Champions League - Third Qualifying Round

Iā€™m beginning to think Ambrose is a functioning crackhead.

Iā€™d accept any sort of bid that would match what we paid for Kayal. He needs to be ran, that dive when he lost possession in a dangerous area was pathetic.

Was there much in that? Great play by Commons and Stokes finished it very well. Commons has been our best player.

Get Ambrose off now.

Fuck that was close from Svenson.

Ambrose heads over. Should have hit the target there.

Centre backs are scary in possession. Need to get Commons a bit deeper to get a midfield three working to keep the ball around there.

Stokes should have taken that free there, better angle for a right footed player.

either his agent is an absolute genius or Lennon is insane

Hedmanā€™s ex-wife and her sister are doing the physio work for Elfsborg,

Weā€™re doing some ridiculous things with the ball. We should be getting Sammy and Forrest running at the full backs but instead of playing it to their feet weā€™re firing it high and diagonal to them and they can do nothing with it.

Nice try from Stokes. Commons has shown good feet a few times around their box.

Sammy and Forrest have struggled to influence the game, think we are at our best when trying to play through the middle with Commons. Ambrose is an accident waiting to happen and Lennon is retarded if he lets a fool like that come out in the second half. The centre of midfield really worries me, we only have Ledley and Brown there as viable options, we need about 3 buys in this area of the pitch. Think I would bring Ledley and Mulgrew on for Forrest and Ambrose at half time and switch to a 4-3-1-2, making Commons the focal point, he has been our best player by some distance.

Broadly on top so nothing to be too concerned about but plenty of errors there.

Weā€™ve been far too casual in our own half, Kayal and the centre backs in particular. Izzy gets a pass for now because thatā€™s always been his style. But we canā€™t keep turning blind.

Theyā€™ve generally dropped off and allowed us have the ball there, only pressing when the ball is loose, and that should allow us to work it out methodically and give Forrest and Samaras the chance to run at their full backs. Forrestā€™s man was carded early on, and not sure if that was the right back who got the last card there. Either way the two wingers need to be attacking the outside more.

Donā€™t want to get too frustrated here either. 0-0 is infinitely better than 1-1 in terms of a result. They went close with Svensson obviously and theyā€™ve been sniffing around a few times when weā€™ve overdone things at the back.

Weā€™ve had lots of set pieces so pity Mulgrew hasnā€™t been available. Commons has done well but I think weā€™ve struggled to work it to him. No way Iā€™d be taking Forrest off though, not for another 15 or 20 minutes anyway. He has the beating of his man but we are hitting aerial diagonals to him for some reason. If Ledley is fit enough to come on then Iā€™d be getting Kayal off.

I think we need to put an emphasis on playing it quickly through the middle and get Commons on. He picked out Stokes with a lovely ball for the goal that was flagged off - was there much in it? My stream froze at that time so I didnā€™t get a replay but I thought it was very close in real play. He also picked out Forrest at the back post with a lovely cross field witch from the inside left of the pitch and he has won a couple of frees in dangerous areas.

Get Elfsborg to narrow their shape and get the fullbacks overlapping. I donā€™t think we have got any joy on the wings as the focus has not been quick enough and we are a bit telegraphed in exploiting that. The value of playing with width and wingers is that you need to have urgency and a direct approach, something that I think has been very lacking under Lennon, we seem very passive in possession.

Ledley for Kayal please.

Weā€™ve had a few good chances without playing all that well and weā€™re being very careless at the back.

Aside from Ambrose, what about Wilsonā€™s backheel across the box?!

I thought that offside goal was very close too but my link didnā€™t show a replay.

Need to press them harder and higher and win it back quicker.

Bangura has been impressive.

[quote=ā€œRudi, post: 810068, member: 1052ā€]I think we need to put an emphasis on playing it quickly through the middle and get Commons on. He picked out Stokes with a lovely ball for the goal that was flagged off - was there much in it? My stream froze at that time so I didnā€™t get a replay but I thought it was very close in real play. He also picked out Forrest at the back post with a lovely cross field witch from the inside left of the pitch and he has won a couple of frees in dangerous areas.

Get Elfsborg to narrow their shape and get the fullbacks overlapping. I donā€™t think we have got any joy on the wings as the focus has not been quick enough and we are a bit telegraphed in exploiting that. The value of playing with width and wingers is that you need to have urgency and a direct approach, something that I think has been very lacking under Lennon, we seem very passive in possession.[/quote]

They only showed a replay from behind the goal so no idea. Stokes didnā€™t seem to complain but I thought it seemed close too.

Another great chance created by Commons.

Ridiculous decision to book Commons there. :mad: