Even more so why we should have started full strength
full strength playing like that are top four for sure.
Just maybe Gary wanted to reward the players who have done well lately with not getting dropped.....yes Gomes could have started but upset Doyle , who has been excellent lately.....Sarabia was only just back......and did the knee support on Rayan play a part in him not starting....
On TV it looked like he tried to cut out the cross but merely succeeded in deflecting it past Sa. Either way, Shaw should not have been given free entry into our box.
Lots of goals does NOT make a classic match.
Tough on Newport, that. We couldn't have complained if we'd gone in 5-0 down at HT. We just didn't look up for it. United played with more tempo and disappointingly, desire and hunger - only thing they lacked was a clinical finish. Ten Hag outthought Gary in the first half as well with the Shaw / Rashford overload on Semedo. The pitch seemed massive. As you say though, the spirit was commendable after half time, and Gary's subs made some sense. To chuck it again though after getting back to 3-3 is awful in its own right though.
Was Sarabia up to 90 minutes after his injury? Gomes or Doyle is a debate. Not necessarily about better more different. I wouldn't have minded seeing both and Lemina. Lots of factors we are not privy too. I do know our bench looks much weaker than it did unless some of the youngsters come through. I wasn't too stressed when United brought an 18 year old lad on yesterday so what do I know
Im with you on this, we should be resting players before the Brighton game where possible.
We have to be realistic anything from last night and Chelsea is a bonus regardless of how poor they are at the moment they still have good players. We was expected to be in a relegation fight with the likes of sheff utd
On our day we can push any team last night was a weird game. We should not of had a chance of getting anything from it.
They just seemed to ghost through the middle of the park in the transitions.. a bit like we did to them first game of the season (but we sadly failed to score).
And how bad is it that VAR didn't reverse it. Put aside how it keeps screwing us, it was never a penalty. We'd have been livid if it went the other way.
Yes, think GON is quite big on players "earning and keeping the shirt". There does seem a pecking order that changes with performances and injuries. You could see Fabio and Sasa slipping down the subs bench before they were loaned out.
we probably needed fresh legs but i couldn't argue with him not changing the team that had largely been successful the last few games....and as i said there may heave been mitigating circumstances as why he didn't change it Rayan knee strapping , Doyle's form and Sarabia wasn't fit on 3 days before...
Absolutely. We're a decent mid table outfit and we're going to lose games. Think we've only been stuffed really by Brighton at home, which is testament to the fightbacks and to the end attitude which is so refreshing.
It's never been biased against us. It's just a crap system run by people crap at their job, as last night proves once again.
So bizarre. Lasted all of about 5 minutes. It's little moments like that which remind me the GON experiment really could unravel very quickly. Hope I'm wrong, of course!
I think he knew he had a problem with Doc’s lack of pace. He got the team selection wrong but had backed himself into a corner. Maybe with more experience, GON may have took him off before half time. Incredibly harsh on Doc but I got the feeling that’s what he would have liked to have done.
