Brentford (H) | Post-Match Thread

[wolviedinho]

The rotation policy at the back has gone mental. No settled defence this season has seen us look lost. The buildup from the back is not fluid and the defending is at best just about ok.

Injury to Walker did not help. We seem to be back to full back problems. Which is hampering the team cohesion. I thought we would have enough to cover but seemingly not. Ake should be Lb and Cancelo rb. Putting stones in at RB is a disaster. I would prefer us to go 3 at the back with wing backs who can focus on attack and give us width until we can recruit. Teams are strangling the life out of our width forcing us to come inside. We have no playmaker to open them up. We looked most dangerous this year playing quick ball into Haaland otherwise we struggle.

Change it Pep. We have the The CB’s to make a very good 3. Put Walker and Cancelo up wide or Gomez/Rico until Walker is back.

 

[madloaf]

We've had this type of performance:

1st half chelsea
1st half seville
1st half Leicester
1st half dortmund
2nd half dortmund
1st half liverpool
2nd half liverpool
1st half dortmund (home)
1st half villa
2nd half villa
1st half palace
1st half newcastle
1st half livepool (cs)
2nd half liverpool (cs)

I'm amazed were where we are. It surely gets better after the new year (I'm thinking primarily performances not results)

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

It was a dogs dinner today and it's been coming for a while really.

Normally I would say I've seen this game before where we have 25 shots and score no goals, but they have 1 chance and 1 goal. In truth Brentford could've had a few more. Ederson saved us really.

My gripe before the game was that our defence was another one picked at random. John Stones is not, and never will be, a decent right back. He is a world class central defender and one of the few who is happy to bring the ball out of defence. Playing him out of position is ludicrous. Given Lewis had played decently when picked, why not give him a go against Brentford as a reward?

We just don't have a settled back 4 at all, especially in the middle. For me, Stones and Dias should play as often as possible as they are our best defensive pairing. We also need a right footed right back and a left footed left back. If your right footed right back is injured (Walker) you don't shuffle the entire defence around - you drop your reserve right back in.

You all know my views on Cancelo - good going forward but a useless defender. Today he was useless attacking and that's his game. I don't think Gomez is good enough to be honest, we NEED a competent left back. Cancelo is so inconsistent it's untrue. I genuinely don't see this world class full back at all. He would be gone in summer if I was the manager - we need someone who can defend at left back.

I honestly don't know what Pep was watching today. Foden offered nothing, Cancelo offered nothing, KdB was off, Gundogan wasn't on his game and whilst Bernardo toiled, he wasn't getting much out of anyone. Why didn't we see changes? Honestly, we wouldn't have scored another today if we'd still been playing now - we were up against a very well drilled defence and had no idea on how to break it down.

Sometimes I wish we'd sit deep for a bit and invite the busparkers to come out. Haaland had no room today and struggled to find any space and it's no surprise that KdB couldn't pick him out. If we just sat back for a bit to draw them out, we could hit teams on the counter. However, we're so frightened of losing the ball, we break slowly and our first thought is to pass it back to whoever is behind us which allows the opposition to regroup. It's very frustrating.

Part of me thinks that every year under Pep we've had one poor game which normally acts as a catalyst for a huge winning run. I hope that game was today.

It's a disappointing way to end the first part of the season.

Agree. Not sure about the winning run though. The World Cup break means everyone starts from scratch really. We need to improve a lot as we have many harder games than Brentford at home to come. We could easily have lost points in 3/4 other games this season too. Haaland, Bernardo and De Bruyne have absolutely carried us. The rest have been pretty average for the most part bar the odd game.

 

[nickwychen]

It’s a fucking piece of piss to stop someone scoring if you’re allowed to use your hands and foul people without fear of giving away a penalty…

and the reason Wissa got clear of de Bruyne was ..? pure hunger ..

 

[kismet]

I've not had a drink for nearly a year and just poured myself a gin and tonic.

Fucking raging. I feel mugged off, perhaps many others, but feels like that Spurs defeat last season.

Taken for a ride.

Agreed Tolms.

Having one myself. Brentford had only won 3 all season.

 

[nickwychen]

We were shite but the time wasting was atrocious and the ref did fuck all to stop it.

when was that? Didn't notice Wissa time wasting when he left de Bruyne for dust at 90+ 8?!

 

[Mariosfireworks]

My thoughts on all this, is everyone saying oh world Cup, well if the city players sat on a million a month are more bothered about playing for their country, rather than the club they sre getting paid handsomely to play for, then they need fucking off

 

[nickwychen]

Worst refereeing performance I've seen in an awful long time but that was emulated by KDB Rodri akanji & cancelo
We totally ran out of ideas, so you can add Pep to that list as he needs to take some responsibility for not shaking it up

what did the ref do wrong exactly?

 

[Ajm1985]

I still find it mad that Pep saw what was happening and didn't think that Grealish going forward or Dias defensively would be better. I love Alvarez, but apart from one break, what was the point bringing him on if the tactic was spamming crosses?

The tactics at the end somehow made the team more predictable (three extremely left footed players on the left) and left Laporte & Stones attempting to deliver crosses. Even if you are think Haaland will give more of an opportunity, he's not getting on the end of shite deliveries.

Mulling it over and there were shite performances but still baffled at Pep.

 

[nickwychen]

Just watched the highlights even though it is painfull! WHY didn't Kev just take the yellow and stop the Brenford counter that led to the winner?

cos it happened before he even noticed..! left for dust by Wissa