Just your age ol’ ex-Reddit lurker… who also likes nuggets :)

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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • It wasn’t a good game by our standards, but we’ve had far worse games than this.

    Newcastle were dangerous at times, but didn’t feel like they offered much. They had one perfect chance and nailed it.

    They mostly sat back and defended which made it even harder for us to create anything.

    And when we did create something, we were lacking some end product due to miss hit/under hit passes or shots that were wide. If one of those goes in the game state could completely swing.

    Ødegaard is a big miss in helping us break down those types of defences. Having him back means we also have Trossard as an option off the bench to be impactful as a sub, as he’s shown us several times before. I also feel like we were missing a little something without Calafiori.

    He seems to be our only player who will switch the ball which gives us another outlet.

    It’s good to see some of fringe players back and/or getting minutes, but until Ødegaard is back and firing, we’re just applying bandaids as a short term fix and it was only going to work for so long. He’s a big miss






  • Yeah, I of course wanted to see more of him and I think he can play a role for us. But, it was difficult to see him as the answer to all our questions.

    The answer is just to hope our luck shifts or chances just fall our way more often and our players remain fit and healthy long enough for us to hit our stride again.

    I wonder if the intensity of the last two seasons, as well as the fixture list is finally taking its toll on the players.


  • It’s great to see him given more minutes and I don’t want it to stop. But, he is still incredibly young and he’s sitting in Ødegaard’s position, which is a physically intense and demanding role alone, let alone filling in for our best creative and attacking player.

    It was never going to be an exact like for like, of course and he’s still learning. But, although Newcastle were dangerous at times, they mostly sat deep and behind the ball and absorbed pressure and hit on the counter. It looked like they were largely fine with taking a 1-0 win. They also congested the midfield, which made it harder to pass through.

    So, it was going to be a tough ask for Nwaneri to help break down the defence, which I think Ødegaard helps us do. I also feel like we missed Calafiori’s ability to switch the ball across field. It looled like there was space down the right a nice lofted Calafiori pass would have helped for a nice break down the wing that was never used as an option.