Good chance to get out the high number paddles then.
Here are my ratings:
Schmeichel: n/a. Seriously. What did he have to do? No shots on target, no crosses, occasionally passed the ball.
Ricardo: 9 - Really sharp today. Got up and down the flank with gusto, read the game well in both defence and attack and scored a wonderful goal. It's a case of take your pick today, but he's marginally my choice for MOTM.
Evans: 8 - Calm, collected and entirely in control.
Soyuncu: 9 - The raging yang to Evans' considered yin. Made one particularly memorable challenge in the centre of the pitch to snuff out a Newcastle breakaway and turn the situation into attack. Superb.
Chilwell: 8 - Looked back on it today and got up and down the wing well in attack.
Ndidi: 9 - Got through no end of tackles and interceptions; he was constantly there to nick the ball away from Newcastle players and turn the ball over to his midfield teammates. Still not great passing the ball but it was easy to find ways around that weakness today.
Perez: 7 - Really needs a goal or an influential assist to help him on his way. Continued trying hard today but struggled to make a telling contribution in the final third.
Praet: 8 - Passes cleanly, tackles calmly, makes a lot of the right decisions. A recessive midfielder who complements others and keeps the team ticking. Think Andy King on steroids.
Tielemans: 8 - Had a lot of freedom given the absence of Maddison and the presence of Praet and Ndidi. Also notable how much he led in midfield, at one point audibly instructing Barnes into position during a press. Got the chance to enjoy himself today despite not having much direct influence in the goals.
Barnes: 8 - Sometimes switches off in defending and pressing but having Tielemans shouting at him will help. Something for him to work on as Maddison has. In attack, he was energetic and threatening, looking more and more like he believes he belongs in the starting line-up and interacting well with teammates.
Vardy: 8 - In some ways, not one of his best games. But he's there to score and score he did, twice. Also worth watching his run during the first goal, which completely sells Lascelles and opens up a massive gap in Newcastle's defence for Ricardo to run into.
Albrighton: 8 - Kept up the team's energy; indeed it was noticeable that all of the subs did this. Made some fine exchanges down the left flank and got an assist for Vardy.
Gray: 7 - As above, energetic, and also made a determined deep tackle to help maintain the clean sheet, which is the kind of thing that will endear him to his defence teammates.
Choudhury: 7 - Ran and chased a lot; could well have more of a part to play next week.
I wonder whether Mark Lawrenson will change his mind about Newcastle having plenty of quality and fighting spirit so that they won't get embroiled in a relegation battle - He seems to be one of the last ones to realise that Steve Bruce can't manage at this level. For the record, they showed neither today. After some entertaining opening exchanges, they mostly sat back and played on the counter. After the red card and the break, their plan appeared to be to keep it at 1-0 for 25 or 30 minutes and then have a go at the end. That plan collapsed when Dubravka was done at his near post and then they all gave up.
As for us, it was interesting to see us going on and on, determined to both score more goals and keep the clean sheet. In that sense, the match went from battling for the win to sending out a message, both internally and externally. We keep going for 90 minutes, we want to stick more goals past you, we are to be feared. That's the intention, anyway. And given the success that Man City and Liverpool have with it, who's to argue?
Player ratings vs. Newcastle
posted on 30/9/19
I see your thinking Joby. Maybe this is where Praet can step in?
I totally agree you want to put pressure on the top teams and not just surrender. You have to find ways to defend from the front against Alexander Arnold and Robertson so they don’t just have free reign to attack you down the flanks.
But against Liverpool I just think we leave way way way too much space down the wings and between the lines that they would exploit and exploit badly. Firmino would have a field day.
Not when he’s marked out of the game by Super Praet though...
posted on 30/9/19
You pick a balanced team. You can’t just try and stop a team playing as Liverpool are too good a team not to find a way at some point.
That’s why Kante was so good as he was two players in one. He’d break up play and win the ball and then take it 30 or 40 yards up the pitch into an attacking situation. Without a Kante you need balance.
posted on 1/10/19
I don't think we need two CDM's, at the end of the day our midfield three is better than theirs. Henderson, Wijnaldum and Fabinho are not as good as Ndidi, Tielemans and Maddison/Praet, they're just not. So why should we be worried about playing two CDM's when we can go there and win the midfield battle? That's what we should he looking to do, press them, put them under pressure and then leave the pace of our back four to worry about Salah and Mane.
posted on 1/10/19
This is a game for Albrighton though not Perez, Albrighton and Barnes along with Ricardo and Chilwell can cope with Robertson and TAA.
posted on 1/10/19
I hope you’re right Arro but I feel like this may come back to haunt you a bit.
Yes Henderson is a bit average but Wijnaldum is a very good player and Fabinho is now being hailed as a massive talent. You can’t really compare them to our midfield as it’s different.
But let’s ignore that 3 for a second and Liverpool have better players in every position. And in some cases by a distance with the sprinkling of world class players.
Yes we need to ask them questions and attack a high kind if they play one, but we can’t leave the space in midfield we did against Spurs. Liverpool would tear us a new one!
posted on 1/10/19
* high line
posted on 1/10/19
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
I hope you’re right Arro but I feel like this may come back to haunt you a bit.
Yes Henderson is a bit average but Wijnaldum is a very good player and Fabinho is now being hailed as a massive talent. You can’t really compare them to our midfield as it’s different.
But let’s ignore that 3 for a second and Liverpool have better players in every position. And in some cases by a distance with the sprinkling of world class players.
Yes we need to ask them questions and attack a high kind if they play one, but we can’t leave the space in midfield we did against Spurs. Liverpool would tear us a new one!
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Better players in every position apart from midfield. Henderson, Wijnaldum and Fabinho are all more defensive, they have zero creativity among them so I'm not worried about them cutting through the middle of us and I think our three will cause them more problems than they will cause us. Out wide is where we need to be more mindful, that's where their threat is.
posted on 1/10/19
You don’t think Salah, Firmino and Mane are a threat nor them playing in between the lines?
Ndidi was over run in places against Spurs and there seemed to be gaping holes between our midfield and attack. I worry that Firmino would exploit that and then just drop balls in behind for Salah and Mane.
We need to stop that, and also nullify their full backs.
Easy yeah?
posted on 1/10/19
comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 34 minutes ago
You don’t think Salah, Firmino and Mane are a threat nor them playing in between the lines?
Ndidi was over run in places against Spurs and there seemed to be gaping holes between our midfield and attack. I worry that Firmino would exploit that and then just drop balls in behind for Salah and Mane.
We need to stop that, and also nullify their full backs.
Easy yeah?
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I do think they're a threat but I also think we can be a threat to them but we won't if we go there to try to contain them. We will be unbalanced and it won't work. We totally dominated against them last season after we went 2-0 at home, we were all over them and they have the same team whereas we now have a better midfield. I just don't rate their midfield as highly as ours and seeing what Sheffield United did to them by pressing them makes me think we can cause them problems if we press them. Sheffield United essentially starved service to the front three, they got through them once when Mane hit the post but that was due to a mistake, other than that it was easy for them to continually force them backwards and into making poor passes. We have to go there with a positive attitude and have a go at them, it's the only way we will get anything from the game. If we lose we lose but going there to defend we will lose anyway. Away at Chelsea and United we didn't look solid with the two CDM's, we looked a mess so forget that option and go there to cause them problems instead. They're not unbeatable, Napoli proved that.
posted on 1/10/19
And we also drew with them last season away when we were still a shambles. They've not improved but we have so we shouldn't go there with any fear, go there to have a go at them and we might just get a result.