AC Milan 0-0 Newcastle United (19/09/23)

[Mountain]

I'm glad for the new prem rules regarding giving yellows for petty fouls when a player bursts past. Milan fouled the hell out of us and we did the same back as it's not penalised.

[Shadow Puppets]

Fucking brilliant day in Milan, capped off by a really positive performance, barring some sloppy nervous play in the first half.

 

Opening 10 mins we were great, for about 20 mins after that it was very tough, and then after that I thought we played really well considering the size of the task.

 

The San Siro, in person, is a really fucking intimidating place to play, which I’d say significantly affected our play in the first half.

 

The second half was a tremendous away performance at one of the hardest stadiums in the world.

 

Very very proud of the lads. What a day!

[Sean]

20 minutes ago, Mahoneys Tache said:

Fucks sake man. 0-0 away in the San Siro after 20 years and about a decade out of European football. What a bunch of fannies. 
fucking brilliant result. 
the change from ‘we just want a team that tries’ to unrealistic expectations is breathtakingly fast. 
‘Concerning performance’. Are you fucking kidding? 
 

"We demand a team that tries"

 

I think every football fan should be allowed to want a team that wins tbh 

 

Not excusing the completely over the top takes if there is any mind.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Sean

[Shadow Puppets]

Also, I thought Bruno had his best game in ages. Botman was amazing, Schar class, Trippier class, Burn class defensively but poor in possession.

[Lush Vlad]

4 minutes ago, Mountain said:

I'm glad for the new prem rules regarding giving yellows for petty fouls when a player bursts past. Milan fouled the hell out of us and we did the same back as it's not penalised.

I dunno like. There was about 5 shirt pulls from them that went unpunished and Loftus Cheek committed 4-5 shitty fouls in a row and not even a talking to. 
 

I didn’t think the ref was bad and the game flowed ok, considering. But they got away with murder, I thought. Way more savvy than us. Thought we were shy in comparison. 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Lush Vlad

[The College Dropout]

17 minutes ago, Beren said:

 

Yeah, feel much the same.

 

Heard about some study a while back about people being essentially the same people no matter what happens to them. A curmudgeon will be a curmudgeon if they win the lottery. And a happy-go-lucky character will be a happy-go-lucky character if they break their leg.

 

Feels much the same on the forum. Some are just happy to be here, and a point vindicates that positivity. Even thought a loss would have been managed within the context of it being against CL opposition, first game in CL in ages etc etc.

 

Some want to see us play the best they are capable of doing, even if that isn't always possible for a variety of very credible reasons, and having only one 94th-minute shot on goal vindicates their desire to see team's talent showcased more effectively.

 

While appreciating the players are giving it their all, I'm probably closer to the second of the two ends of the spectrum, but you've nailed it tbh - a different result with the same performance often yields a complete re-framing of how people spin the game to their own natural predisposition 

Aye. I’m more of a process than outcome person. I’m happy we got the point. But I would have more positive things to say had we lost and played well. I’m shouting about all the good things I saw from individuals… but we were bad so I have to shout about the bad things too.  
 

But I also don’t get as down on players or managers. They tend to be doing what they’ve always done. 

Also some people can’t separate result from performance. Everyone is delighted at the result but some think others are unhappy at the result because others have critiques about the performance. 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by The College Dropout

[Palestoon]

Great point away at the San Siro.

 

As far as the lack of creativity in the side, I don't think anything has changed in personel. 

 

We didn't have a lot of creativity last season, but we created chances through our high press and intensity. 

 

We don't seem to playing with that same style this season. I don't know if it's because of the level of opposition we've faced this season which has been historically tough, or if Eddie is trying to preserve legs with all of the extra games this season. 

 

I think this favorable run of games coming up will prove telling. Hopefully we look more of the side from last season

[Jesse Pinkman]

How does Maguire start ahead of Tomori…

[Armchair Pundit]

Great result tonight, a point away with all the pressure, I'd take that all day long after our start to the season. If anyone's actually moaning about that they've got to be away with the fairies, in my opinion.

