Match Report and MOM v Huddersfield

Im having difficulty understanding how a player like S. Cook can give 100% in virtually every game he has played and others can go at half of that with him at the back...in the same team.
I get the impression that L. Cook is just going through the motions, has not fully transferred himself from Leeds, wishes he was back there in a PL side (next season). or sees himself at MU etc. This needs to be sorted before Brooks gets into that mode too! As well as S.Cook we have Fraser showing the right attitudes at the front end.....something else is pulling against Eddies overall control.
 
Well they say it's the mark of a very good team to be play very badly and still come away with the points. It sounds like quite a desperate performance, but we won, and we really needed to.
 
Im having difficulty understanding how a player like S. Cook can give 100% in virtually every game he has played and others can go at half of that with him at the back...in the same team.
I get the impression that L. Cook is just going through the motions, has not fully transferred himself from Leeds, wishes he was back there in a PL side (next season). or sees himself at MU etc. This needs to be sorted before Brooks gets into that mode too! As well as S.Cook we have Fraser showing the right attitudes at the front end.....something else is pulling against Eddies overall control.

Not sure I agree that Lewis is going through the motions. Clearly he’s out of sorts at the moment, but he never hides. Doesn’t suggest a lack of effort.
 
For Liverpool I'd be tempted to go for...

-------------Begovic-------------
Francis----S. Cook--Ake----Rico
-------Lerma-----Surman-------
Brooks------Stanislas------Fraser
-------------Wilson-------------

Subs: Boruc, Daniels, Mings, L. Cook, Ibe, King, Mousset

Very tempted to drop Mousset from the bench, since his cameo vs Huddersfield was so lazy and pathetic, but he's still a better option than Defoe. Lewis Cook needs "resting"; he can't give the ball away vs Pool like he did against Huddersfield. At least Surman is a bit more sensible on the ball, even if he can't tackle, intercept or press.

King's another one that should drop to the bench; he's not offering anything atm. Daniels doesn't deserve a place over Rico; though Rico must be really floundering in training to not be able to displace him.

I think this would give us a reasonable amount of defensive strength, but also the ability to counterattack with pace. This is one game where I might even agree with everyone's obsession to turn Ake into a midfielder, and put him in for Surman and have Mings there instead. I think we'll need his positioning and athleticism deeper vs the likes of Salah and Mane though.
 
Not sure I agree that Lewis is going through the motions. Clearly he’s out of sorts at the moment, but he never hides. Doesn’t suggest a lack of effort.
It's just how I'm seeing it as a big picture, maybe a premature judgement...maybe the whole season will be a better indicator.
Or...is it the expectation levels that affect the young internationals?
So many questions..so many angles!
 
I get the impression that L. Cook is just going through the motions, has not fully transferred himself from Leeds, wishes he was back there in a PL side (next season). or sees himself at MU etc.

This is based on nothing, other than a strange dislike you seem to have of Lewis as a person. :downer:

What exactly has he done on the pitch that translates to you as "He wishes he was still at Leeds"? I'm trying to understand your angle here, but it's just really bizarre. Criticising his performances is fine when he's had a poor game, but after every match you're on here having a go at him with some weird anecdote about how his behaviour is "Not quite right" or something. He's only 21 for f***s sake. He has a bat-s*** crazy job for someone that young, so hyper-analyzing his body language and his "vibe" on the pitch after every match is a waste of everyone's time.

If you actually bother to watch interviews with him, you'll see that he's really down to earth, articulate and humble- especially considering what he's achieved already. But I suppose he's only trying to look good in his interviews, as practice for when he gets his dream move to Man United? :slap:
 
I suppose the old saying that if a win is gained through playing badly then this is a sign of a good side. The three points were vital last night as anybody with half a footballing brain and a sense of realism will know that we will get absolutely nothing from Liverpool and as was the case at Man City. Hence, why I stated that Huddersfiled was a must win game when one takes into account the next few games where we have to play a number of top six sides where in all fairnbess we will get nothing from.
We have done well to accumulate the points that we have. This was achieved through taking points off of the lower order sides of which is vital for us to survive. The only blip being the Newcastle game.
Saturday is a situation where we must hope that the bottom three sides all slip up. We need to keep a large points gap between them and us at all times our current league position is irrelavant.
A big 'well done' to AFCB for digging in last night and taking the points of which was vital,
 
It's just how I'm seeing it as a big picture, maybe a premature judgement...maybe the whole season will be a better indicator.
Or...is it the expectation levels that affect the young internationals?
So many questions..so many angles!

Hopefully premature, but time will tell.

Superficially it seems like his form dipping while playing alongside Lerma is a similar situation to last season when Steve Cook’s form took a bit of a nosedive when partnered up with Nathan Ake. Not sure what that suggests.
 
This is based on nothing, other than a strange dislike you seem to have of Lewis as a person. :downer:

What exactly has he done on the pitch that translates to you as "He wishes he was still at Leeds"? I'm trying to understand your angle here, but it's just really bizarre. Criticising his performances is fine when he's had a poor game, but after every match you're on here having a go at him with some weird anecdote about how his behaviour is "Not quite right" or something. He's only 21 for f***s sake. He has a bat-s*** crazy job for someone that young, so hyper-analyzing his body language and his "vibe" on the pitch after every match is a waste of everyone's time.

