Al Hilal (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

Very disappointing, just watched the rerun.

Played some nice stuff and looked more of the same but didn't get the second goal and vulnerable to the counter, that is a huge concern.

Savinho stayed on too long for someone not having a good game.

Tournament is wide open and I've enjoyed it. The games are not friendlies and are decent and competitive.
Wasted opportunity and there are no positives in going out like that.

The referee was brilliant, if that was a PL game there would have been red cards, penalties and dissalowed goals. The PL version of VAR has ruined football.
 
At the risk of being flamed...

A genuine question to those trying to shame the posters who are concerned by what they saw last night - what do you think any coaches can do, in a little over a month, to ingrain some sort of defensive 'instinct' into players without even rudimentary knowledge of basic positioning?

I'm talking about the full-back positions. There was a perfect example last night, with the Al-Hilal attack immediately after Erling scored: Ait-Nouri was 5 yards inside their half. 20 yards away from their guy on the ball. One of their attackers ran behind RAN - surely within his scope of vision - but instead of tracking him RAN chose to step toward the guy on the ball, despite zero chance of influencing the game. No genuine defender would have done such a thing. Doesn't the 'back' in 'full-back' mean anything any more? Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

Ait-Nouri has been the most exciting thing for me in this tournament, going forward, but this behaviour is the type of thing that will haunt us throughout the season.

Our situation is no better on the right.

One or two quick passes and we were back to welcoming attackers into our area before anybody had even engaged with them.

What do you genuinely see changing this situation in the 5 minutes between now and the start of the season?

I've seen the old chestnut 'we dominated possession'. Unfortunately, even the 28% that they enjoyed (33 mins) was enough for us to concede 4 times, so who cares? None of our opposition do.

Still, if you genuinely think that shipping 4 goals in little over half-an-hour is not cause for concern, then I don't know what is?
 
NeilMcnabTwoFooted said:
After the Juve match i was full of optimism and really fancied our chances in this competition considering the bracket we were in & was imagining seriously regaining our league title off the dippers but now i’m the complete opposite, Juve match was a glimpse into the future today was a fearful look back into last season’s past.
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This is why nobody should have got carried away after Juve, and equally after this result. We wasn't going to be complete and ready to go a month after a crap season. New signings, new coaches new systems. It will take time, we will look unreal in some games and a bit crap in others. I am hopeful with time it comes good.
 
I like the system we're playing - high press, ball control, direct attacks.

That said, when the ball turns over - our defenders must be able to cope with an occasional ball over the top. One or (much more preferable) both CB's should have pace, as well as the ability to read the game.

And our goalie obviously needs to sweep - on the occasion that a long ball is hit beyond the opposition side's forwards.
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For me, Dias doesn't fit our system well - too slow.

And although Ederson sweeps - and is unique in his ability to pass - he's far too mistake prone, IMO - gifting a goal due to some errant pass, with unacceptable frequency.
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Our rebuild is a work in progress - but for me - Ederson is a net liability and so is Dias - given the way we play.

Disagree? - Of course there will be disagreement.

But look at PSG - although their press is a bit different - press the man with the ball versus our cutting off lanes press - our styles are similar. PSG is far better at winning the ball back even if a long pass is played over the top of our defense than we are. And that's a huge problem if we expect to win the P/L , C/L or CWC.
 
Earlyriser said:
Whilst watching the game before the 4th goal the matchday thread was dreading the prospect of penalties because most fans knew the chances of Ederson saving one was zero. How much longer can we continue with a goalie whose shot stopping record is poor and cannot save a penalty. He was bought for his distribution but that is now a bit of luxury given his shop stopping record. I know what my preference is for.
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What is your preference?
 
SWPISHOME said:
The defending is absolutely atrocious and that's being kind.

We really really miss a serious leader to play at centre back, All of our centre backs are far too nice! I wouldn't say any of them would put their body on the line.

That's why Khusanov should be playing in this team, At least he's aggressive in everything he does he loves the physical side of the game. That can't be said for Dias or Akanji.
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Not a popular opinion but as long dias is the main centre back city will always struggle defence wise
 
Scaring Europe to Death said:
Not too concerned about the result but moving forward we will struggle with Gundogan and Bernardo behind Doku and Savinho

That snacks of losing the ball cheaply and then being exposed for pace on the counter

Absolutely crucial that Rodri is back to full fitness
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Absolutely. I can see we might get away with that midfield 3 and Foden and Grealish. But if you go with Doku and Savinho then and a mobile midfielder is essential and Khusanov to cover the inevitable breaks.
We can see it. Not sure why Pep can't.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
If this debacle makes us get ruthless, move some on, get in some players in with winning and strong personalities ( yes I know - not Pep's cup of tea), then some scintilla of good can come of it.
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No way will Pep move on a player he's just made captain and his blue eyed boy Gundo.

