Atalanta (A) - Champions League - 3/11/20 - 20:00

[an tha]

Really good stuff that.

 

Jota has put himself ahead of Firmino for now surely and looks a real threat - gives us an added dimension and even more goal threat....think he could be really handy v the cheats.

 

Really good night.

 

Yeah they were made for us how they were set up and were naive/played in a way that suits our strengths, but still a top quality showing.

 

 

 

[Sweeney287]

Well that was easy to masturbate to. 

[Bjornebye]

Great win. Unexpected to be honest certainly not like that as we haven't been playing well but as Dave posted on Twitter it was like the Red Arrows of 2018 all over. Superb performance. 

[Redder Lurtz]

Top class from everyone. Subs included. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

BOOOOOMSHAKALA

[3 Stacks]

I can just tell what people and the media will say about the Jota-Firmino thing. It will be made a big deal when Firmino plays over him, and it shouldn't be. Horses for courses, rotation, respecting the status Firmino has at the club. We shouldnt forget all that. It's not a gotcha moment that he scores a hat trick taking Firmino's place. They both have their place at this club.

[coachpotato]

Pretty much faultless that. 
Was wondering for a bit how Villa had nicked our shirts!!!
That’ll do so much for the confidence of the young lads, and remind the older ones they’ll need to be on their game all the time now.

Jota, proper player.

[Anubis]

Great performance from back to front. 

[bizzle10]

massive result one more win we can put CL qualification to bed and start resting players for the league get in

[dockers_strike]

How the fuck was that not a clear and obvious pen for Curtis(?) with that blatant shove in the box?! Even Jurgen couldnt believe that and got fucking booked for complaining!

 

The ref gave them everything in the last 20 minutes. Im only surprised he ruled that last minute effort for them offside although it would have been obvious to Stevie Wonder that he was off.

 

A very good performance by the boys as Id have been happy with the draw before kick off. They obviously thought they were going to turn us over,

 

Jota, what can you say? Theboy has been a revelation to me at least. Bobby's going to struggle to get his place back and even when he came on didnt do enough for me. May be Bobby's feeling the effects of covid because he looks very lethargic.

 

Nice goals from Sadio and Mo, both maybe should have scored at least one more each. Alli had to make some smart saves and that lad Duvane(?) for them looked a real handful. Thought Rhys Williams and Joe had very good games. Gini ran his bollocks off.

 

Well played lads, very well played.

[sir roger]

I love the way Jota's legs go like the clappers when he is running, like the Anthill mob when they picked their car up.

[Daisy]

Fucking hell Jota is a player. I mean fucking hell

[DaveT]

1 minute ago, dockers_strike said:

How the fuck was that not a clear and obvious pen for Curtis(?) with that blatant shove in the box?! Even Jurgen couldnt believe that and got fucking booked for complaining!

 

The ref gave them everything in the last 20 minutes. Im only surprised he ruled that last minute effort for them offside although it would have been obvious to Stevie Wonder that he was off.

 

A verygood performance by the boys as Id have been happy with the draw before kick off. They obviously thought they were going to turn us over,

 

Jota, what can you say? Theboy has been a revelation to me at least. Bobby's going to struggle to get his place back and even when he came on didnt do enough for me. May be Bobby's feeling the effects of covid because he looks very lethargic.

 

Nice goals from Sadio and Mo, both maybe should have scored at least one more each. Alli had to make some smart saves and that lad Duvane(?) for them looked a real handful. Thought Rhys Williams and Joe had very good games. Gini ran his bollocks off.

 

Well played lads, very well played.

Totally agree about the ref, seemed like he was feeling sorry for them. Gave them all manner of soft free kicks . That challenge on Curtis would have been a penalty at the other end. Fortunately the lads were so good, he wasn’t able to fuck us over.

[an tha]

Going to be nice and also very, very handy to not be in a dogfight at end of group for a change - get qualified with a game maybe even two to spare and it will be a big help with league....can rest a few and give those who need some minutes some game time to keep them ticking over.

