[William405]

Any word on Ibra's availability or otherwise?

He won't be available ;/

[X-Offender]

Won?t be able to watch most of the game, but I have a bad feeling about this.

[William405]

Won?t be able to watch most of the game, but I have a bad feeling about this.

1-0 milan

[William405]

2-0 SAMUUUU

[X-Offender]

Hell yeah!

Managed to catch the second half. Lots of suffering till the very end but this was exactly the kind of match I was excepting.

Still, our marking on corners continues to be sh*t.

[William405]

Hell yeah!

Managed to catch the second half. Lots of suffering till the very end but this was exactly the kind of match I was excepting.

Still, our marking on corners continues to be sh*t.

Yes, man, my heart will suffer during these cornerkicks

[han2503]

Hell yeah!

Managed to catch the second half. Lots of suffering till the very end but this was exactly the kind of match I was excepting.

Still, our marking on corners continues to be sh*t.

Yeah, I was so wary of Ranieri, he tends to be a thorn in these kind of games.

But once again, we come through, while basically missing a key element from each area of the pitch. I really hope we get some players back for the next game because we're suffering unnecessarily. The lack of a target man hurts our forward play, and that doesn't even have to be Ibra, just someone who can hold up play, and Rebic, for all the great work he puts in, is not someone who can play as a lone striker


Just as you did, I totally had a bad feeling about this throughout the day, but this team man. Even when on the backfoot, there just something about how they keep their composure and just continue to fight.


The corner issue is just starting to become a terrible nuisance at this point, the majority of the goals we conceded so far this season have come from set-pieces, which is so annoying as this is something that can easily be worked on in training

[han2503]

One thing in this game that irritated me, was the clumsy passing. Too many instances of trying to be too cute with the one-twos and just losing the ball or trying to hurry the pass too much and making a silly error.

Have to be more precise

[han2503]

On that note, we really miss Bennacer in the midfield. Tonali is growing into his own, but Bennacer is on another level, especially as a tandem with Kessie

[X-Offender]

How did we play in the first half?

[han2503]

How did we play in the first half?

Good, barely let Samp touch the ball aside from a flurry of corners for them a few minutes from the start. I think they had something like 68 passes compared to our over 600 passes during the first half. Still, I think it was an iffy decision from Pioli to play Hakan on the wing and Brahim in the centre, would have preferred to keep Hakan in the middle as he's the one that connects it all. We lacked a bit of incisiveness in the first half, but could have easily been 3 up as well considering their goal line clearance from Rebic's chance and Tonali hitting the post.

Their plan was obviously to sit and defend. The penalty ruined their plans and they were forced to really push for the goal in the 2nd half.

[William405]

On that note, Sampdoria didn't really threaten much, except for a few situations. We largely controlled the game. Of-course, I would have liked to see a bit more goals, but we are really decimated when it comes to injuries. Kessie was a beast in that midfield as usual.

[William405]

Yeah, I was so wary of Ranieri, he tends to be a thorn in these kind of games.

But once again, we come through, while basically missing a key element from each area of the pitch. I really hope we get some players back for the next game because we're suffering unnecessarily. The lack of a target man hurts our forward play, and that doesn't even have to be Ibra, just someone who can hold up play, and Rebic, for all the great work he puts in, is not someone who can play as a lone striker


Just as you did, I totally had a bad feeling about this throughout the day, but this team man. Even when on the backfoot, there just something about how they keep their composure and just continue to fight.


The corner issue is just starting to become a terrible nuisance at this point, the majority of the goals we conceded so far this season have come from set-pieces, which is so annoying as this is something that can easily be worked on in training

Totally agreed, Rebic is obviously trying his best there and he's doing okay considering all. But, we need Ibra or Leao back.

[William405]

Good, barely let Samp touch the ball aside from a flurry of corners for them a few minutes from the start. I think they had something like 68 passes compared to our over 600 passes during the first half. Still, I think it was an iffy decision from Pioli to play Hakan on the wing and Brahim in the centre, would have preferred to keep Hakan in the middle as he's the one that connects it all. We lacked a bit of incisiveness in the first half, but could have easily been 3 up as well considering their goal line clearance from Rebic's chance and Tonali hitting the post.

Their plan was obviously to sit and defend. The penalty ruined their plans and they were forced to really push for the goal in the 2nd half.

Hmm, are you sure Hakan was on the wings? Sometimes our attacking trio is interchanging positions which I think is good to surprise opponents. Once again, Hauge gave a neat pass to Rebic which then gave it through to Samu! Hauge wasn't as exceptional today but still useful!

[William405]

On that note, we really miss Bennacer in the midfield. Tonali is growing into his own, but Bennacer is on another level, especially as a tandem with Kessie

Yes, with Bennacer with a much much more compact midfield! We really need him back, he also passes the ball quickly to the players in charge of the attacking phase which speeds up our play well sometimes. I'm not saying Tonali was in anyway bad. He played okay, did some basic mistakes, but he generally fights well for the ball and can deliver sometimes killer passes. Still needs to grow much.

Hypothetical question: Is a Kessie-Tonali-Bennacer a midfield option for the future? Or would they be too much of the same type of players?