03 Nov 2026 22:10:19
We were never going to win tonight, I was more disappointed with our performance than result. Our passing was poor individual performances poor, Manzambi was poor for the third game on the trot,Emery will sort him out. Their goalkeeper didn't have a single shot to save, we lost the ball almost every time we were in possession. After our performance tonight and Man U turning their game around unfortunately there is only one outcome on Sunday. Emery will sort it out ,but a few players have to up their game. Our midfield is totally ineffective and we are played through far too easily. Tonights result was totally expected so no shock there, Saturday result was also poor and we need a positive result Sunday to get things back on track. The international break is welcome and we can regroup a change in tactics should see us buck up our ideas, I just hope we get our midfield fired up, because it's been really poor lately.
03 Nov 2026 22:30:45
I think that assessment is harsh I thought the difference between the two sides was in the final third. Barcelona showed their quality we didn't. For me the difference was summed up by how Raphina took his first goal the ball was fired quickly into his feet instantly controlled got his shot off albeit with a bit of a deflection but his first thought was to get the shot off.
A few minutes later Villa played a similar ball into Jackson his first move was to check back and the chance was gone that's the difference between us and the top tier sides it's what they do at the top end of the pitch.
A couple of observations, too many of our players are too keen to hit the deck looking for fouls (Buendia, Manzambi and Alysson). I would also like to see us try playing Alysson and Mbaye from the start, move McGinn into a more central position which he has played for Scotland I think the pace of the front three would create a lot of problems for teams and McGinn I think would get on the scoresheet more often.
03 Nov 2026 22:43:02
Agree with pretty much all of that Lord. I suspect the long term vision, at least for certain types of games will be to play that exact front three of Jackson, Mbaye and Alysson with Mazamvi as the 10, but with most of them so young, I can see why Emery is taking his time to build to that.
As has been said, tonight we never really had much more than a punchers chance, but the first half was encouraging in many ways. You can see the potential there, we're just not at that level to compete away to Barca right now.
We all know we're going to have a bit of a stop start season, but it's frustrating when it's sometimes the more senior players that don't turn up. Still, Rome wasn't built in a day and I'd much rather be annoyed about losing away to Barca than annoyed at drawing away to Sheff Utd as we were not too long ago. it's difficult to keep perspective after a couple of poor showings, but we're on the right track.