Our talisman is Kevin but he is not back to his oldself yet. Injuries cuaght up with our most important players which is not the case of our rivals, especially dippers whose key players have not missed a single important game ! We lost a battle but the race for the title is far from being over ! We need our key players back to their best form and/or a reinforcement of the team in the forthcoming transfer window.
Good post
We miss Fern so much
Cannot afford to be without him. Look at the last few weeks since chelsea defeat . How did we do without him? Lost twice .Elephant in the room really unless we start admitting what's a gaping hole of a problem .
Same fixture last year , Fern present. Heck leicester even had a good Mahrez that day .We had 70% possession , nearly 800 completed passes and gave them 0 shots on target . This was on the 18/11/17
Pep's teams are so well oiled that even a small percentage of an anomaly can result in disaster . Sorry to be so hyperbolic but in reality the well oiled machine has certain requisites - possession 9/10ths of the law usually, 85% and above pass completion rate so that there's an end product that doesn't often result in turnovers to opposition, low amount of corners to opposition , tackles that involve winning balls back, 2nd actions etc that involves commitment and intensity etc , 5-10 shots on target Did we see an acceptable rate of that today ? Just asking .
Fern does that donkey work that we Unfortunately take for granted in spoiling and
David Silva has also been out injured. Huge player -scores goals too.
Mendy has been missed because his attack keeps oppo on their toes and adds to percentage possession and completion rate. He can be caught out at times but not so much as to concede too many goals.We allied far too many shots on target today -5!
Kevin hasn't been missed until we have lost the other 3 to injury. He only played half a game today. Not enough to secure a result.
It all adds up
But Fern is a huge loss , a spoiler, a grinder, a workhorse, as ubiquitous as the day is long , accurate passing,nearly all moves go through him, director and initiator of actions , scores the odd goal etc list goes on .
Let's see how Pool do withoutVVD and Salah for 3 games. Thing is ,they wouldn't fall apart as much as we do because we are such an optimal machine. A thing of beauty that is disrupted when certain huge players are injured and rhythm is lost.
At Southampton if we have 6 shots on target we will score 2-3 .If we allow them 5 on target they could score 3.
Need Fern back
If not then Pep you have to find something .
Everyone banging on we should have got a Fern replacement in last summer and are now lambasting the club - who was that player who, was avaialble, affordable and wanted to come? over to all the experts who seem to know but never seem to announceSome one to come in and do possibly the hardest job in the team, maybe from a different country, in January and to play Peps way virtually from the off. I know what you mean but that will take some doing and I can't think of anyone.. Last summer was the time.
Everyone banging on we should have got a Fern replacement in last summer and are now lambasting the club - who was that player who, was avaialble, affordable and wanted to come? over to all the experts who seem to know but never seem to announce
I agree, but if posters want to slag the club off for not doing their jobs to their liking, at least have the balls to suggest the odd name or two and then realise it aint that simpleThere probably isn't a direct Fernandinho replacement currently playing in world football never mind being available or affordable. There are then two options for the club to take: don't buy anyone as they cannot directly replace him (& this means we won't buy anyone this January or in the summer either) or buy a player(s) with different skill sets but who can fit into the team, even if that means modifying our style of play.
The club has one of the top management & coaching staffs in world football combined with an extensive global scouting network. I wasn't aware that they were relying on suggestions off an internet forum in order to identify targets. This sounds very Swales-esque to me.
Aguero was shocking, 1/10 performance.
Aguero was shocking, 1/10 performance.
Aguero was shocking, 1/10 performance.
Aguero was shocking, 1/10 performance.
Exactly. No use looking for scapegoats, in my opinion. The team was the problem.A bit harsh. Considering his first full game back. Strikers need rhythm.
There are various issues on the pitch, teams doubling up on our wingers or a combo on a lack of conviction, intensity and missing Fern.
However, the elephant in the room is we aren't making opposition goalkeepers work for any saves.
In the recent three defeats, four outright saves were made, everything else was approach work, purposely being shown to cross from much further out.
Aguero, for all his fitness issues of late and trying to battle, looks poor, and hasn't looked sharp in an away game for a long time.
We can still do this in terms of the title but we need a win to get rolling again.