Tactical is a ridiculous reason for Caceres in an advanced RM position, he offers barely any attacking threat there, has no idea what runs he needs to make, hardly tracks back and then is a complete ball stop on the break.
Switch him and Retre, if you must have a central player wide.
Our passing in the final third is fucking useless.
It has been like that all season
…but not till the 2nd half.
Lucky to have kept it scoreless, but seemed to stabilise there.
It looks fucking cold out there.
Both teams are absolutely playing like teams who can’t afford to lose and might just try to go for it in the last 20 minutes, which is when I expect the likes of Gucci and Ivanovic to be released, if at all.
That was a gobsmackingly underwhelming first half from Kawasaki. Their technical and speed advantage is very clear, but have refused to have a real go at goal so far. Utterly mind-boggling and I hope they keep that up for the rest of the game.
I like this ref.
Not pulling up little stuff.
Letting the match flow
I’d love to have Caceres on my team if it was small sided and just about keeping possession with no goals. But as is, his best use for us may be as a long overdue replacement for the StuMu drinking game.
As highlighted, pretty much no one has looked to play forward early enough. Ivanovic pronto please.
I’ve been sitting here the whole time just waiting for them to score. So quite please with the result so far.
Hopefully Corica and the boys have the meaning of “counter attack” fully explained to them at halftime. That and some more assured passing should see us right. Carry on.
I’m kind of excited at the thought of 6 nin-nil draws. Unbeaten and knocked out bottom of the group!
No goals in Korea yet either btw
Hardly think we’ve been as bad as being made out.
People are complaining about Caceres. I know he’s a VERY average player, but we’re kind of stuck if we’re maintaining the 4-4-2 formation. De Jong is clearly still injured or not match fit. Buhagiar is obviously done for the season, as is Zuvela. Retre can be decent at RAM but provides better defensive cover than Caceres so he has to partner O’Neill in the middle. And you simply cannot be starting inexperienced players like Ivanovic or Devlin away against one of the favourites for the competition. They’re not only not up to it (yet) but a nightmare performance debuting in a bigger competition will seriously damage their career. See Brillante at Fiorentina or Theo at Norwich.
Agree, I think it has been pretty even. Kawasaki’s play is pretty to watch but they have only challenged Bluemayne once. And all this pace and rotation on their part may take a toll in the last ten minutes.
Agree. Think we have been quite decent. Retre has been a breath of fresh air. His ball control and forward passing (mostly) have been spot on!
I like Djite on the panel. Really measured in his response and takes a moment before he replies, unlike Bosnich who just seems to spew whatever comes to mind without even thinking.
I’ve really been impressed with our defense and pressing, we’ve given Kawasaki a real challenge, hopefully we keep it up, and make one of our good opportunities stick
Yeah our pressing has been top notch, forcing lots of errors.
Good to see the ‘Glass completely empty’ tradition in SFCU continues. Lest we forget, we’re away to the Japanese champions, of the first 45 mins, we were dominant for at least 25, yes we are slower to counter than I’d like, but that’s who we are, yes a lot of passes get cut out, but these guys are a good defensive unit, and have done a good job of making the quick pass difficult for us. People complain about Corica’s setup but we’re still very much in this and a moment of magic or a defensive slip from them and we could grab 3 points. We’re defending reasonably well and we’re not cowed by them in any way.
Yeah I rate him as a pundit, he used to get the odd spot on the panel a couple of years ago and always wondered why they never offered him a full time gig. Intelligent and well spoken is rare for a former sportsperson.
Did Djite officially retire from playing?