wanderer Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Liam Cooper just pulled out, which is a shame as you would have expected him and McKenna to start both games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyD Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 5 hours ago, wanderer said: Liam Cooper just pulled out, which is a shame as you would have expected him and McKenna to start both games. Given his performances so far it's certainly not bad news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 2 hours ago, andyD said: Given his performances so far it's certainly not bad news. Thought he was OK against Russia and you can't judge any ones ability on the Belgium game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyD Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 14 hours ago, ceudmilefailte said: Thought he was OK against Russia and you can't judge any ones ability on the Belgium game. You're entitled to your opinion of course, but.. For Russia's equalizer, it's basically all Cooper's fault. He leaves Golovin to close down Ionov who is already tracked by McTominay. No need to do it at all. That let's Golovin have a free run unmarked into the area. Ionov dinks the ball thru to him and chaos ensues. Robertson tries to get across to cover and that's why the ball breaks to Dzyuba. If Cooper just marked his man and did nothing else then I'm 100% sure we don't concede there. No idea what he was thinking leaving arguably Russia's most dangers player unmarked. Pure crazy imo. For their winner, Cooper is the guy best positioned to deal with it. McTominay correctly hands off Golovin to Cooper, as McTominay has to pressure the ball carrier (no one else can). As Golovin runs towards him (obviously going to run past him) Cooper squares up to the ball. That's just stupid. By doing that he's instantly lost. Any ball past, he wont stand a chance of getting there. It really is the basic of defending. So he squares up.. the ball's rolled thru and Golovin gets there comfortably, no pressure, time to look up and pick out the cross. If Cooper just stayed side on, he would have been able to get back and contest the thru ball, maybe even see it out as Golovin is tiny by comparison. So for me both goals were down to Cooper. And both because of really basic errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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