Do you agree with Pep that this season we are not very good in the boxes?

This is Pep’s worst start to a season EVER!

We are always susceptible to giving up a goal because we play high risk, high line, high offence football, so they 3rd goal is a must.

When we score one, we usually spend the next 10 minutes passing around like the game is over, because we are waiting for the other team to open up, because they usually come to hold the 0-0 and once it’s gone, what’s the point?! However, with the quick break at Palace, we quickly got the 2nd and went in at half time flying.

Coming out in the 2nd half, it was clear Palace were a different proposition, and that one goal would turn the crowd, which was already rocking, and possibly the momentum of the game. Ederson made two superb saves (Benteke header and Zaha shot) to help relax the sphincter, but we simply should not be relying on not losing a goal in the last 10 minutes to win comfortably.

With a 3 goal cushion, we can play simple football and LITERALLY rest for the rest of the game. Sure, the lads are running around, but it becomes a training session, not a full blooded away contest where one goal could change the course of the game. Because we can play it around, the other team has to open up, we exploit the space and we can go in and out, in and out, of offence all day long until an opening presents itself...no pressure.

No pressure usually means no lunging, stretching, and chasing, which also means less fatigue injuries and muscle strains, and on and on and on.

We all know how we feel at 3-0 and how we feel at 2-0 against a big team with a target man and a couple of tree trunks in central defence. It’s another reason Pep spends half the time the other team is in our half shouting “no foul, no foul!”

There are numerous games this season where we should have been out of sight before there was any late game pressure, and we have lost and drawn 2 and 1 respectively...none of which should have happened. However, in games where we are winning, dominating and yet not capitalizing on the dominance and chances we have created, we are inviting pressure where none should exist.

Palace away as a win is a good day of work any way you slice it, but we will face sterner tests and the profligacy in front of goal in those games will cost us dearly.

I think Pep is simply trying to get the guys lifted and hungry to play the bottom feeders in the group after a tough away game, but there is real stats behind his statement that we are simply not good enough, or more specifically, clinical enough, to win the Champions League this season. Hopefully, others will agree and we will not carry the burden of favorites throughout the tournament again, only to disappoint all concerned.....except UEFA!!!
 
opposition play a totally different game against us and are getting quite good at it, if the likes of wolves and Norwich can beat us it just shows you don't have to be the most inform team to beat us.

so parking the bus has been a tactic used for donkeys years but it has got more tactical than just 10 men in the box. When we get in the oppositions penalty area there is no space to move are sight on goal for a shot, when we do get a more open shot on goal our finishing is not the best, you do feel one or two other strikers would have a hatful of goals if they played for us. Its no disrespect to Raheem / david or Sergio but they do scuff chances and in particular Raheem.

the more that teams pack the penalty area the more we push forward and leave it easy for a break, wolves game a fine example. With most of our defence injured we are left wide open
 
BosnianBlue said:
Palace game was difference. I remember only one short corner, I was fairly surprised we were going with traditional ones.
Click to expand...

That's right.
A similar thing happened a couple of seasons ago when we played at Burnley and continually indulged in short corners without seemingly getting anywhere.
They must have known that the Basel scouts were watching, because the next away game resulted in Gundogan scoring at the near post from a traditional corner
 
I don't think Pep was referring to set-pieces when he was referencing our play in the opponent's penalty area but it is a big part of the game.

I think City are best off using short corners. The KDB cross, and Jesus on the end of it is going to be a good weapon for us. I think Jesus is better than Aguero in the air, and he's more mobile (they both have strengths and weaknesses).

Defending set-pieces I think is a weakness whilst Stones and Laporte are out of the side as we are a small side. Sheff Utd did Arsenal last night with a set-piece. Palace did nothing all game but for one Benteke header. Spurs also got back in the game against us through a set-piece despite us outplaying them for most of the game. I think this is a temporary problem.

I am pretty sure that Liverpool are much stronger than City at set-pieces. However we are better than them at many other aspects.
 
Pep, as usual, is spot-on. We do concede from too many set pieces and, given the tiny amount of possession we give our opponents fixing this would make us unbeatable. We are also still missing a lot of sitters even though we score more goals than anyone. No one creates as many chances as us and we need to convert more of them. Pep wants perfection and that' s why he's the greatest manager of all time. To be fair Stones and Laporte back and on form solves the set piece issue immediately. That said I thought we played better at Palace than we have all season so we are not that far away from perfection.
 
aguerooooo said:
imho its shit or bust for Gabby this season he has to get the better of Serg for game time no doubt has a great finish as the one at Palace proved but for a Pep team he has to do a lot more he goes invisible at times and need to see more all round involvement in his game Also his frustrating knack of being caught offside Tbf he has been more savvy thus far is he nailed on to be Aguero"s successor ? im not convinced but wouldnt be sorry to see him step up
Click to expand...

Seriously?
 
I sort of know what he means, to be honest. We always seem to give away a couple of huge chances at the back to the opposition, whoever they are (think Watford, for example, in the Final, although that was admittedly last season, just). And we nearly always seem to be profligate in the box. When we're clinical, it's 8-0 (think Watford, again). That Palace result should have been easily 4-0 and out of sight by the last ten minutes.
I think what he's saying is that you can afford to be neither the one nor the other, if you seriously intend to win the CL.
 
In some Arsenal article from last night, there is a stat about away games and chances created. We are first with 92 and 2nd have something like 65. I don't think shot conversion is real stat that can prove that we lack good finishing at times, it's the sitters we miss and we have loads of sitters created in each game. You can have bad conversion rate while you're shooting from 30 yards, that's expected, but majority of our shots are from 5-10 yards and we always miss few that look like impossible to miss, even when we score 8 in a game.
 
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