QUOTE (X-Offender @ Aug 1 2021, 03:19 PM)
Nice played very aggressively to be honest. It didn't seem like a friendly game at all. Ligue 1 starts next weekend so obviously they were better fit than us as well.
Anyway, yes, Giroud did look good. Tonali improved a lot in the second half. Pobega looked a bit out of place, I wasn't impressed. Theo was barely trying in typical Theo fashion. Brahim and Alexis payed badly. Brahim especially has this tendency to disappear from the game at times. And it's not due to him not trying. The guy runs like a madman. It's just he's not good enough I'm afraid. Great player to have as jolly, but we need a Capanoglu replacement ASAP.
Nice's coach is the guy who coached Lille last season, Galtier if I remember correctly. His teams play such a high press and it was so noticeable the work he did with Nice as it reminded me of how Lille played us off the park at the San Siro last season.
We also struggle big time against these sides who press us aggressively. Obviously if Ligue 1 starts next week then they are very much ahead of us in their prep so are in better condition. But last season, anytime we came up against sides that presses us aggressively like Lille, Atalanta, heck even Spezia in that away game. We struggled and Pioli had no answer.
Pobega needs to be loaned out again, and he's not suited to the double pivot imo, he needs to be played in a 3.
Brahim is a great wildcard but yeah, he's not ready to be a starter right now. However, I do think that we'll see leaps from these players this season. They are all young and will continue to improve. Look at Alexis last season compared to his first, leaps and bounds imo. So I'm expecting more from these players. Plus it looked like we were playing some sort of lopsided 3-5-2 yesterday at times with Brahim sort of occupying a second striker position, which really doesn't work with him