Torres offer them. Most of their play yesterday was outside the box because Torres was too static and too weak to hold up the ball. I can't imagine Sanchez and Dier having many easier games this season but Kane solves most of their problems and suits the way Pep now wants to play to a tee.

I agree, Aguero only played 12 games in the league last season. They had similar issues but the goals spread around the team.

It’s the same team with the second most creative player in the league added to their squad. Once KdB is fully fit and ready to go they’ll be creating so many chances that even if they don’t have a number 9 they’ll still spread the goals out.

If they get Kane (which I’m now starting to think they’ll just pull the trigger) I can see him breaking the goal scoring record for a season, he fires well above his xG (with their relatively low creation from the spurs lads) and city run well under their xG, mainly due to KdB being so bloody good and Sterling etc being fairly hopeless in front of goal.

Scary stuff for the rest of the league if it happens.

 

[fez]

I agree, Aguero only played 12 games in the league last season. They had similar issues but the goals spread around the team.

It’s the same team with the second most creative player in the league added to their squad. Once KdB is fully fit and ready to go they’ll be creating so many chances that even if they don’t have a number 9 they’ll still spread the goals out.

Its never quite that simple is it though. Grealish takes the place of an existing City player. He was also the main creator at Villa and had free roam to do as he pleased. Everything went through him. Hes now just a cog in the City machine. City have rarely lacked for creativity or chance creation in the past few seasons, they have missed a top class striker that isn't injured most of the time.

A football team does not run on simple numbers. It doesn't matter if a player scores 30 goals in a season if you would have scored 40 without him. Rooney was still sticking in goals at United at the end of his time at United but he was costing us far more than he contributed due to his slow play and desire to be on the ball the whole time. I'm not saying Grealish won't do well at City but I don't think he is going to stand out at all.

They should have bought Kane before worrying about Grealish.

 

[ninjabib]

We (WBA) are crusiing 4-0 at home against Sheff United with 30 mins to go. Blades look like they are struggling under SJ or taking time to adapt at least.

 

[DrToffnar]

They still have the best squad/team in the league. Chelsea aren’t that far behind granted. They also started last season terribly and then ran away with it.

They just didn’t look fit compared to Spurs, that’ll come. It wouldn’t surprise me if they suddenly go on another 15-20 game winning run.

—

It’s great that he won’t be able to just buy free kicks for falling over anymore. Glad the refs are stopping that. Same with penalties for next to nothing.

This tbh. Always the same at the start of the season, everyone misses the punditry and makes rash judgements based on one or two games.

I will always love Grealish for what he gave to Villa but am glad he'll now be schooled by both a better team dynamic and (fingers crossed) some more decisive refereeing. He won us countless goal scoring opportunities over the years but at City you can't afford to slow the pace of the game down that much all the time, they rely too much on spontaneous creative plays.