Omg …Isak is alive. That was all Gakpo

Not a chance in hell is Gakpo getting sold

Get Szbo out please for the love of god.

joemeister said:

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Who had Cody Gakpo as the best player on the team two games in?

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And Szo one of the worst?

VVD with a heck of an attempt on our own goal

We are an absolute mess

That's so *****

Not a chance on this planet is that a penalty oh my god. This league is so soft at times.

Utter crap d led to that

Ref is killing us in this game. We aren't helping, but this is a pathetic showing.

That's two goals now that have been swung by the referees.

This referee is trash.

Gakpo off and Rio on the right. Iarola going to start getting questioned very soon.

Refs are bad, but we are absolutely deserving of this unfortunately

ARE YOU KIDDING OH MY GOD

Why is Rio on the right????

Can someone explain how that was a PK? Hardly any contact after the ball was away and looked completely incidental

And now Munoz and Rio switch sides

It's not. Simple as that. This referees is garbage. They've quite literally swung two goals.

Eat dog **** Forest and this referee. **** right off.

Hey look, Munoz scores from the right!

Wirtz wth?

This referee just going to allow us to get latched onto the entire game.

Wirtz again wth

I think he's exhausted. Guys legs get heavy and sloppy passes persist.

Glad I wasn't awake to watch the match.

Lot to take away from that game, both good and bad.

Good:

- Wirtz was class today. They finally got him the ball a little quicker in the areas he likes the ball and it worked. I also thought his positioning on an individual basis was better and he was unlucky to not get a goal AND the assist. Got sloppy at the end because I think he was tired.

- Munoz came in and out of the game, but overall I thought he was fantastic. Beat his man with pace and skill. Was in the right spots more times than not and has a rocket for a shot. Also defended extremely well.

- Gakpo continues to be a real positive. Wasn't amazing today, but he finds ways to be productive.

- VVD and Jacquet were good today outside of the one moment where they didn't get the line set quick enough. Albeit he is showing his age at times, and Jacquet has young moments.

- The press looked more cohesive today and resulted in some turnovers etc.

Bad:

- We have a midfield problem, and unfortunately I think Szoboszlai is a big part of it. In my opinion, he's not a good enough through ball passer or defender, and not good enough positionally to play in a double pivot. He gave the ball away time and time again and was a passenger today. Honestly, I'd continue to play him at RB because that's his best position at the moment. At least you will get good delivery into the box.

More on the midfield; we don't have enough line breaking passers in this team, which I think results in us being "slow." Wirtz is easily the best, but he's a No. 10 and not always available to gather the ball and get it up field. I thought we improved a bit when Gravenberch came on the field, but overall we need someone else who can gather the ball and spread it out long again.

- RB/LB. Not sure what else I need to say. Neither of them are good enough. RB I think will be fine when Bradley comes back, but you're going to have to wait for him. We're fooked at LB I'm afraid.

- Isak is still a passenger. I think his positioning is fine more or less, but we cannot get him the ball enough, and his touch has been poor so far this year.

- Defensive lapses continue to absolutely kill us.

- Delivery from wide areas needs to get a lot better. Way too many non-threatening balls. I know we're use to the two best to ever do it, but it's gotta get a hell of a lot better.

It wasn't that bad. Annoying for sure, but I thought they played some really good football in the second half until they got tired. The first half wasn't good enough though, for sure.

I appreciate that Iraola is willing to try different things. Maybe Gakpo on the right isn't ideal, but Munoz has now proven he can play on both sides. Keep trying combinations of attackers until we find things that work. With Barcola there is enough there to score goals. Would love to add a midfielder. Just no balance in the midfield.

Were on the wrong side of the whistle today or could have escaped with three points.

I think adding a midfielder and telling Szoboszlai you're either going to play RB or backup No. 10 is what needs to happen now. It's either that or we move from playing a double pivot to a more traditional 4-3-3.