[Joelinton7]

Not concerned about result but I am concerned with bad habits and negative patterns that have crept into our play. We’re going back to Pope far more than last season and he’s a liability.
 

Too much standing still. Too much “safe” passing which encourages the oppo onto us (pushes us back) then leads to sloppy passes and giving the ball away in dangerous areas which then drops the confidence which then leads us to being too “reactive” because we’re always trying to make up for the last sloppy pass, the bit of ground because a pass isn’t fast into feet. Too much of what we’re doing atm is giving encouragement to the opposition.

 

We’re not proactive enough in our pressing and we drop back too much into this 4-5-1 shape. Players are getting too far away from each other. We look 25% less fit than last season. We’re aren’t creating enough high percentage chances. Not controlling the midfield. And Burn needs to be dropped, it’s time. 

[The Prophet]

14 minutes ago, Beren said:

 

Yeah, feel much the same.

 

Heard about some study a while back about people being essentially the same people no matter what happens to them. A curmudgeon will be a curmudgeon if they win the lottery. And a happy-go-lucky character will be a happy-go-lucky character if they break their leg.

 

Feels much the same on the forum. Some are just happy to be here, and a point vindicates that positivity. Even thought a loss would have been managed within the context of it being against CL opposition, first game in CL in ages etc etc.

 

Some want to see us play the best they are capable of doing, even if that isn't always possible for a variety of very credible reasons, and having only one 94th-minute shot on goal vindicates their desire to see team's talent showcased more effectively.

 

While appreciating the players are giving it their all, I'm probably closer to the second of the two ends of the spectrum, but you've nailed it tbh - a different result with the same performance often yields a complete re-framing of how people spin the game to their own natural predisposition 

 

Pretty much. Last season was one of our most enjoyable in decades and the amount worrying, panicking and pants-pissing was unbearable at times.

[SiLvOR]

Back in the big time, and we didn't look totally out of place. Didn't look like world beaters either, but we all know we've got so many more gears to go through. Once we click again, we'll dismantle teams and it'll be glorious.

[STM]

8 minutes ago, nufc123 said:

Dont think anyone in here has said its a bad result. Its just that since the Villa game we havent looked like ourself.

 

Since Villa, this is how I've seen it:

 

City: Dogged, conceded from a great strike against the best side in the world. 

 

Liverpool: Were excellent for 45, and decent for 70. Absolute car crash in the final minutes.

 

Brighton: Was poor performance as a direct result of our confidence being shot after Liverpool, also, Brighton are excellent.

 

Brentford: Classic game where the oppo tried to shithouse us and we struggled to break them down. We are still regaining our confidence and again Brentford are a tough outfit.

 

Milan: Rode our luck but defended with valor, attack still not firing. Some chemistry missing.

 

Again, I will say, we've had one hell of a fixture list.

[andycap]

16 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

Sign of a good team is winning and keeping clean sheets when not playing well. Great result in our current context. If we aren’t clicking then we can at least be solid and grind out results. Good coaching.

What's solid about poor finishing? They should've had atleast two goals and that's been stingy on my part. 

[The Bonk]

I and I think most on here are expressing frustration knowing that this group of lads has played better than what we're currently witnessing on the pitch. A point away to AC Milan is fantastic, they did well to earn that in a tremendous amount of pressure on the grand stage. 

 

We'll start clicking at some point and I trust Eddie to have learned from this and make the adjustments needed going forward. It's absolutely brilliant seeing us talked about on a Tuesday in the Champions League. You could tell Hoddle and a few others were rooting us on or glad to see us back after 20 years.

 

It's really some trajectory to be even having these conversations from two years ago.  

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by The Bonk

[Vinny Green Balls]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Pretty much. Last season was one of our most enjoyable in decades and the amount worrying, panicking and pants-pissing was unbearable at times.

