It's Baggio
John Robertson
Glad to get through at the end of what was another arduous cup tie and another poor cup performance.
Turner did okay & I was pleased he made the penalty save but I'd have expected him to push the initial shot wide in the lead up to the first goal. He got a good hand on to it but the ball just seemed to burst through him, that said the defending before & after the shot was slack to say the least. Bar the odd spell, the back 3 did okay but I thought they played a bit too narrow and subsequently our wing backs played too deep. In possession they struggled as well and really highlighted the value of Murillo, who can pick a pass & carry it forward. There was far too much square & sideways stuff throughout the 120 mins.
Danilo put in another up & down performance, he's really not suited to picking the ball up in deep area's in my opinion but on the odd time he was able to break forward and link with the attacking players, he looked a threat. Kouyate got to stretch his legs but seemed to spend most of his time trying to stay out of the way. Hopefully MGW is fit but he had another frustrating evening as we struggled to get him in the game where he can hurt teams.
Origi was in the right place for his goal but hopefully we won't need to rely on him too much for the rest of the season, MGW was visibly annoyed with him a few times early in the first half for a lack of movement. Elanga looked electric once or twice in the opening 20 minutes but gradually faded out of the game, good for him to get another hour in the tank though. The subs did okay; Williams was a huge upgrade on Montiel, Taiwo got into a couple of good positions but looked reluctant to shoot and it was really nice to see Gardner get a runout and put himself about to good effect.
Turner did okay & I was pleased he made the penalty save but I'd have expected him to push the initial shot wide in the lead up to the first goal. He got a good hand on to it but the ball just seemed to burst through him, that said the defending before & after the shot was slack to say the least. Bar the odd spell, the back 3 did okay but I thought they played a bit too narrow and subsequently our wing backs played too deep. In possession they struggled as well and really highlighted the value of Murillo, who can pick a pass & carry it forward. There was far too much square & sideways stuff throughout the 120 mins.
Danilo put in another up & down performance, he's really not suited to picking the ball up in deep area's in my opinion but on the odd time he was able to break forward and link with the attacking players, he looked a threat. Kouyate got to stretch his legs but seemed to spend most of his time trying to stay out of the way. Hopefully MGW is fit but he had another frustrating evening as we struggled to get him in the game where he can hurt teams.
Origi was in the right place for his goal but hopefully we won't need to rely on him too much for the rest of the season, MGW was visibly annoyed with him a few times early in the first half for a lack of movement. Elanga looked electric once or twice in the opening 20 minutes but gradually faded out of the game, good for him to get another hour in the tank though. The subs did okay; Williams was a huge upgrade on Montiel, Taiwo got into a couple of good positions but looked reluctant to shoot and it was really nice to see Gardner get a runout and put himself about to good effect.