Chrysalis

Birmingham are not the worst team we have played against, I think if we played enzo ball 1.0 we would have drawn or lost in the game. But Rooney probably should have been brought in during a summer alongside a squad overhaul because playing the way they want requires the right set of players.

I honestly think it either needs to be free or a couple of quid per game.

Well there we go, problem is I only paid attention to him under Rodgers, but whatever the reason may be, Enzo currently doesnt feel the need to use him. I be surprised if he gets no appearances at all though, Vesty is getting banned again at some point.

Assuming things carry on as is for rest of season, the sound thing would be to let coady go in the summer (assuming faes also stays), sign a new CB, let Vesty start in the EPL, but if it doesnt work out then the new signing is thrown in.

Keep the same 11 as last game, hope you guys dont forget we shouldnt be assuming we can win games where we dont respect the opposition.

Souttar seems like a old school defender, good in the air and perhaps not afraid to tackle from what I have seen of him, he isnt a player for starting attacks from the back, which is why I think Enzo isnt picking him, and for that reason seems an odd signing as Rodgers was manager when we signed him. Feels like one of those signings where we signed for the sake of signing as we for whatever reason couldnt get our targets at top of list. However I dont want to judge him from when he played under Rodgers, as Rodgers last 1-2 seasons with us he was regressing players all over the pitch. So ultimately to me it comes down to that if the manager doesnt rate him, then he can be let go in support of the manager's need's.

My ratings close to the average vote score, with exception I rated subs lower than the average. We didnt look half as good when mavididi went off, but that may have been the more defensive shape as much as losing the player.

I feel Ipswich being close to us reminds us to keep going. The most important thing is the gap to 3rd, dont care less if we finish top or second. So either Ipswich win or draw.

Will we make this a perm signing, or fluff it like we did with lookman?

Yes this is what I have been trying to say before, Counter attacking can be mixed in with a possession game, Man City do it every match as an example. Its great we have started to do it with devastating results. When its mixed in with possession, its even more deadly as the opposition is expecting us to pass it round them instead of running through them. The variability adds unpredictability.

For me I think teams have been coming at us before the past 3 games, but we failed to adapt to it, now we have adapted and we seeing the results. The stoke game was the last game where a team was scared of us, and that was a while back, about 10 or so games back. Also Vesty got a bit sharper, in tonight's game, I counted at least 5 times, he was about to be tackled and pulled of a great pass at that moment instead of a panic.

Yep for me was by far our best game this season, was a joy to watch.

See my last post, I think it isnt just the counter attack thats changed, we seem to be playing with more urgency in general, hopefully you agree. I will check out the video. I also agree with what you describe as the intention, but before the past 3 games, what I was noticing was the gaps appeared, but players still were passing back to the defenders, it seems Enzo has worked on that with the team to get them exploited, and also has likely recognised we was overplaying it causing ourselves problems. He probably dint like the lack of control in the last game with the extra goals conceded against millwall also, but I think overall this is better for us, than the 7-8 games previous to the last 3. With better quality players its more likely a full control system would work, as it does require a very high calibre of player.

I didnt stay tuned in as the darts was put on by sky, I guess because I was watching main event channel, hopefully his interview gets put online. But even if he doesnt like it, as long as he is letting the team do this as a means to get round issues with retaining possession not working its fine, it shows he is flexible when needed. I noticed it wasnt just the counter thats changed but also when we have possession we only now do a few side way passes then a forward ball is played. So either way we going more direct now. We had a spell of possession in first half outside their box which led to a Daka shot, sadly he didnt score, if he did it would have been a possession goal.

Yeah no VAR saved Fatawu.

Did he say that?

Ok with the weekend games all done here is the form prediction table. Last 6 PPG added to current. Leicester 119 Last 6 PPG 2.667 Ipswich 104 Last 6 PPG 2.16 Southampton 90 Last 6 PPG 2 Leeds 86 Last 6 PPG 1.83

@StriderHiryu what do you think of enzo ball 2.0 last 3 games?

Wow lots of posts moaning about not taking all chances. O_o

We getting lots of goals now with enzo ball 2.0. But I felt we blew it with the defensive sub, luckily held out.

We have done some brilliant moves. Its unrealistic to expect a goal on every chance. But yes the more direct play is wielding far more results right now. Although we almost got one from some passing play. Agree on the ref, he is very one sided.

Hopefully he can do a goals scored per game table, that ignores goals conceded. Although now we playing enzo ball 2.0 we scoring more freely last three games.

Crazy how good Mavididi is now, what a signing.

Great seeing our forward players able to shine now.