Fiorentina - Sunday 3rd August @ 3PM

[southfox66]

Having seen the way we played today I'm really impressed and he clearly wants to include the young players  too.

 

I think that this season in championship should be a lot more exciting than the that dreadful style of play Enzo had us playing last time we were there.  

 

Get the impression that the players enjoy playing his style of football too, even Vestagaard looked good today, that's something I never expected to ever say again haha

[Blueman1967]

Get another striker, don't play Skipp in an advance role, defense wasn't really tested today

[TamuffFox]

1 minute ago, southfox66 said:

Having seen the way we played today I'm really impressed and he clearly wants to include the young players  too.

 

I think that this season in championship should be a lot more exciting than the that dreadful style of play Enzo had us playing last time we were there.  

 

Get the impression that the players enjoy playing his style of football too, even Vestagaard looked good today, that's something I never expected to ever say again haha

I'm a Vesty fan but thought he was poor today. Nelson is an upgrade....tall, strong, quick and stylish 

[jayfox26]

25 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

Hate to be doom mongering but I’m quite weary of taking anything from that result. I thought Fiorentina were utterly shocking until their subs. Outside of Fatawu being incredible, I don’t think we created enough chances against a really poor side. 

Most of the championship is also utterly shocking so we'll be reet! Add in we have a new manager who is still trying to pass his tactics and style of play onto the players, and we may not be at our best for a few weeks, but we should still be good enough to beat most of the guff in this league. 

[CornwallFox]

39 minutes ago, Jazzy_Jeff said:

The frustrating thing for me is that his first two actions were to win the ball that lead to shots on target. Problem then is when we pass towards him it just bounces off him. 
 

It’s got to be confidence as I know better Sunday league players with a better first touch. 

It's not confidence. He's just rubbish.

[jbflcfc]

Didnt manage to watch today.

 

Saw Abdul’s goal though, wow he’s our next big asset 😍

Any standout performances?

[Guest RYM]

Turning them both into Liam Gallagher…
 

[southfox66]

4 minutes ago, TamuffFox said:

I'm a Vesty fan but thought he was poor today. Nelson is an upgrade....tall, strong, quick and stylish 

we didn't concede and i didn't see him do anything too shocking today so ill take that performance today and should be good enough for championship

[FLAN]

What was said about JJ?

[moore_94]

Martí Cifuentes Post Match vs Fiorentina

 

Cifuentes on the game

“I’m happy about the overall performance. There were a lot of positive things to build on. At the same time, as is normal, there were a lot of things to work on and try to improve.

 

“I’m satisfied because I saw a team with expression, with identity, that’s what I’ve been asking of the guys. We played against a very good side as well.

 

“It’s credit to the players. I quite enjoyed a lot of the minutes. We had very good periods in the first half. In the second half, the game stretched a little bit, they got more possession.

 

“We were quite good in the high press. They didn’t create a single big chance against us, which is very positive. Perhaps one of the minuses is that in the second half we should have scored two more goals.

 

“It was good to see a lot of players get a lot of minutes in their legs, a lot of bench players having a good impact.”

 

Fatawu's performance?

MC: “It’s very important to me for the players to enjoy themselves. Abdul was outstanding. He was enjoying it. It was a brilliant goal. At the same time, when Abdul is doing well, it’s because Stephy is doing well on the other side, showing the same level of threat. That’s very difficult for an opposition to then manage players that have quality in one-v-ones.

 

“Kasey had a couple of situations on the goal, but I’m sure he will grow on this. Jeremy, I’m a big believer in his talent, in his qualities, so we have fantastic players.”

 

Competition out wide?

MC: “First of all, it’s a good thing for them. They will push each other and they will just get better because of that. As a coach, we need to take the best decision for the team. It’s a long league, it’s 46 games, and hopefully some long runs in the cup. We need to make sure everybody is connected. It’s going to be up to them and how they perform in training and in the games.

 

“We are strong in this position but not only this position. Both Jordan and Pato did amazing as number nines. I think the centre-halves as well, we had four today that are really high level. I could go on.”

 

Ready for the new season?

MC: “Definitely more ready than a week ago. The application at the training ground has been excellent. A good result today gives us confidence. But I’ve been in the game a long time and I understand next week will be another kind of test. I’m looking forward to working with the guys next week, to keep improving, and making sure that the positives we saw today are still there next week.”

 

Want new signings before next weekend?

MC: “You’re going to keep asking me until September 1? Yes, we’re working on it. The idea is to be the best team and have the best squad we can. We work on players going out and coming in. We’ll see what happens in the next week.”

 

Happy with Ayew and Daka as your strikers?

MC: “I’m very happy with what I saw. That doesn’t mean that we will not look at this position. If any player in any position will come, it’s because we think he can really help us. If not, I’m very happy with the quality there is in the squad.”