We are extremely fortunate to have tied at Newcastle (brutal place to play of course), who look to be a mid table team. We could have won or lost today as well, but dropped points to a team that will be battling relegation and had lost their first 2 games to Leeds without scoring a goal. They opened us up with ease many times today and could have scored easily a couple more.

All the points have been made above and before already. Again, it's only 2 games in without a proper preseason with a new manager. He is trying and feeling out new things, but the same issues and problems exist as did last year, or are worse so far, and there is only so much arranging chairs on a deck he can do.

At the end of the day, we are so imbalanced and have so many misfit pieces that aren't working. I think our midfield problems are massive now. Tyksymm7 nailed it above. All of them are not good enough passers or defenders and are either turning it over with horrible passes or getting run through while trying to get the ball. Wirtz has his quality and his moments, but he isn't physical enough to keep or get the ball. Szo was one of the worst players on the pitch. We need more than a CDM now imo, but it's another year of not addressing any of it.

The fullbacks are dreadful. They simply aren't good enough. Frimpong and Kerkez were a complete swing and a miss and have to be addressed next year.

The front might be ok eventually with Barcola, Ekitike, Munoz and then Gakpo, Isak, and Rio mixed in. However, it's a moot point if we can't get the midfield and fullbacks rectified as the service into box and to the attackers is horrible. Besides Gakpo's beautiful assist, they inexplicably airmailed or turned it over endlessly. Isak continues to be a complete bust here, his current form and lack of fit here has rendered him useless.

All of this makes us looks so slow/plodding, no attacking creativity or identity and all out of sorts.

It is what it is, and I am not surprised but I am still just an emotional fan Just hoping we progress with Iarola throughout the , even though I think that will be limited with the personnel , and the new ownership infusion address the real issues next year.

The RB situation is the one I just don't know how you solve right now. I think Bradley is good enough, but he's not going to be back until October at the earliest. He's also struggled to stay fit. So you really don't want to go out and spend tons of money on a guy to just be in the mix. A loan here seems the best option.

LB id just go ahead and buy someone. Don't think Kerkez is good and we have no promising youth player. Rip the band aid off.

The midfield looked better when Gravenberch and Nyoni came on, and I thought Mac Allister was good enough. We don't quite know what Nyoni is going to be, but it's a positive. I'd seriously, seriously give Camara and Adam Wharton a look again. Wharton is the exact profile of player we are missing. Obviously not getting both, but I'd run the traps on them seriously.

I do think we're going to be active over the next 2 days. Not a question in my mind. Who knows if it's going to be enough.

I think the answer at RB is obvious: Szobo. He is a better defender than Frimpong and won't get picked on. It's just a question if he will stay disciplined with his positioning. He is obviously a great attacking midfielder, but we have many other good players competing for that position. We could also play Araujo out there and/or go to a 3 man back line.

My biggest concern is at our central striker position. Isak gives us absolutely nothing and I'm already done with him. While he did score today, that goal was really all due to Cody's pass. Isak had a few other opportunities today from crosses, through balls and pull backs and pretty much screwed them all up. Often looking like a pub-team player. In fact, most of our real scoring opportunities centrally came from Wirtz acting as a forward. I think the team is going to struggle until we get more dynamism, speed or power in that area of the field.

When you look at the line up and think about who Barcola might replace, I think it should be Isak. I'd also be tempted to let Koumas have a shot. He works his butt off and could greatly improve our press. Its not like Isak's hold up play would be a loss, he is basically invisible at all times

I don't disagree at all. I just find it hard to ultimately judge Isak with just how poor we are or have been in getting him the ball. Some of his touches have been poor, but the delivery to him has been so unbelievably bad he can't really do anything. Isak is a strikers striker. He's going to press a bit, occasionally link play, and be in a central high position. He's not going to do anymore than that. He does need to be a lot better though.

Isak was a mistake from the get go on multiple levels (fit, injury prone, $$, already had Ekitike, other needs). And he's even worse than thought unfortunately. Gakpo should be there until Ekitike is back or do a false 9. But ….

No idea what they were thinking with Frimpong signing either and complete obvious to all that Szo needs to be there for now.