Not trying to over-hype him here, but David Raya is a pretty decent keeper. 😜
Frustrating but it is what it is I suppose, Atalanta ARE a good team. Rating poll up soon.
We all knew this was going to be a tough fixture, especially without Odegaard. Away against a good side. All things considered a draw is a decent result.
I only caught the 2nd half, but Atalanta played well out of possession. Their press and energy didn't give us very much at all. They also looked dangerous at times in possession, but our defending nullified most.
In different circumstances with all our players fit, it could have been a different game.
"soon" i mean like, in an hour or so btw, I do have class.
For some perspective:
Atalanta generated 0.79 and 0.44 xG from the pen and the subsequent header. By my count, they had 0.33 xG from literally the rest of the match.
Martinelli missed a 0.52 xG chance. If he's at full power, there's no way he misses that. We're going to be okay.
It's disappointing, but it's early in the season and we're yet to hit our stride.
I'll tell you this though, I can't wait for Merino to get fit and Odegaard to return as I find our midfield really underwhelming. I would've also given Nwaneri some minutes today.
I think Callafiori was playing midfielder a lot with Jorghino as fb? Maybe that was only as cover. If not, Nwaneri could have made an appearance at least.
But, we definitely lack direction. When teams press like Atalanta did, Øde would be all over the field, twisting and turning, finding space to get the ball up field.
Yep. I think these injuries have highlighted just how light we are in midfield.
We have a glut of players who are in a funk. Jesus, Gabi, and Partey are all severely underperforming, Merino and Ode are injured, and Sterling isn't up to speed yet. I get where you're coming from on Nwaneri, but we absolutely could not risk conceding a goal tonight.
I grew up in the attacking era, defensive football doesn't do it for me.
We don't really have a choice right now.
We should've made better efforts in the summer.
Maybe 1, possibly 2 extra. I think we're also really unlucky with injuries. What are the chances Merino fractures his shoulder and Øde ends up with an ankle injury.
I think a fair few of our forwards aren't in form either which hasn't helped.
Noted
Just saw that our next 6 matches are all at home after City, so I think we should find rhythm and our attacking prowess.
I'm not expecting any trophies this season but fucking hell this team is funny - both the players we got from City have turned out to be duds if I may discount the 22-23 season.
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