 

 

[therevivalist]

Is anybody else wondering why we haven't missed Virgil! I thought Gomez was superb tonight.

[DalyanPete]

3 minutes ago, sir roger said:

I love the way Jota's legs go like the clappers when he is running, like the Anthill mob when they picked their car up.

Only a few of us on here know what your talking about

[magicrat]

Just now, therevivalist said:

Is anybody else wondering why we haven't missed Virgil! I thought Gomez was superb tonight.

I'll answer that question after we play City , Gomez did play well tonight

[Trumo]

We were excellent tonight. I knew we were capable of winning but I didn't expect us to dish out the sort of drubbing we gave Porto a few years back. This one was less defensively dominant than the Porto game but Atalanta just didn't know how to deal with our attack. We looked really really dangerous from the very start.

 

It looked strange to see Atalanta back off every time we had the ball because everything I know about them says they are a blood-and-thunder outfit who hassle and harry all over the pitch.

 

We had so many chances but were clinical when it counted, which isn't often the case, especially in Europe. Jota has been a real revelation and deserved his hat-trick. Mo and Sadio didn't have quite as much impact but they were still good and very good respectively. Curtis - one error aside where he lost possession and fouled his man to get booked - played very well, showing composure and generally keeping it simple and keeping the ball moving. Rhys Williams at the back was a real Steady Eddie.

 

Atalanta did have chances of their own, and were very unlucky on one occasion where Zapata put Big Joe on his arse with a neat turn and hit the woodwork with a peach of an effort. He seems to go for brute force every time he shoots.

 

We became a little ragged late on after making our 5 changes, and the ref started giving them more and more free kicks for absolutely nothing, but the game had been over as a contest after less than an hour. We could have extended our lead even further as both Sadio and Mo had great chances to get their second of the game. Curtis even had a penalty appeal turned down after a shove that would have seen the red Mancs be given a spot kick for sure.

 

9 points out of 9 then, and we can probably wrap up top spot in the group with another win in the return fixture.

[Mark M]

We’ve just improved our world class front 3 to a new level. Amazing 

[ralph]

4 minutes ago, DalyanPete said:

Only a few of us on here know what your talking about

Catch the pigeon 

[an tha]

As for Jota - so good to see him settle in so well and look like a game changer.

 

Has to start ahead of Firmino right now for my money....gives us more threat up front and more ability to stretch teams which in turn creates more space for our other attackers.....our counter attacks are quicker and more threatening with him in there right now and that ability could be crucial away at City in a game where they of course will take the game to us ....they won't be as open as these were or as naive of course but still will want to get on front foot against us and the threat Jota carries and how much sharper we are with him could be ideal in such a game - especially as City have shown a weakness to direct quick attacking for a while now.

[magicrat]

Lets not write Bobby off. Going through an indifferent run but he is a superb footballer.

[Rushies tash]

 

This team.

[El Rojo]

Great experience for Rhys Williams again tonight. Ridiculously young age for a centre half, he hasn't even filled out yet. Hopefully he has a great career ahead of him. 

[an tha]

11 minutes ago, magicrat said:

Lets not write Bobby off. Going through an indifferent run but he is a superb footballer.

He absolutely should not be written off and he will of course play a massive part in what we do, but right now we have a lad on fire, a lad who has made a difference every time he has been in side and a lad who when he plays right now improves us, makes us more threatening and is working better with our other attackers - helping us be a better side.

 

For my money City away is perfect for him, he is exactly the sort of player that their suspect defence against direct, quick attacking play have struggled against....and if it does not work, what an option Bobby is off bench....or even if we need his experience, intelligence and hard work to help us protect a lead by defending from front/using ball cleverly.

 

Teams evolve as well and maybe teams have started to work out the puzzle of our front 3 with Bobby a bit more than they had, Jota has just made that puzzle a bit different and poses new questions.