It was nice to get over the Emirates today! A disappointing performance though, and I'm horrified to hear about the extent of Jesus' injury after watching Nkeitah closely today! Some thoughts:
Kiwior looks a good player. Moves really well, very comfortable on the ball.
Rice looks way behind the rest of them in terms of fitness - lots of times he was bent over with hands on knees breathing heavily! Which is understandable given his later start, but leaves things a little uncertain with the season upon us.
I really do not like Tomiyasu at RB in this team. Way too limited on the ball to be effective.
Timber came inside a lot from LB and he did his thing well. I liked his attitude too - aggressive and determined.
A few of them were in cruise drive today - Saliba and Ødegaard stood out, they were both very sloppy.
Vieira actually played well and did some really classy and clever things, but his lack of speed and strength meant he couldn't really make his good work out there on the flank count.
Smith Rowe started the game brilliantly, and was definitely playing as THE 10 with Rice and Partey as a double pivot behind him, but he faded quickly and was pretty ineffective until he was subbed.
Martinelli was lively, but without a striker to link with, it's mostly huff and puff without much of a result.
Trossard looked a class above the other attackers when he came on. Must start vs City and must start vs Forest.
Havertz was extremely impressive in the flesh. He has an air of physical dominance to him - he's a big fucker... And he won every duel he contested. His touch just looks so assured and he moves really, really well. Another that must start the season for me.
Nketiah is just a rank average footballer at this stage. We couldn't play it in the air to him because he lost every duel and was thoroughly dominated, we couldn't play it into his feet because he couldn't hold the defender off and kill the ball, and he didn't run the channels at all either. It was a mish-mash team, but he's a big part of why there was basically no attack for most of the game. Fair play for poaching a goal and he did make some decent runs on the shoulder that no one picked out, but it's really worrying that he might be starting the season up front for us. Apparently he was captain too...
All in all, with City still to come on Sunday, we look far from ready to come flying out the traps in the League. Last season, it was obvious we were going to start well - the system was decided on, the XI was decided on, the best players were fit and firing, and everyone was ready to rumble. It's very different this year, and there's still a lot to work out due to the big changes - it's going to take some time, and also most of our best players are not there yet.
It's also hard not be very annoyed by our poor defending, especially in transition. It's pre-season, but it was a bug bear for most of last season. We need to get the balance right in midfield and have everyone dialled in before I moan about it this season, but it's just very, very unimpressive right now.
What happened with Saka today, btw, has anything been said? I assume he must have tweaked something not to appear at all.
