Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Sat Dec 12, 2020 6:12 am  

Really flat performance. We've been unlucky with injuries to CBs, but we packed any cutting edge last night, and when we did create chances we were wasteful.

Would love to see Pablo back in the fold

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Sat Dec 12, 2020 10:50 am  

I was gobsmacked he took Bamford off instead of Klich. Hernandez was made for that last 20 mins

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Sat Dec 12, 2020 2:01 pm  

Agree with all the posters and their summing up which like you are saying we looked like a Championship side last night.
Players like Alioski, Roberts, Harrison and Costa are average championship players at best.
Ayling whilst he had a decent game at CH should move back to RB with Sruijk CH.
Costa has no bottle and is lazy and certainly doesn`t fit the Bielsa type of player thats why I`m baffled why he picks him.
I like Shackleton but he isn`t going to be able to defend set pieces against players who are nearly 1 foot taller than him.
I`ve said before Williams from MU would be ok along with Barnes .
At least someone who can cross a ball first time not make space come back inside and lose the ball. 4 points from the next 2 games will soften the blow.

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:31 pm  

chapylad wrote:

Agree with all the posters and their summing up which like you are saying we looked like a Championship side last night.
Players like Alioski, Roberts, Harrison and Costa are average championship players at best.
Ayling whilst he had a decent game at CH should move back to RB with Sruijk CH.
Costa has no bottle and is lazy and certainly doesn`t fit the Bielsa type of player thats why I`m baffled why he picks him.
I like Shackleton but he isn`t going to be able to defend set pieces against players who are nearly 1 foot taller than him.
I`ve said before Williams from MU would be ok along with Barnes .
At least someone who can cross a ball first time not make space come back inside and lose the ball. 4 points from the next 2 games will soften the blow.

Agree with plenty of this but I don’t think sruijk is PL quality, think we will do well to get any points from the next 2. It’s the 2 after that Burnley and West Brom that are key.
We look a bit leggy and some look like a rest would help, it’s not Bielsa ‘s style but we will need plenty of players at the top of their game in those games to keep a gap in the table.

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Sun Dec 13, 2020 8:27 am  

I think we’d look far better with a back 4 of Struijk Cooper centre backs and Dallas LB Ayling RB. Thought we hugely missed Ayling linking up with Raphinha. Struijk at least is better in the air than Ayling and good with his feet. 3 points against Newcastle would take pressure off the Man U game as if we lose both that’s 4 on a row and puts massive pressure on the next two games.

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Mon Dec 14, 2020 6:54 pm  

i would play struijk too. we need his areal presence badly and i think he has looked more than competent on his two starts there this season against far more dangerous sides than Newcastle who will blatantly sit in and wait for set pieces and hitting us on the break now and then. Every time i have seen them they have looked pretty dire, not quite sure how they are where they are.
we ought to be taking at least a point here, all three really.

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Mon Dec 14, 2020 6:59 pm  

Point should be bare minimum otherwise we’re getting dragged toward bottom 3

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Mon Dec 14, 2020 7:56 pm  

Trebor1 wrote:

Point should be bare minimum otherwise we’re getting dragged toward bottom 3

i still don't think so mate. if we win we are a third through the season and tracking 50 points which is likely above mid table this season where it seems it will be maybe even 30 points gets survival. West Brom and Sheff United look doomed. i have to say i was impressed with Fulham last few games and they do have some talent going forward. Burnley are Burnley and they will always scrap some wins from time to time.

the difference between us and those sides is we can gets points from anyone from top to bottom. we are live in every game i don't see that with those teams. a win tomorrow would be very welcome though and ease a few people's nerves over the xmas period.

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Mon Dec 14, 2020 9:37 pm  

Yeah good point Biff. Didn’t realise we’re approaching a third of the season already

Re: The ONLY LUFC Football Thread : Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:11 pm  

Biff Tannen wrote:

i still don't think so mate. if we win we are a third through the season and tracking 50 points which is likely above mid table this season where it seems it will be maybe even 30 points gets survival. West Brom and Sheff United look doomed. i have to say i was impressed with Fulham last few games and they do have some talent going forward. Burnley are Burnley and they will always scrap some wins from time to time.

the difference between us and those sides is we can gets points from anyone from top to bottom. we are live in every game i don't see that with those teams. a win tomorrow would be very welcome though and ease a few people's nerves over the xmas period.

Whilst i get what you are saying mate I do think we won a few points against teams who had not really understood how we were going to play.
The last few games teams have sussed us out and nullified our strengths.
And with some of our squad not up to it coupled with injuries to key players we might not emulate our haul of points.
If Bielsa stays stubborn and sticks by championship standard players we could easily find ourselves hovering just above the drop zone.
For me we should be looking at Geldhart and Greenwood instead of Roberts and Costa and let Hernandez back on the pitch for some of the 90 minutes.