Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. The Reds beat Wolves, and play out an interesting one at Villa. Still top of the Premier League - 8 from Arsenal, 14 from Forest, and 17 from City. We’ll review the Wolves and Villa games and then look ahead to City away and Newcastle at home. After that we can take a breath.Part One - how nervous were you about the Wolves game?
First half wasn’t perfect but 1.76 xG vs Wolves 0.25 (including penalty)
Second half felt really challenging but there were just a couple of moments of concern
Second gear, reaction to the Everton match?
The third goal would have been a sliding doors moment
Part Two - Villa away - much better performance than the last 2. xG was 2.44 to 0.73.
If we bought into the idea that we need 9 wins in the last 13, this was not a bad result.
If we think we need to put pressure on Arsenal, probably not the ideal outcome.
Villa scored their big chances, but conceding from the set piece was poor. Looked short of energy at the end of the first and second half
Diogo and Darwin should have probably done better (probably??). A certain player is very disappointed. Diaz injured??
Part Three - Looking ahead and a word about Mo Salah - in part because we may only have 13 league games left with him:
Comparisons with Rooney are interesting - he has 265 goal involvements in 289 PL games, Rooney had 311 in 491 games (92% vs 63% involvement to game ratio). 3 goals behind Aguero, and 1 behind Gordon Hodgson now. 24 goals this season, 15 assists.
A word on Diogo - strange game against Wolves, but he has now played 16 games with 12 left - at the start of the season we said if he plays 28 we win the league…
City - are they back? Well, maybe in England, the new midfielder Gonzalez can’t hurt but Newcastle seemed extremely passive (and that hasn’t worked for anyone). Looks like no Stones on Sunday. Real Madrid were not so passive. Selection, predictions
Newcastle at home. Please let’s have the shit show that showed up in Manchester last Saturday please. Selection, predictions.
After City, 7 of our last 11 will be at Anfield.
Need for rotation? Could we get our midfielders some help? Endo?
Then we’ll have a week till the Champions League round of 16 away game against PSG or Benfica.
Champions league draw - Brugge, PSG,
We will be back next week with a review of City and Newcastle.Thanks to Sean and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us.
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