Junior Firpo

[Currie14]

One thing even my daughter has noticed and commented on is that we almost never come out of a tackle with the ball (KP excepted) there are always ricochets and bobbling balls which end up back in the opposition's possession. Firpo was the same yesterday and nearly everyone fluffed clearances too (Llorente excepted). Agree that JF needs time to settle in but it really needs to be sooner rather than later. What wing is St Maximum on cos he will tear anyone a new one!

[whiteswan]

Oh I know you are always concerned Swannie

Thank You

You know me too well....

[lufc1304]

I thought he had a shaky first half but a much better second. And, as someone else pointed out, he was up against Salah, who gives most LBs a torrid time. I'm in the far too early to write him off camp. The opening fixtures have not been kind to us, and we've hand our arses handed to us by a couple of the big boys which has made fans jittery. But our season won't be defined by those games, we are in a different bracket to scum and Liverpool.

[1964white]

I thought he had a shaky first half but a much better second. And, as someone else pointed out, he was up against Salah, who gives most LBs a torrid time. I'm in the far too early to write him off camp. The opening fixtures have not been kind to us, and we've hand our arses handed to us by a couple of the big boys which has made fans jittery. But our season won't be defined by those games, we are in a different bracket to scum and Liverpool.

But not Everton & Burnley, two games we never looked like winning Nick.

Injuries/suspensions not being kind to us too!

[1964white]

One thing even my daughter has noticed and commented on is that we almost never come out of a tackle with the ball (KP excepted) there are always ricochets and bobbling balls which end up back in the opposition's possession. Firpo was the same yesterday and nearly everyone fluffed clearances too (Llorente excepted). Agree that JF needs time to settle in but it really needs to be sooner rather than later. What wing is St Maximum on cos he will tear anyone a new one!

Good observation from your daughter Currie.

Saint-Maximin is primary a left winger.

[1964white]

Thank You

You know me too well....

[Chilli D]

Despite all the comments on here, seven people had him in their top 6 yesterday.
I thought he did okay, apart from the first 15 minutes when Salah gave him a torrid time but Salah does that to a lot of defenders.

[Johnboy1965]

It was obvious that Salah would give JF a torrid time as has been said Salah does that to most defenders. That is where tactics come into play- why leave him exposed against one of the best in the world when we should have been doubling up on him? Too often JF was left on his own with little or no help. Only one outcome there I'm afraid.

[lufc1304]

But not Everton & Burnley, two games we never looked like winning Nick.

Injuries/suspensions not being kind to us too!

That's true, though Burnley did just basically kick us off the park. We've have't started well, there's no denying that, and you're right re injuries and suspensions but we are 4 games in and we will kick on at some point. Hopefully Friday night against the Geordies. I love Bielsa, but I do wish he'd change things up based on the opposition. We cannot go toe to toe with the big boys, we have to be cuter than that. I thought he had sussed that in the second half of last season but we were wide open yesterday, which was simply asking for trouble.

[The Subhuman]

But not Everton & Burnley, two games we never looked like winning Nick.

Injuries/suspensions not being kind to us too!

I think if you look at Everton you may find an unbroken stay in the top flight going back years, they should be better, more experienced. We're only in season 2 after 16 away ...

[Boo Radley]

He’s coming into a team that’s wobbling at the moment and losing confidence. That certainly isn’t helping him to settle.

Some of his positioning has been poor but I’m still optimistic that there’s a decent player in there. I’m with the give him time camp - also we have absolutely no choice in this position now anyway.

[1964white]

I think if you look at Everton you may find an unbroken stay in the top flight going back years, they should be better, more experienced. We're only in season 2 after 16 away ...

That reasoning applies to the majority of the PL clubs we'll face this season,

We lost at home to Everton & beat them at Goodison plus walloped Burnley at Turf Moor last season.

[1964white]

That's true, though Burnley did just basically kick us off the park. We've have't started well, there's no denying that, and you're right re injuries and suspensions but we are 4 games in and we will kick on at some point. Hopefully Friday night against the Geordies. I love Bielsa, but I do wish he'd change things up based on the opposition. We cannot go toe to toe with the big boys, we have to be cuter than that. I thought he had sussed that in the second half of last season but we were wide open yesterday, which was simply asking for trouble.

Agree with all that Nick.

I feel more concerned this season than I did at anytime during last season

We had beaten Fulham & Sheff Utd, drawn with Citeh & was unlucky not to grab a point at Anfield in our opening game.

We performed quite well in all those four matches

Bamford had scored three goals & continued in a rich vein of form in future games.

We conceded 8 goals but counteracted our defensive woes scoring 9 goals.

Not the case this season on any of the above four facts

[superwhite]

Early days I know but Firpo is looking lost out on the field, I didn't like Alioski at FB but Firpo has looked and performed like a Championship player at best. His positional play is particularly weak and can't tackle. I hope he improves but not many of Victor Orta's purchases have been successful, quite the opposite, if I was 'Radz' I'd sack him, he wastes far too much money signing has-beens, never will be's and the terminally ill brigade.

[Leeds1000]

Boy. Boy . You want more Boy. He's only played a couple of games? Rodrigo is into his second season what have you got to say about him? And when Rodrigo had Covid some people gave him a 6 months pass due to the overstated possibility of Long Covid. Firpo is back playing within a few weeks.

In saying that he's from Barca he must be good. Like Kiko before him.

[Irish Ian]

Firpo will come good.

Lets remember most of our woes are coming from being unable to win back the ball high up the pitch, an area that we have excelled in, especially with Klich in there calling the shots

He will build an understanding with Harrison over the season and we will see some of that slick interplay that brought so much goals from the left side of the pitch.

Firpo has been caught out of position a couple of times but he will learn.

As for Rodrigo, play the lad up top and allow him to do his stuff, either that or leave him on the bench and bring him on as an impact sub.

[danhirons]

Had an excellent game for me today, fitting in nicely

[The Subhuman]

Good game, could have gotten a second yellow but wasn't the only one. Good going forward, defence needs a bit of work, went down too early for their goal. Is going to be a decent player for us

[Boo Radley]

He looked fine coming forward, even if he crowded James on a number of occasions by simply running up on top of him.

Defensively, he looked at sea. Maybe he’s still getting up to speed but he looks really slow in getting back into position. He doesn’t seem to read his position in defence at all and he doesn’t have the acceleration to react to a pacy attack.

I hope I’m wrong, but having a Barcelona fan thanking me profusely for actually giving them money while also taking him off their hands added to my worries.

[Haighy]

I thought he was shite.. simple as..

Early days, give him time etc I know.