Does Pep need to be more pragmatic away from home in Europe?

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

It's an easy route to go down after those 2 games you mention. However last night we didn't play our usual attacking team. We had Gundogan on the right(although he was useless in both aspects of the game). The first goal we had a corner and instead of crossing it played our way into trouble by ending up back on the halfway line. Generally we were just piss poor on the night,we didn't even create. Doesn't really matter what style you play if everyone plays that poorly in a big game you lose.

True but say we lost 1-0 while creating nothing, we'd still be in the tie. Now our CL campaign is pretty much dead in the water

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

While there’s no doubt that Pep is a great coach, this is the one weakness in his approach. I was thinking when I went to bed that Monaco mirrored last night in many ways. We had a 2 goal lead we needed to protect to go through yet we went all gang-ho and threw it away. I’ve no problem with trying to score an early goal but once they scored we should have adapted our approach and done what Liverpool did last night; concede possession and protect the last third.

We already know Liverpool struggle to cope against teams who do that. So a better plan might have been to go with a back 3, with Walker & Danilo as full-backs, Ferna and Gundo sitting deep and a front three of David Silva, KDB and Jesus. Or even Bernardo Silva replacing Jesus, with Dave as a false nine. Even if we lost by a single goal, maybe even 2, I’d still be confident for the second leg.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

I don't think we necessarily needed to be more pragmatic from the start but once that first goal went in and it was obvious that we were losing our composure, it might have been an idea to have a bit more in game management. Get everyone back for a while and keep it tight until we had weathered the storm.

 

[Gundogan's Moustache]

There's got to be more to it than that. These are top class football players under one of the best managers who have been dominant all season. While I agree anfield is difficult to play at I think the way we play just lends perfectly to their setup, especially with them having the home advantage

We haven’t been playing the same way for the last 15 years though , from kick off on the second half everything we did was quicker and sharper like it should of been from the start

 

[Saddleworth2]

Ermm didn't he just replace Sterling with Gundogan, a move which some would call being pragmatic?

These games are all about mentality and that was sadly lacking last night.

Gundogan has all the defensive capability of Yaya five years from now.
Pragmatic means maybe playing with two Dm’s. Maybe Fern and Delph or Danilo, Kev playing deep in between them or just in front of them and playing more like a quarter back. Those three with Silva, Stirling/Bernardo, Sane in front with instructions to keep the ball. Even three at the back and wing backs can be played more defensively. You are right in that if the attitude is lacking it doesn’t really matter what formation you play though.

 

[BigOscar]

No, he needed to be less pragmatic. The biggest problem was his fucking tinkering and not sticking to what has been so successful. He overthinks things and tried to be too clever

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

We haven’t been playing the same way for the last 15 years though , from kick off on the second half everything we did was quicker and sharper like it should of been from the start

If this was a one off occurrence I'd be inclined to agree with you, but we've played Liverpool 3 times and for the majority of those games they have controlled the match and won on all occasions

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Personally I thought Pep did exactly what he said he wasn't going to do. He changed tactics and it looked as if most of the team weren't quite sure how to play it. Hence so many bad performances.

Yep. He definitely strayed from a winning formula.

 

[bobom]

No, he needed to be less pragmatic. The biggest problem was his fucking tinkering and not sticking to what has been so successful. He overthinks things and tried to be too clever

Yes, I'm more inclined to agree with this.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

We had ZERO shots on target but we need to be more pragmatic?

We play an extra midfielder and sacrifice a forward but we need to be more pragmatic?

No. We need to attack more and score away goals.

Be more pragmatic at HOME if we have to, to prevent conceding away goals.