Does Pep need to be more pragmatic away from home in Europe?

[pbueno16]

wholly agree.

It's also not that he needs to entirely shift to another style. There only needs to be a bit more tinkering to draw them out, tire them physically and reduce the possibility of losing the ball in dangerous areas. Other teams have pressed us, but Liverpool are just quicker to close down and mark the ball. All we need to do is move the ball even quicker to have them chasing shadows and pull themselves out of position. We also need to stop always looking for that killer pass because they react too quickly and pack themselves tight enough to take away those obscure angles.

 

[Big Dave Watson]

On the basis of the thread itself, yes I think Pep needs to change the way he plays away from home in Europe, crazy not too with the record he has.

He doesn’t have to change his philosophy per se, he just needs to adjust it.

Nail on the head.

Needs to look at the bigger picture sometimes. Use Anthony Joshua as an example. He is a bigger puncher than Parker but going for the KO could have resulted in him being KO'd himself. Instead he boxed a smart fight without risk and is now through to the next round where a bigger fight awaits against Wilder.

 

[Javi Garcia's Hairstylist]

I suppose Pep could just play like Mourinho or one of the other managers of dreary clubs and just instruct our players to hoof it deep in hopes that two of those chances would get converted into goals after bouncing in and amongst the dippers back line. Which, as I think on it, does rather suggest why Klopp tends to lose to all those crap teams at a disproportionate rate. But to be clear Pep's plan should be "hoof and hope" at all times v the red dippers?

 

[Silva_Spell]

Felt we were more pragmatic in this game than we were in the 4-3 and were worse off for it.

 

[Newquayblue]

It's also not that he needs to entirely shift to another style. There only needs to be a bit more tinkering to draw them out, tire them physically and reduce the possibility of losing the ball in dangerous areas. Other teams have pressed us, but Liverpool are just quicker to close down and mark the ball. All we need to do is move the ball even quicker to have them chasing shadows and pull themselves out of position. We also need to stop always looking for that killer pass because they react too quickly and pack themselves tight enough to take away those obscure angles.

Again in full agreement here - there was some evidence of lack of composure in our box, particularly after their second goal -- as a young side we, understandably, lack experience at this level which will come as the players mature - (btw don't even mention some dodgy decisions).

 

[pbueno16]

Again in full agreement here - there was some evidence of lack of composure in our box, particularly after their second goal -- as a young side we, understandably, lack experience at this level which will come as the players mature - (btw don't even mention some dodgy decisions).

The thing that I can't wrap my head around is that we have a generally more experienced and gelled squad with how much we've played together in the past few seasons and the fact that we've actually been in the CL every season where Liverpool have only played almost every other season. Those decisions were inconsistent at best, but we can't rely on referee decisions to bail us out of a 3-0. We lacked some serious bite and took all the punches they threw without even being able to fight back.

We have a big game on Saturday and they have an easy game they should win. If both teams win, you'd think that we're coming in ready to scorch the earth because we would've just won the title against United and have a huge chip on our shoulder to prove that the first leg was just the first half of the tie.

 

[Newquayblue]

The thing that I can't wrap my head around is that we have a generally more experienced and gelled squad with how much we've played together in the past few seasons and the fact that we've actually been in the CL every season where Liverpool have only played almost every other season. Those decisions were inconsistent at best, but we can't rely on referee decisions to bail us out of a 3-0. We lacked some serious bite and took all the punches they threw without even being able to fight back.

We have a big game on Saturday and they have an easy game they should win. If both teams win, you'd think that we're coming in ready to scorch the earth because we would've just won the title against United and have a huge chip on our shoulder to prove that the first leg was just the first half of the tie.

You're right - I keep thinking about Pep pointing out the special nature of the UCL (even though two English teams) - Liverpool were in their element, able to treat it simply as a cup game and Arnold & Robertson played out of this world, piggin' Millie also kept nicking the ball of us high up in midfield. How we performed and reacted really surprised me too, can only put it down to 'bottling it' not saying that in a derisory way, even our senior players don't have much experience at this level in UCL. Go along with you re reffing decisions just pointing it out, more than a couple of occasions, as you say there's no excuses with a 3-0 drubbing, we have to suck it up. I'll be surprised (again) if we don't win on Tuesday, but difficult to imagine them not scoring and can't see us getting 5. That said we are City lol.

 

[pbueno16]

You're right - I keep thinking about Pep pointing out the special nature of the UCL (even though two English teams) - Liverpool were in their element, able to treat it simply as a cup game and Arnold & Robertson played out of this world, piggin' Millie also kept nicking the ball of us high up in midfield. How we performed and reacted really surprised me too, can only put it down to 'bottling it' not saying that in a derisory way, even our senior players don't have much experience at this level in UCL. Go along with you re reffing decisions just pointing it out, more than a couple of occasions, as you say there's no excuses with a 3-0 drubbing, we have to suck it up. I'll be surprised (again) if we don't win on Tuesday, but difficult to imagine them not scoring and can't see us getting 5. That said we are City lol.

Definitely think we'll rebound pretty quickly and get a good result on Saturday to build momentum and confidence for Tuesday. Immediately after the match and yesterday, I considered this all done and dusted for the CL. Today though, I'm feeling a little more confident because Pep and the players know what didn't work and having that extra game of experience against them should help Pep figure out how to get past their pressing forwards and midfielders so we can actually attack their defense. We have a better overall squad who have won last minute results, so it's just going to take some minor adjustments to strategies and behavior to figure them out. I'm just hoping that the players are angry enough about the result that they will do anything and everything to win the title against United and put pressure on Liverpool while maintaining cool heads to be patient and mentally quick.