[UniFox21]

This is worrying, the wording is odd but overall doesn't read well for the lad. 

 

 

[AjcW]

2 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

This is worrying, the wording is odd but overall doesn't read well for the lad. 

 

 

Maybe it just means his foot collided with a football and got a bit scared like he normally does? 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*sorry… 👀

[Dahnsouff]

Love those questions to managers. 

No serious manager throws their players under the bus.
 

“Are you happy with your options up top in Daka and Ayew?”

”No, they are ******* sh*te, but what you do gonna do?”

[Lesta2014]

3 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

This is worrying, the wording is odd but overall doesn't read well for the lad. 

 

 

Was in the training video posted a couple of days ago wasn’t he? Hopefully nothing serious. 

[Bert]

Was so good to see Abdul back in full flow. Let’s hope that can continue because he was brilliant. 
 

Impressed with the high press first twenty minutes.

[Bert]

1 hour ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Choudhury started as captain 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

Had a decent game?

[Clogger_]

1 hour ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Choudhury started as captain 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

Weird

[Pliskin]

Thomas is a problem. Thought he was the worst player on the pitch today besides Daka.

[JimJams]

29 minutes ago, Blueman1967 said:

 ...don't play Skipp in an advance role...

He did well as one of the 8's today.  While he doesn't offer the attacking impetus that Bilal will, he won the ball high up the pitch a number of times. Do that and give it to Fatawu and we'll get a lot of joy out of that tactic.  

[Suzie the Fox]

1 minute ago, JimJams said:

He did well as one of the 8's today.  While he doesn't offer the attacking impetus that Bilal will, he won the ball high up the pitch a number of times. Do that and give it to Fatawu and we'll get a lot of joy out of that tactic.  

Skipp was good today. In fact he has been decent pretty much all pre-season. Long may it continue.

[copunk]

Took my kids and nephews down to watch today 

Mads- literally nothing to do 

Thomas- played really well, been impressed since he came back into the fold 

Okoli- solid, will be brilliant for us this season

Vesty- some lovely passes but looks suspect when defending, same old story I guess 

Hamza- high energy as ever, can do more then a job at RB as we know

Abdul- ridiculous today, had their LB on absolute toast all first half, as good as he was before his injury, will be absolutely huge for us this season 

Skipp- done alright today, some great tackling and seemed to want to get into attacking positions a bit more, will do alright for us this season 

Bouba- felt he was ok, few stray passes that nearly got us into trouble but nothing outstanding from him 

Stephy- decent game, one lovely run forward where he glided past 3 men before winning a corner, on his day one of the best players in the championship in my opinion, he just doesnt have many of those days 

Bilal- think he will be on his way, some lovely stuff today

Ayew- growing more and more on me, holds the ball up well and always seems keen to drop deep and get something going, dont mind if hes our main no 9 should we not bring in another forward 

 

Anh other business (as the lads from BSLB would say) we were sat in J1, the new system they have in place for ordering food and drink was one of the biggest shambles I have ever seen, to have to queue for the screen where you order, then queue again to collect your stuff is beyond bizarre 🤣 it caused chaos in a stadium that wasnt even full, good luck to whoever goes next Sunday, would probably start ordering your food now 🤣

[copunk]

5 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Thomas is a problem. Thought he was the worst player on the pitch today besides Daka.

I felt Thomas actually played alright 🤣 thats the great thing about football, the differing of opinion, brilliant aint it 

[jayfox26]

Bilal, Fatawu and Mavididi are full on cheat codes at this level. I can't think of many if any players better at championship level than these 3. If we could somehow sneak a loan for a striker, we have the makings of an excellent team. Okoli and Nelson have the potential to be a great centre half pairing and even the 2 donkeys Jannik and Faes have shown they are decent at this level when they don't have to play against decent attackers, although I'd rather see at least one of them leave ideally. 

 

People say the midfield is weak but Winks has proven he's very good at this level if he can get his head out his arse and focus on his game and we play a style that suits him like Enzo did. Skipp not the best and I'd like to see the back of soumare but we also know Ndidi is very good at this level, plus Bilal can play as an 8 as well.

 

No signings and we keep our key players.and I think we get promoted. 

 

A decent striker and we keep our key players and we win the league. 

 

A decent striker and a centre mid and keep our key players and we smash the league to pieces with over 100 points. 

 

All of course dependant on how the transfer window pans out and if we get a points deduction. 

[Adster]

13 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Thomas is a problem. Thought he was the worst player on the pitch today besides Daka.

Eh? Did you actually watch him? 

 

Nothing wrong with his performance today. Absolutely bizarre to single him out. 

[JimJams]

He did have one major fxxk up that he was lucky went unpunished where he lost the ball as last man.  Not sure he didn't bring his man down either.