Ange gambled big making 9 changes and putting trust in some lads who have looked good in preseason or cameos like GLC, PEH, Perisic, Sanchez, and Solomon and you’d have to it utterly failed and he’s gotta take the blame for that. Too many changes with players who either haven’t proven themselves or have proven themselves lacking too many times.
The Scarlett sub and not getting Maddison until the 80th minute made it feel like the priority was certain players getting a run out and rotation, rather than trying to win.
A lot of unsurprising things confirmed today.
- We’re desperately lacking pace in the side. Davies and Emerson as fullbacks and Perisic on the wing and you could just feel the palpable lack of speed and dynamism.
- In this system you can’t have CBs and Keepers who can’t play the ball, I don’t even dislike Sanchez and Forster as players but they can’t play this style.
- You can have one of Skipp or Hojbjerg, but not two. Once again, two players I actually like a lot, but they are all-action, all blood and guts midfielders when this system requires technical players who can break the press.
- Hojbjerg, Davies, Sanchez, Perisic, Forster, and GLC are all fine as backups for this season as long as they don’t play much, but really they all need to be replaced with younger and more dynamic players who actually fit Ange’s system. All of them are not athletic or technical enough for the side we’re building. Time to usher in a new era.