Arguably the best result of the season so far but also possibly the worst performance given the opposition were in my opinion the poorest we've faced to date. We don't play as well at home and I think the pitch is now contributing to that fact. The amount of times players stumbled or fell over which led to a loss of possession was noticeable. Rodrigo looked like he was wearing his slippers, continually sliding and slipping on the grass. To play our type of football we need a good surface and at the moment the ER pitch is not helping us. First half wasn't too bad and we had the better of things but as always we failed to take our chances. The best chance was provided on a plate with gold cutlery by Raphinha for Harrison. It was easier to score but he managed to side foot it into the keeper's path. He missed a similar chance at Old Trafford and you would have hoped he would have pushed on after a great Newcastle 2nd half but he has returned to his inconsistent form. Rodrigo, who never really got going in this match, missed the other great chance. After a great ball to the wing he then charged into the box to meet the header but placed it high into the South Stand. The ref was poor and he gave a lot of strange decisions. Our pen wasn't a pen even after been checked by VAR ? and their goal was a definite goal as Miesler just came out and took out their attacked before Barnes smashed it in the net. 2nd half you could argue was Plan B for Bielsa although it certainly wasn't intentional. We spent most of the 45 mins with our backs to goal defending desperately. Bielsa took Rodrigo and Raphinha off and replaced with Poveda and Pablo. With Pablo dragged deep and Poveda almost playing as a right back this didn't change anything and we were restricted to a few counter attacks, one of which should have resuted in a goal but Pablo was greedy rather than laying it off to the unmarked Harrison. He would have missed it anyway. Ou defence did well under great pressure and it was great to see Miesler coming off his line to get to each set piece delivery. At times, it wasn't convincing but he did manage to get his hands to a lot of balls and this without doubt was a major factor in preventing Wood and co getting their headers in. It's good to see a major change in tactics like that which produced immediate results. Ayling and Philips got their headers in and we hung on without any real danger. Burnley will be in that relegation battle and the reason is that their forwards are championship. I've never watched Chris Wood play in the PL and to be honest I'm surprised he's managed 1 in 3 since he joined Burnley (how many pens ?). He's slow, ponderous and only effective when the ball is put on his head from 3 yards out. Lucklily for us he even managed to mess up his only chance from 3 yards. So on to WBA and hopefully another 3 points, Scores; Miesler - 8. The main reason we kept a clean sheet today. Ayling - 7. Defended well, no chances to get forward. Allioski - 5. I thought he was a real weak link in this backs to the wall performance. His defending is lacking. Philips - 8. I thought he did really well. He anticipated their play very well and beat Wood and co to many headers. Maybe centre back is his position? He certainly reads the game well. I do think that Burnley and especially Wood were tailor made for Philips and Ayling. It might look a bit different against Son and Kane next week. In my opinion we should have a centre back lined up for Jan 1st. If we haven't then for me this is poor management. Llorente is Spanish for Forshaw (I nicked that from Twitter) and Koch is effectively out for the season. The Ripper (aka Strujik) - 7. I thought he did well battling for every ball. Dallas - 7. Could and should have done better with his chance in the first half but he worked hard in the different positions he was asked to play. Klich - 4. If there is one player who is struggling at the moment it's Klich. His shooting has gone and all those intelligent little passes are just not coming off. He doesn't look fit and the space that Burnely had early 2nd half and the space that Scum had is down to the fact that he isn't tracking back like we know he can do. Shackleton did a much better job when he replaced him 2nd half. He's even given up the penalties. Worrying times for Klich. Rodrigo - 5. Never got going but even when he's not quite at it, he always looks dangerous. I think the better substitution 2nd half would have been to take Bamford off put Rodrigo up front and Pablo behind him. Rodrigo would have got to the ball and held it up much better than Bamford. Bielsa will never do that because his system doesn't allow it. Pablo and Rodrigo can't be on the pitch at the same time. Frustrating. Raphinha - 7. Lively first half. I would have moved him more centrally 2nd half becase he hardly got a kick an we need him on the ball. Bamford - 5. Good run and dive for the pen an a great pen but apart from that I thought he was ineffective. Yes he was feeding on scraps but I think Rodrigo would have made more of that position in the 2nd half. Harrison - 5. One or two good crosses in the first half but generally he was back to his worse and that miss was typical. Subs: Pablo - 7. Lively on the counter, Shack - 7. Did what Klich wasn't Poveda - 7. Defended well and had a couple of moments but his crossing was poor. I'd give him a start over Harrison.
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