I think the most irritating thing is this self congratulating "realism" followed by artificial victimization. "Everyone laughed at me when I said..."

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, Vinny Green Balls said:

I think the most irritating thing is this self congratulating "realism" followed by artificial victimization. "Everyone laughed at me when I said..."

The term bed wetters was also pretty irritating 

[Vinny Green Balls]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

The term bed wetters was also pretty irritating 

Agreed. And absolutely overused. That's why I have always contended that it's been very few people on the forum who actually deserve that moniker.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Vinny Green Balls

[B-more Mag]

 This is so fucking great. A year and change ago I'd never have thought it would be this soon that we'd get "a bit concerned"-y about something like a not totally dominant performance in the CL. It's ace! 

[54]

Can we sign Tomori please, him and Botman would be immense.

[Armchair Pundit]

3 minutes ago, STM said:

 

Since Villa, this is how I've seen it:

 

City: Dogged, conceded from a great strike against the best side in the world. 

 

Liverpool: Were excellent for 45, and decent for 70. Absolute car crash in the final minutes.

 

Brighton: Was poor performance as a direct result of our confidence being shot after Liverpool, also, Brighton are excellent.

 

Brentford: Classic game where the oppo tried to shithouse us and we struggled to break them down. We are still regaining our confidence and again Brentford are a tough outfit.

 

Milan: Rode our luck but defended with valor, attack still not firing. Some chemistry missing.

 

Again, I will say, we've had one hell of a fixture list.

 

That's bang on for me, put into context it really does explain a lot and shows how a brief blip can be blown out of all proportion by the media.

[Mahoneys Tache]

4 minutes ago, andycap said:

What's solid about poor finishing? They should've had atleast two goals and that's been stingy on my part. 

Well yeah. It’s the champions league and they are better than us. We’re not playing Swindon town. Be pleased they missed sitters. 

[pedro111]

Loved hearing our fans at the end there

 So proud.

[Paullow]

8 minutes ago, Cronky said:

 

I don't think our players are as good as Milan's, and Liverpool's are miles better. We've got ourselves into this position through great management and team spirit. We have to be realistic and not expect too much. 

 

We had Murphy, Longstaff, and Schar starting, with Miggy and Wilson coming on for major roles. All players who two years ago were in a side heading for relegation with 20 points.

I don't think there's much in it personally, but yeah, fair point about Liverpool, and we clearly overachieved (in terms of quality) last season. Milan started Loftus Cheek, brought on Pulisic, and I know he still plays for France, but Giroud is 37 next week and didn't exactly light up the Premier League in his last 4 years here, scoring 7, 2, 8. and 4, and I wouldn't actively want to sign him for Newcastle at this stage. Thiaw signed from a German 2nd division team for £5m last year. I don't know enough about the likes of Pobega, Krunic etc. but it's definitely not a star studded side, and they are not as daunting as their name would suggest.

 

We were, and suspect still are after that result, odds on to get out of the group with PSG, albeit via UK bookies, but the money in the PL these last few years has been obscene and it's hard for these brilliant historic clubs to keep up. We took Tonali from them, Isak, Bruno, Botman etc. One literally did get in their team last year, they wanted, but couldn't afford another, and they would probably find a way to get the other 2 in as well. Our captain Trippier will likely be as good as their RB captain. You'd probably have 5 or 6 of each team if you did a combined XI, and I was expecting a fairly even match, but there did look a big difference between the sides, despite the match odds being very similar.

 

Anyway, I've said more than enough. It is a very good point, one I would have definitely taken a draw at 5.45pm.

 

[Vinny Green Balls]

1 minute ago, Armchair Pundit said:

 

That's bang on for me, put into context it really does explain a lot and shows how a brief blip can be blown out of all proportion by the media.

Our brief blip last year was completely blown out of proportion