I never thought I'd be saying this but it's time to bring Kiko back .Surely he'd be able to handle the pressure better given his age .Should have signed a gk in Jan .Meslier needs to be taken out of the firing line and Olay some games for the under23 s
posted on 17/2/21
If Bielsa's faith in Bamford is anything to go by, he will stick with Meslier. In any case, the responsibility for the penalty must be carried by the back four and midfield for not creating enough safe options for him, and to some extent, by Bielsa himself. We could also argue that Arteta had plenty of evidence from our previous PL games that this tactic could prove fruitful against our defence. Every manager in the league will be trying to pull this off against us now - although not so many teams will have the players to do it effectively.
Playing out from the back all the time can be tricky if the opposition can coordinate a high press over a protracted period of time during a match. The pressure builds. Nerves creep in. Someone screws up. Sometimes, Mr. Bielsa, the keeper must be forgiven for hoofing it upfield, surely?
So, what IS the solution to the well-coordinated high press?
posted on 17/2/21
One solution they've tried is for Meslier to chip it out to Harrison or Raphinha to head on the byline. Doesn't seem to work very well.
There must be other solutions...
posted on 17/2/21
Unfortunately we're going to be stuck with Casilla for the duration and on a very fat salary.
posted on 17/2/21
comment by Jaz63 (U8369)
posted 37 minutes ago
One solution they've tried is for Meslier to chip it out to Harrison or Raphinha to head on the byline. Doesn't seem to work very well.
There must be other solutions...
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One solution is to stop passing the buck, ie passing the ball back to Meslier in tight situations. Defenders are just as (if not more) capable of clearing the ball upfield and are in a better position to get it out further. That doesn't excuse Meslier's idiotic attempt at a dribble in the box - that was just arrogant.
posted on 17/2/21
Kilo is doing exactly the job Bielsa has decided he needs him there for....keeping Ilan on his toes.
We were told by many not to be sentimental and question Bielsa’s judgement.
The majority of the top goalkeepers go through these short phases of indifferent performance and almost all of our goalkeepers of events years have.
Remind Ilan that Kiko is that ill there looking over his shoulder but give him three or four more games to get his focus back and start cutting out his trademark errors!!
posted on 17/2/21
We caused the problems ourselves. We kept passing back to Meslier even though he was under pressure and all his out balls were covered. We should have been smart enough to adapt to what Arsenal were doing by playing long for a while. Force them to drop back a bit to defend the long balls. Then revert to our normal game. Stubbornly sticking to the same formula when it already was costing us goals was silly.
Hopefully with Philips back this will not happen again. Wolves up next and their style is one which causes us problems. They sit back, soak up pressure then look to hit on the break or set pieces.
posted on 17/2/21
I think when the defence is fit and playing some backline mistakes will be cut out, but our/Bielsa's style of play invites opponents to challange the keeper, its cost us a few times but we've come a long way using it, so when the right players are back in their rightful positions things should get better!..
posted on 17/2/21
Would be mad to not use this season for Meslier to gain experience ahead of his time.
Would be a waste to bring in Casilla, who won't does as good a job anyway.
But the real benefit of playing Meslier now will hopefully bare fruit in a few seasons when we are competing for European spots
posted on 17/2/21
comment by montleeds (U18330)
posted 3 hours, 57 minutes ago
i was wondering if anyone on our board was crazy enough to hope for this.
i'm amazed that kiko is still with us tbh.
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Kiko is still with us because at his age, salary and form, no one will have him.
I was surprised we didn’t take another keeper in the summer regardless as an insurance policy, but hey we’ve managed mid-table regardless so what do I know.
posted on 17/2/21
The back pass to the keeper is designed to draw the press. The theory is pretty simple, you pass around the guy, to gain a spare man. If your short receivers are tightly marked by an opposition press you chip it over them... typically wide, if your wide receivers are marked you go long and hope to get space because of their press.
We have trouble with this counter mechanism in my view because we’re a small side and our forwards get out muscled on the longer balls. But regardless to play like this you need a really good footballing keeper, who can spot the gap and then hit it. Meslier isn’t up to scratch at this, but he has other very good attributes and is still just a kid so has time to improve. In the meantime any side that doesn’t press will be rethinking their strategy when they play us.