Kayal

Thought Kayal should have been introduced earlier than he was.

Either Ledley or Mulgrew could have come off without any worries - both were poor.

 

I don't think they were poor, they were vital to the way we were performing. Broony was the hassler and Ledley and Mulgrew were to cover the space/passes inside and force them wide. Thought they done it very well. Mulgrew was doing it from the left and Ledley from the middle/right.

Was working very well, I wouldn't have argued if Kayal was a straight swap with Brown but introducing Commons gave us an extra edge in attack. It was bold from Lenny.

 

Forrest gets caught defensively sometimes.

There was other examples in the game. I'm sure just before David Villa hit the post, Messi made a run into the box, while Forrest just stood there and watched. Better teams will always punish us if our wingers aren't tracking runners, whether it's originally their man or not.

 

Mulgrew I thought got into vital positions, but his distribution with the ball going forward was dreadful for most parts.

Ledley - I never thought I'd hear myself say this - was like the Invisible Man.

I was actually hoping Kayal would have started alongside Wanyama yesterday to offer more protection against Xavi and Iniesta.

 

The one that annoyed me with Forrest last night was when he drove up the park into their corner - and instead of booting it off the defenders who had him pinned in....he let it go out under his feet for a throw in to them

 

Each to there own I suppose. I thought both players squeezed the space brilliantly so they were forced wide.

Kayal I wanted to start as well, it was a headache of a selection though.

 

Well.....you know that you and I will never agree on anything 100%

Great selection headache to have though, one has to say.

 

Not what i seen, he tried to hit it off them but it then bounced off his own leg. Bit unlucky. After sammy came off this BOY was the only one who got barca on the back foot and the ball out our half. Some player.

 

I may have explained that a bit wrong there.

What I meant was he tried to PASS it off the defender instead of blootering it off of them, which then the ball ended up trickling out for a throw in to them.

 

A series of errors cost us...

Kayal fails to foul/shut down batra,
Izzagurrie lets left footed adriano cross when hes uslesss on his right - show him down the line.
Forrest doesn't cover well enough.
Plus ambrose,ledley etc one should have got the head on it, too dangerous a ball to let it go by you.

 

I don't really feel we should blame anyone, they all done us proud, but I just remember thinking that Kayal was trying too hard to chase down the ball that he went far too close to Izzy's man and left his own to put the cross in. Could see it coming. That's just his game though chases down everything, just didn't work out on this occasion.

 

If you read through the posts - I have already said I do not solely blame Forrest for the goal, but the facts are black and white - he lost his man at the back post.

 

And that's where Lenny should put an arm round his shoulder and say, I'm not blaming you wee man but take a look what happened here... you reacted quickly but next time take a look at your surroundings and anticipate, don't react.

 

Aye definitely. I won't be demonising him for it or holding it against him in anyway way though.

 

I can just imagine the conversation:

Lennon: "Listen Jamesy son, you played well when you come on, but you need to be wary of your surroundings and people making the runs behind you. Don't be to upset - the effort was there and I'm proud of you and the rest of the squad"

Forrest: "Aye...ano, but obviously am gutted Gaffer - we shooder got at least a draw, but obviously we wurnae good enough, and obviously we lost the game"

Lennon: I know....I know. Let's just regroup and take the game to them on our own patch. Just remember who you are - you are Jamesy Forrest - play your own game, you're not Messi

Forrest: Aye obviously..........

 

Beginning to miss his energy around the park just watching the game today thinking kayal would have gave us urgency especially in the first half
Now am not saying we played badly without him or that had we played him we wouldn't have conceded in a knee * reaction it's just felt we were slightly lackadaisical in the first half and other recent games

 

kayal should have come on instead of paddy today i thought, 2-0 is never a comfortable scoreline and Kayal would have given us more possession and grit to see the game out.

 

this might be a really stupid question haha, im not up to date with all the israel palestine stuff, but Kayal being from israel.. does anyone know how he reacts to it all?

 

Kayal needs tactical coaching.

Not as good as others who play in his position like Wanyama, Brown, Ledley...

but is young and has time to improve because he does have talent.