I think we'll see more of them 2 than we wish for this season.

He also needs to make a decision on Nico. He's either good enough or not. No point in having a spot on the bench taken up by a player getting zero game time.
 
SamBlue said:
Losing to Saudi team full of Brazilian and ex EPL journeymen is one thing, but losing by conceding four pushes it on completely different level.
Pep suddenly got to answer so many important questions and whether Gundo can make it or not for another season is not one of them. By the way, the very moment he was subbed alongside Nunes our effectiveness in the final third fell 50% at least.


You can clone Usain Bolt and play them as CBs and they are going to get found out playing them 70 yards from their goal.
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It would certainly help having someone quick for all the counters we’ll face defending that high
 
Longballutd said:
Friendlies, pre-season, before the proper football starts lol. Let’s pretend it was meaningless and we didn’t want to win it shall we
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I haven't been watching much, if any, of this tournament. It was a meaningless "competition" that added unnecessary games to the end of a long season and hope we never get invited back.
 
We picked up a nice bit of change on this tour now the lads can relax for a bit.
Hate to say it but we need to start strongly considering a new keeper. we concede 1 in 3 shots we face and we can't keep outscoring teams
 
paulsimpson said:
We are all disappointed blue.
Pep and Pep need to make sure that if we are going to play a High Line then we need the speedier Defenders like Khusanov and Reis to cover the ground. We should never be as porous as that. But it keeps happening. May they sort it before mid August.
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I'd say Reis is the slowest defender we have.
 
BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
I like the system we're playing - high press, ball control, direct attacks.

That said, when the ball turns over - our defenders must be able to cope with an occasional ball over the top. One or (much more preferable) both CB's should have pace, as well as the ability to read the game.

And our goalie obviously needs to sweep - on the occasion that a long ball is hit beyond the opposition side's forwards.
===
For me, Dias doesn't fit our system well - too slow.

And although Ederson sweeps - and is unique in his ability to pass - he's far too mistake prone, IMO - gifting a goal due to some errant pass, with unacceptable frequency.
===
Our rebuild is a work in progress - but for me - Ederson is a net liability and so is Dias - given the way we play.

Disagree? - Of course there will be disagreement.

But look at PSG - although their press is a bit different - press the man with the ball versus our cutting off lanes press - our styles are similar. PSG is far better at winning the ball back even if a long pass is played over the top of our defense than we are. And that's a huge problem if we expect to win the P/L , C/L or CWC.
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And therein lies the rub, because they don't have any pace, which, when coupled with playing a high defensive line, is a recipe for continuous embarrassment of the type we witnessed last night. One long curling ball forward in behind our pedestrian centre halves creates mayhem. We lost the derby at the Etihad last season partly because of it, we surrendered a three goal lead at home to Feyenoord partly because of it, we got trashed in Paris and Lisbon partly because of it, and last night was just more of the same
 
noseve said:
I'm talking about the full-back positions. There was a perfect example last night, with the Al-Hilal attack immediately after Erling scored: Ait-Nouri was 5 yards inside their half. 20 yards away from their guy on the ball. One of their attackers ran behind RAN - surely within his scope of vision - but instead of tracking him RAN chose to step toward the guy on the ball, despite zero chance of influencing the game. No genuine defender would have done such a thing. Doesn't the 'back' in 'full-back' mean anything any more? Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

Ait-Nouri has been the most exciting thing for me in this tournament, going forward, but this behaviour is the type of thing that will haunt us throughout the season.

Our situation is no better on the right.

One or two quick passes and we were back to welcoming attackers into our area before anybody had even engaged with them.
Click to expand...
There were a few moments like that where I do wonder what the player was thinking. Their second goal came from a corner to us. The corner is cleared out and one of our defenders (didn’t see who it was, Akanji maybe?) simply heads it back - under very little pressure - into the melee of players rushing out of their box but it lands at the feet of one of their players so it’s immediately 3 on 2. Just bring it down and recycle the ball like we used to. That can’t be difficult to train. But if it was Akanji, he needs a kick up the arse as he’s a senior player.

Sunday league quality that was.
 
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