If you actually bother to watch interviews with him, you'll see that he's really down to earth, articulate and humble- especially considering what he's achieved already. But I suppose he's only trying to look good in his interviews, as practice for when he gets his dream move to Man United? :slap:

Well...that's me told! Ok ..for now I'll wind my neck in on this and we can all see what pans out over the season. It's not 'persona!' from me, it's frustration I suppose.....a bit like it's not personal from detractors of Gosling and Francis.
Unlike most clubs we don't tend to criticise our manager so there is a tendency to look elsewhere.....however Eddie is still learning PL so maybe I and others need to see that!
 
The three points were vital last night as anybody with half a footballing brain and a sense of realism will know that we will get absolutely nothing from Liverpool and as was the case at Man City.
Strange, I thought we didn't get a nailed on penalty at 2-1 at the Etihad which could have seen us get a point or possibly go on to take all three. How you can KNOW that we won't get anything from a football match yet to be played baffles me. In football anything is possible. It's statements like these which cause people to take a dislike to you, I'm afraid. And don't tell me, if we get nothing against Liverpool, that you told me so. I agree it's UNLIKELY we'll get anything but I don't know that three days before the game has even kicked off !
 
Disappointing to see less than 10k crowd attendance last night. If season ticket holders choose not to go, how about informing the club in advance so that the seat can be resold?
 
Strange, I thought we didn't get a nailed on penalty at 2-1 at the Etihad which could have seen us get a point or possibly go on to take all three. How you can KNOW that we won't get anything from a football match yet to be played baffles me. In football anything is possible. It's statements like these which cause people to take a dislike to you, I'm afraid. And don't tell me, if we get nothing against Liverpool, that you told me so. I agree it's UNLIKELY we'll get anything but I don't know that three days before the game has even kicked off !

Correct I don't know for certain if we will get anything from Liverpool or not, but in all fairness and realistically, we won't. It is no disgrace losing up there but it is very highly likely. I personally do not care in the slightest if people like me or not. I certainly do not take a dislike to anybody who posts opinions that I disagree with, I simply ignore it and do not launch a personal crusade against them as is the case with the Bournemouth Echo forum.
 
...marks for the match last night from me would be;

Begovic 8 made some crucial saves and kept us in it.
Francis 6 Not sure how long he can go, but he is looking a target for the opposition to hurt us.
Cook 9 massive effort to stop them from getting through, covered Franno on numerous ocassions.
Ake 8 Put himself on the line on many ocassions, we don't expect any less do we?
Daniels 5 Got caught so many times (not helped by Fraser going missing to support him most of the game) Lost possession often too.
Brooks 5 Muscled out of it and couldn't keep the ball or use his skills due to being shut down constantly.
Cook 6 Battled but looks short of form, gave away the ball too often and was missing when it mattered in the midfield fight.
Lerma 7 Put in some good interceptions and tackles, but also conceded possession to often. Good asset in the air.
Fraser 7 Good going forward but forgot his defensive duties too many times, faded in the second half.
King 6 Anonymous for periods, not gettting much service from his midfield. Couple of poor decisions when on the ball in the penalty area.
Wilson 7 Took his goal well, and his assist for Fraser was excellent, but didn't really get a lot of joy from the Huddersfield defence who marshalled him well.

Stanislas 5 Poor and looked distinctly rusty.
Mousset only had enough time to get a stupid booking for throwing the ball into the stand!
Mings only time to join in the I will clear straight to the opposition game with his one pass out from defence!
 
Correct I don't know for certain if we will get anything from Liverpool or not, but in all fairness and realistically, we won't. It is no disgrace losing up there but it is very highly likely. I personally do not care in the slightest if people like me or not. I certainly do not take a dislike to anybody who posts opinions that I disagree with, I simply ignore it and do not launch a personal crusade against them as is the case with the Bournemouth Echo forum.
Fair enough. Obviously just a poor choice of words on your part in this case. Cheers !
 
After 4 defeats on the bounce it was imperative that we got back on track with a win. Felt there was nervousness in the stands which may have filtered through to the players. At 2-0 you're thinking this should be a comfortable victory, but this was anything but comfortable.
To many players below par and a Huddersfield team that were well up for it made for largely difficult viewing. We'll play much better and lose, so let's count our blessings and move on to Liverpool. Trust Eddie to work on our shortcomings last night.
Huddersfield are no mugs, as they proved at Wolves not so long ago.
 
Hudders gave 100% and as mentioned with a decent Hudders forward we would have lost the game. Two good goals from us were vital. Tactics baffle me at times. Fair enough if we start a game in a formation that doesn't end up working and we adjust the formation during the game. To not change the formation is baffling.
 
Excellent report, thanks Neil, agree with pretty much all of it. The 20 minute period before HT was particularly excruciating. Strangely though, however poor we were second half (very), I didn’t actually feel that they were going to score. They were very very good in midfield, robbed us every single time, Mooy outstanding (although 100% he deserved to be sent off) but their final ball was often poor. Ake, Cook and Bego held firm. I notice that even Wagner acknowledged that they didn’t deserve to win for precisely this reason.
But it was a tough watch. Played much better against Arsenal and lost. Funny old game, eh?
 

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