Thanks for the excellent article. Let’s not get too hung up on xg’s. We have had one half of really good football but there is still a long way to go before we are a consistently good team.
Thanks for the great review, Dylan. Your analysis of the players above is spot-on and it’s pleasing to see the team starting to develop in the way Enzo wants us to play. Yes there is still lessons to be learnt, mistakes to be corrected and a greater understanding of each role to be gained, but they’re definitely has been steady improvement as the first preseason game right up to this weekend. A couple more good results this week and I think we can start to look forward positively. Thanks again for your time and effort in putting this article together.
Good review…… Mitch not sure how Mudryk can be blamed for the openness of the game, yes he was rightly replaced, but it looked more like a midfield issue…. And you are right we were exposed and should have paid a higher price. But again it’s a young team on a steep learning curve and I think they will prevail….
This was the first game where I was happy with Palmer playing inside. The reason it worked was because for the most part he stayed right and provided the link to Madueke and at the same time he could have turned back inside.
I agree with the comments about Jackson especially as only second game back from injury. He will however make mistakes regularly. Along with Cucurella the most under rated player in the team.
A few more elements of the Maresca style are becoming clearer. One is that there is a focus on big switches of play to get the ball from one side to the other quickly to a winger in space. Enzo is well suited to this.
Maresca still needs to solve having opposition midfielders just running straight through the centre. This happens game after game.
I think this is extremely hyperbolic. Wolves won on xG. First half we were shambolic defensively, ridiculously exposed to counter attacks and should have been behind.
We improved immensely once Mudryk was replaced with an actual footballer, and we took our chances superbly, but we cannot continue to give up so many chances and counter attacks. Better teams will simply exploit that.
I would argue that Chelsea outperforming their xG by that amount speaks to the quality of our finishing and the over all positivity of the performance.
xG was a misleading indicator. Chelsea were completely dominant in H2. Gusto and Felix both missed simple passes that would have lead to high xG. Missing the passes didn't matter because the game was over.
I think it's very clear that this team has brilliant attacking talent. Jackson, Madueke, Palmer are all double digit goal scorers over a season and there will be plenty of assists from the left wing.
The set piece coach that Si says is good has yet to demonstrate that. We are still hopeless defending set pieces and the midfield defence is poor. Other than that we are good team and getting better. If you take the last 1/3 of Poch's season and last night's result you can see a cracking team coming through.
Thanks for the excellent article. Let’s not get too hung up on xg’s. We have had one half of really good football but there is still a long way to go before we are a consistently good team.
Thanks for the great review, Dylan. Your analysis of the players above is spot-on and it’s pleasing to see the team starting to develop in the way Enzo wants us to play. Yes there is still lessons to be learnt, mistakes to be corrected and a greater understanding of each role to be gained, but they’re definitely has been steady improvement as the first preseason game right up to this weekend. A couple more good results this week and I think we can start to look forward positively. Thanks again for your time and effort in putting this article together.
Good review…… Mitch not sure how Mudryk can be blamed for the openness of the game, yes he was rightly replaced, but it looked more like a midfield issue…. And you are right we were exposed and should have paid a higher price. But again it’s a young team on a steep learning curve and I think they will prevail….
Thanks for the comments Padraig!
This was the first game where I was happy with Palmer playing inside. The reason it worked was because for the most part he stayed right and provided the link to Madueke and at the same time he could have turned back inside.
I agree with the comments about Jackson especially as only second game back from injury. He will however make mistakes regularly. Along with Cucurella the most under rated player in the team.
A few more elements of the Maresca style are becoming clearer. One is that there is a focus on big switches of play to get the ball from one side to the other quickly to a winger in space. Enzo is well suited to this.
Maresca still needs to solve having opposition midfielders just running straight through the centre. This happens game after game.
Thanks Dylan. Insightful and accurate. Especially pleased with how flexible Maresca is being which was one of my fears when he joined.
Thanks Samantha!
Excellent review of Wolverhampton-Chelsea (2-6), Dylan.
Thank you Dieter!
You're welcome, Dylan!
I think this is extremely hyperbolic. Wolves won on xG. First half we were shambolic defensively, ridiculously exposed to counter attacks and should have been behind.
We improved immensely once Mudryk was replaced with an actual footballer, and we took our chances superbly, but we cannot continue to give up so many chances and counter attacks. Better teams will simply exploit that.
I would argue that Chelsea outperforming their xG by that amount speaks to the quality of our finishing and the over all positivity of the performance.
xG was a misleading indicator. Chelsea were completely dominant in H2. Gusto and Felix both missed simple passes that would have lead to high xG. Missing the passes didn't matter because the game was over.
I think it's very clear that this team has brilliant attacking talent. Jackson, Madueke, Palmer are all double digit goal scorers over a season and there will be plenty of assists from the left wing.
The set piece coach that Si says is good has yet to demonstrate that. We are still hopeless defending set pieces and the midfield defence is poor. Other than that we are good team and getting better. If you take the last 1/3 of Poch's season and last night's result you can see a cracking team coming through.