KaKa

Just now, Klaus said:

 

Amazing?

Yeah, they are giving Spurs a lot of trouble here. Love their pace and directness.

Forest look amazing man. Really dynamic side.

Midfield today, highlighting what I thought I saw during the game as far as match involvement.

Touches

Joelinton - 75

Longstaff - 68

Willock - 42

Passes

Joelinton - 52

Longstaff - 54

Willock - 28

1 minute ago, Jaqen said:

I don't think he's great in a 3 like how we setup. We looked much more balanced with Shelvey sitting and Bruno as an 8. 

 

Leaves some massive gaps at times just running way out of position when you're wanting him to show for the ball. He can press well high up the pitch but any further back and he doesn't seem to sense the danger or track players as well as he should in that role. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I think he's a number 10 attacking midfielder, and specifically one that constantly looks to make runs into the box, so would ideally be paired with a striker that looks to drop into space, so he can then make runs off them.

1 minute ago, tomlynnherrington said:

I’ve just watched  footage from behind the goal and it looks like he had no intention of blocking the ball.He get’s out of the way by running to his left.Sorry.No place for that.

He plays with that same casual energy all game.

It's the same casual lazy effort he makes in showing for the ball too.

The guy is a passenger.

I like this boy a lot!

Most of all because he plays with desire, constantly shows and asks for the ball and is surprisingly strong on the ball with decent ball control.

He makes things happen for the team. We need that from those number 8 positions, please do not play Willock ahead of him anymore, especially if Bruno is out.

20 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

He's never a sitting DM. Box to box or not at all. 

This. I'd play him in the number 8 slot ahead of Willock all day every day.

He's just having to do a job in that deeper slot because Shelvey is out, unfortunately.

Not quite up to it as a single pivot, especially when one of the midfield three hides all game.

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

It's just weird that you don't address how demonstrably bad Longstaff has been, including against Tranmere. Instead just skipping past him and going straight on to Willock, it doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Never mind.

I feel like I've explained it, but we won't agree on it, which is fine. 

10 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

I mean, isn't that part of his remit? That sort of movement is what you need if you want to progress the ball rather than just pass the ball sideways and backwards.

No! He should not be doing that all the time. It reduces our passing options during build up and makes things more difficult for us. 

He needs to time those runs better. Ideally when Wood or Almiron drop in and receive the ball than he can make runs off them. 

11 minutes ago, Smal said:

Willock is a ball carrier. He should look to get on the ball deeper but he just hides all the time. Really needs to up his game. 

He hides from the ball for the most part, and so people that are actually on the ball trying to make things happen end up getting more stick, and he is supposed to be our main instigator from the midfield three that started today.

Just look at our final shape from the game today, and how high up he is. He just takes off on those forward runs and vacates the midfield. He should not be that high up. That is where the imbalance is.

5 minutes ago, cubaricho said:

This is a very bad take my man.  

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

But Joelinton was fine and neither he nor Bruno have any bother with Willock normally.  

 

Your 'people just don't like Longstaff' craic is woeful like, howeh. I'd love nothing more than for Rafa-era Longstaff to make a return, but I've just watched a 90 minute match where in my view he did loads of things wrong, the main one being that he didn't show for the ball, so I'll say so. Schar and Botman weren't asking him where he was for a laugh.

No point arguing back and forth on this.

I think Willock is a nothing player at the minute and should not be in the starting line up.

Against Tranmere nothing and same again today. Shown up both times by Anderson who should be ahead of him now in all honesty.

4 minutes ago, Flip said:

 

Problem with Longstaff is that he wasn't keeping it simple in the 2nd half. He played some terrible passes from deep. Should learn from Big Joe who has now realized he's limited in passing so keeps it simple for most parts.

 

Agree on Willock and Anderson.  

I noticed both Joelinton and Longstaff were often forced to play more difficult passes because Willock is hardly ever available for a pass. Guy just takes off on forward runs way too often and early in our moves. He's supposed to be playing as a central midfielder.

