I don't think it's sluggishness, having watched it the highlights and looked back at a few things from the game I think the problem is the lack of preparation. We looked like players who had been off playing all different styles and shapes and came back to 1 training session before the match. For example was Mings positioning for the first influenced by a week and half of training on the left of a 3? Was McGinn playing a little further forward than he did against Arsenal because that's the role he plays for Scotland?I don't know either way but 3 international games in a row leaving the club with 1-2 days with players before a league match feels fucking shit, not because of fatigue but because of how they train. I don't have a good answer for how to change it but 3 international windows for a total of 8 games in just over 2 months is fucking ridiculous.
Quote from: paul_e on November 22, 2020, 12:00:17 AMI don't think it's sluggishness, having watched it the highlights and looked back at a few things from the game I think the problem is the lack of preparation. We looked like players who had been off playing all different styles and shapes and came back to 1 training session before the match. For example was Mings positioning for the first influenced by a week and half of training on the left of a 3? Was McGinn playing a little further forward than he did against Arsenal because that's the role he plays for Scotland?I don't know either way but 3 international games in a row leaving the club with 1-2 days with players before a league match feels fucking shit, not because of fatigue but because of how they train. I don't have a good answer for how to change it but 3 international windows for a total of 8 games in just over 2 months is fucking ridiculous.Agreed 100%.Even Jack started playing his England role for Villa. He was left, right and center.After a rushed preparation for the match, our hasty game plan was thrown out the window after 2 minutes with the Barkley injury.Deano takes great pride in preparation but the odds were stacked against him for this match.
This is absolutely the cause. Lack of preparation time. All games yesterday should have been moved to Sunday.
Quote from: Baldy on November 22, 2020, 11:12:46 AMQuote from: paul_e on November 22, 2020, 12:00:17 AMI don't think it's sluggishness, having watched it the highlights and looked back at a few things from the game I think the problem is the lack of preparation. We looked like players who had been off playing all different styles and shapes and came back to 1 training session before the match. For example was Mings positioning for the first influenced by a week and half of training on the left of a 3? Was McGinn playing a little further forward than he did against Arsenal because that's the role he plays for Scotland?I don't know either way but 3 international games in a row leaving the club with 1-2 days with players before a league match feels fucking shit, not because of fatigue but because of how they train. I don't have a good answer for how to change it but 3 international windows for a total of 8 games in just over 2 months is fucking ridiculous.Agreed 100%.Even Jack started playing his England role for Villa. He was left, right and center.After a rushed preparation for the match, our hasty game plan was thrown out the window after 2 minutes with the Barkley injury.Deano takes great pride in preparation but the odds were stacked against him for this match.I thought this was most obvious with Jack. Before the break he was playing clever balls which were finding his team mates at Villa, & we watched him grow into having that understanding with England team mates, & then come back to Villa and those balls weren’t finding our players again.
Quote from: JJ-AV on November 22, 2020, 09:21:29 AMWe could do with some more depth. McGinn, Luiz and Mings were very poor yesterday. These are the guys that were involved in internationals, so it's not that surprising is it?Brighton's 11 were all at home I think so they had two weeks to work on us.We don't have any options... Barkley goes off and our 12th man is on and we have nothing on the bench.I don't think we need to be drawing any real conclusions, McGinn and Luiz haven't been at their best yet this season but it'll come. We're clearly a win 1 and lose 1 side this season... not ideal but we've kicked on a lot and it's all part of the process. We're on for >50 points, which could see us in the 12th-8th range, which would be a very good return considering where we were at the restart.It’s important to remember this.That a team without internationals not only returns less jaded, but have had a solid 2 weeks AS A TEAM to prepare for the fixture.
We could do with some more depth. McGinn, Luiz and Mings were very poor yesterday. These are the guys that were involved in internationals, so it's not that surprising is it?Brighton's 11 were all at home I think so they had two weeks to work on us.We don't have any options... Barkley goes off and our 12th man is on and we have nothing on the bench.I don't think we need to be drawing any real conclusions, McGinn and Luiz haven't been at their best yet this season but it'll come. We're clearly a win 1 and lose 1 side this season... not ideal but we've kicked on a lot and it's all part of the process. We're on for >50 points, which could see us in the 12th-8th range, which would be a very good return considering where we were at the restart.
Over the next two transfer windows, I hope we start looking at upgrades for the following first team starters:Trez, Mings, TargettAll three of whom are just too inconsistent in their positions, and have as many bad games as they do good. On top of getting another foward in. Watkins wasn't at it today, but we had nobody to replace him for the last 20 mins or whatever.
I didn't realise how crap Brighton are but having just looked at the table blimey we made them look good yesterday. They had 6 points from 8.