I think those who are saying the manager is complacent have not been watching the last few years - if you had been in the changing room after the Villa performance you would have seen - I believe from an insider he tore into some of them.
Problem is with Gundo, Kev and even going back to Ferna & Merlin we had senior guys in the middle who knew when to close a game down but also knew how to finish teams off. It's no coincidence without that we have Walker and Ruben largely responsible for playing out and setting the tempo. Today if we had either Kev or Gundo in the team when they got the first goal both would have dropped deeper to get the ball and control the play. Rodri cannot do that on his own all game. Rico is a bit green and despite having a great 65 mins disappeared after they made subs and got back into the match. The only thing I couldn't fathom was why we did not make a change at 75 mins when it was clear they were coming into it. Says a lot about Kova and Phillips (what Pep really thinks about them) Stones getting ready to come on at 91 mins is a bit odd to me but I don't earn the big bucks.
Overall this match like several others (apart from Villa) should have been put to bed and we are now rueing a silly error that cost another 2 points. With either Kev or a Gundo type we would have won 3 of the 4 draws no doubt about it.
Still- I'm raging but trying not to over react which some appear to be doing on this thread.
Problem is with Gundo, Kev and even going back to Ferna & Merlin we had senior guys in the middle who knew when to close a game down but also knew how to finish teams off. It's no coincidence without that we have Walker and Ruben largely responsible for playing out and setting the tempo. Today if we had either Kev or Gundo in the team when they got the first goal both would have dropped deeper to get the ball and control the play. Rodri cannot do that on his own all game. Rico is a bit green and despite having a great 65 mins disappeared after they made subs and got back into the match. The only thing I couldn't fathom was why we did not make a change at 75 mins when it was clear they were coming into it. Says a lot about Kova and Phillips (what Pep really thinks about them) Stones getting ready to come on at 91 mins is a bit odd to me but I don't earn the big bucks.
Overall this match like several others (apart from Villa) should have been put to bed and we are now rueing a silly error that cost another 2 points. With either Kev or a Gundo type we would have won 3 of the 4 draws no doubt about it.
Still- I'm raging but trying not to over react which some appear to be doing on this thread.