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

I think you're being overly harsh, possibly because you're expecting something from him I wouldn't. Willock for me is a presser who wins things back, drives us forward, and yes should be more of a goal threat.

 

He did the first 2 parts well today, and was a threat in that one moment and absolutely should have buried his chance. Wolves are horrible to play against though, I thought we really struggled to work out how to create anything.

 

Longstaff was not showing for the ball, in the wrong positions, dawdling on the ball, making the wrong decisions, misplacing passes, getting caught in position. Schar kept having to resort to long diagonals because Longstaff went AWOL. We didn't really control the midfield imo, we pressed high up and dominated in the wide areas instead, with Trippier especially seeing loads of the ball.

We completely see things differently on both Longstaff and Willock.

I think Willock hardly ever gets on the ball in our build up, which he should be doing as a central midfielder, and I think he does nothing in forward areas when he does get it up there, not to mention defensively he is incredibly lightweight.

I think both Joelinton and Longstaff's jobs were made infinitely more difficult today because they were both carrying Joe Willock, the invisible man.

Just now, Flip said:

 

Sorry, Willock was the worst player for us on the pitch with Burn and Wood (at least in the first 45). It's not even debatable. Doesn't seem to care at all.

People just hate Longstaff man

I don't understand what they are watching.

At the very least he makes blocks, interceptions and wins the ball back. In that deeper position he keeps it simple and gets it to the forward players. Today the forward players did nothing with the ball. 

Willock hardly contributes to build up play as he's always making forward runs too early, I even noticed Schar gesturing at him to make himself available for the ball when he was trying to play it out from the back today. When he does eventually get the ball higher up the pitch he is very unconvincing and hardly ever makes anything happen.

Anderson comes on for 10 mins and hits the post by hustling to get on the end of that flick on at the far post. he then runs at their defence and wins a dangerous free kick at the end that could have won us the game. In general he was just present, and got on the ball and was involved in build up play too.

Under no circumstances should Willock be starting. If we don't get another CM, Longstaff should be in there ahead of him or Anderson. He is the new Jermaine Jenas.

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

I’m shocked so many on here don’t see that as a really positive result.

It's a decent result, but they were just so bad man.

We had 21 shots (6 on target) and 13 corners today. And ended with 64% possession too.

Really glad we at least got a point though, a loss would have been sickening.

1 minute ago, Kid Icarus said:

Absolutely no idea why anyone would single out Willock after that performance from Longstaff. It was shocking.

Willock was shit man. I know you like him, but he doesn't fucking do anything. He's supposed to be a forward thinking player making things happen for the team, and ultimately that is where we struggled the most. Anderson starts that or comes on sooner and we win this game.

Longstaff had his clumsy moments, but for the most part we controlled midfield and had them under control defensively in there, which are largely his main responsibilities in that deeper position.

If Anderson gets around 20 mins or starts we win this game.

Honestly, if the alternative is Willock, I'm starting Anderson instead.

I was annoyed with Willock against Tranmere where Anderson outperformed him, and again today he was poor and worse than that just casual as ever.

Great that we got a point but this game was right there for us, even without Bruno, Wilson and Isak. However, missing those three and then having Willock in there strolling around was just too much in the end.

Just now, JB said:

 

I'm blaming you for that

No idea why Schar took that. I was waiting for my guy Trippier to slot that in.

Fuck off Fabian man. Fuck off.

2 minutes ago, Thomson Mouse said:

 

This man is mentally ill.

This is a goal. We are taking all 3 points.

Anderson has been class. Outdone Willock in 10mins of play.

1 minute ago, Unbelievable said:

Lucky..?

I swear most people don't actually watch the game. No idea what they are looking at. 

We will win this.

We might just have enough time for one more.

Wolves keep giving us the ball. Come on boys!