Arne Slot’s perfect start takes a hit. We will talk about the Forest game, the victory in Milan and we will preview the Bournemouth and West Ham League Cup games. If we have time we will look at what else is happening in the footy world.
Part One - Forest home:
xG still favored us but Forest game plan worked - 0.9 to 0.6 (0.0 at half time)
First half wasn't terrible. Mo and Szobo are not great. Forwards lost a lot of duels
Diaz on 15. Jota on 25, MacAllister 37 - what if….
Oliver has become a liability - Yates catches McAllister and Robbo in the first 5 minutes and nothing is given. Ignores another hand to the face at 20. 15 fouls for them, 6 for us. Almost 70% possession. Andrew Beesley points out that disparity has happened 10 times since these stats were collected. 6 of them for us
Gravenberch - had Gibbs-White staying with him. Still managed to impact the game with recoveries. 88% pass accuracy, progressive passing. Team was 69%.
Second half - not so great, formation change then 3 subs and more formation changes
What was the formation change after they scored? Made us even more disjointed.
I felt that, in the moment, that it could be worrisome that we didn’t have a response to a) going goal down and b) how frenetic it became after we did
Forest game plan - got away with an hour of not much. We talked about their low xGA
Part Two - Milan away - Dutch players in the San Siro:
If any opposition coaches watched these 2 matches, they will have learned that this is not the way to play against this team. xG 3.09 to 0.61 (0.11 at 3-1). 23 shots.
Milan 4-2-4 out of possession, big switches, punching through the lines. Creating width
Gakpo, Gravenberch, Mac Allister - all making us look much better than Saturday.
Duels won has been at 45% in the last 2 games - he called this out against Ipswich, makes it seem like that was a narrative for that game?
Part Three - Bournemouth and West Ham at home:
Team selections and expectations
Predictions
Elsewhere?
115 or 129 charges? For us, is there extra pressure knowing that City might not be a factor?
City Arsenal this weekend. Lots of reasons not to watch - dull football, faux outrage from the entitled disciples of Mikel Arteta
Puff piece in the Athletic focusing in the NYC City branch bar in Greenwich Village - the photos showed very few people in the bar, the article was at pains to point out that there were usually more people there for City matches.
We will be back next week with a review of the Bournemouth game. Thanks to Enrique and Daz for joining me, Paul. Thank you dear listener for joining us.
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