Is there a lack of intensity in our game? If so, how do we solve it?

[chesterbells]

1. Players bought recently don’t advance/improve us.
2. Foden should start more over David.
3. A degree of mental fatigue after the intensity and stress of the last 2 years.
4. Bernardo a shadow of the player he was last year.
5. No Sane or Laporte
6. At the same time liverpool are relentless - in fact their fitness program must be out of this world; it is unbelievable just how much energy they have on the pitch, I genuinely wonder how on earth they do it ...

 

[Marvin]

1. Players bought recently don’t advance/improve us.
2. Foden should start more over David.
3. A degree of mental fatigue after the intensity and stress of the last 2 years.
4. Bernardo a shadow of the player he was last year.
5. No Sane or Laporte
6. At the same time liverpool are relentless - in fact their fitness program must be out of this world; it is unbelievable just how much energy they have on the pitch, I genuinely wonder how on earth they do it ...

1. Not impressed with either Rodri or Cancelo but let's give them time.
2. Foden. Agree
3. Fatigue. Agree
4. bernardo. Agree. But I know he will come back.
5. Agree. It was obvious the moment Laporte got injured we'd be unable to compete with Liverpool
6. I admire them. Their football is nowhere near the level we produced but to keep winning games is fantastic. Their best players: TAA (as a winger not a full-back), Mane, VVD and Salah are incredible. Every bit as good as our stars (KDB, Bernardo, Sterling).

 

[simon23]

absolute lack of intensity....but not desire...i can see the players are trying (most of them) but there is a lack of quality at present....even from the likes of KDB with some of his passing just missing the target at times (though there are lot worse offenders!)

Gundogan slows everything down - said it before yesterdays game and it happened again....he is poor, he doesnt make positive passes (brave passes as Pep would say) and he just cannot do the defensive side of the game.
Mendy has been very negative since he came back - his crossing has been absolutely abysmal, he cannt run and has no pace and i mentioned this months ago but he cant use his right foot so his passes become predictable to defenders and midfilelders.
Mahrez is a luxury player - when we are on top and cruising he is great....but the moment there is a battle/fight/tough game he goes woefully missing. (same as gundogan - who has never looked committed to me at all)

Everything went down our left yesterday for some reason and again it was predictable as Raheem just got doubled up on - we actually looked better when he went at centre forward after Jesus came off.....it could destroys Jesus confidence but there is an argument for playing Raheem at centre forward at present as it would enable us to bring an extra midfielder in (B.Silva - who even though not playing well does increase the intensity of games as he wil run through brick walls)

 

[simon23]

1. Players bought recently don’t advance/improve us.
2. Foden should start more over David.
3. A degree of mental fatigue after the intensity and stress of the last 2 years.
4. Bernardo a shadow of the player he was last year.
5. No Sane or Laporte
6. At the same time liverpool are relentless - in fact their fitness program must be out of this world; it is unbelievable just how much energy they have on the pitch, I genuinely wonder how on earth they do it ...

Agree with most of that except Sane......I think he is gone and I dont think even when fit he will be too bothered. Itssuch a shame as a committed Sane has the potential to be the best in the world and when he gets the move he obviously wants i think we will see him absolutely destroy the Bundesleague

 

[ctid1894]

He has not been at his best but that is his position imo. Mahrez will never be a right winger ever.

Sterling may well eventually play down the middle.

I am not sure really where you are coming from because Bernardo and Sterling have been exceptional as wide forwards. To say they are not suited to these roles is to ignore the last 18 months.

The whole concept of inverted wingers is flawed, it should be nothing more than an option if we've seen a tactical weakness we can exploit, it shouldn't be used as a default system.

Our biggest threat over the last 18-24 months has been the sheer quantity of goals from cutbacks/tap-ins at the back post, from wingers playing on their natural side (right footed on the right and left footed on the left). Inverted wingers kills that threat as instinctively they want to get the ball on their stronger foot, it's easier to do that by coming short and playing inside.

 

[simon23]

1. Not impressed with either Rodri or Cancelo but let's give them time.
2. Foden. Agree
3. Fatigue. Agree
4. bernardo. Agree. But I know he will come back.
5. Agree. It was obvious the moment Laporte got injured we'd be unable to compete with Liverpool
6. I admire them. Their football is nowhere near the level we produced but to keep winning games is fantastic. Their best players: TAA (as a winger not a full-back), Mane, VVD and Salah are incredible. Every bit as good as our stars (KDB, Bernardo, Sterling).

I agree on TAA, VVD and Mane - Id have them all in our squad/first team

Salah I wouldnt touch with a barge pole - cant stand the guy and i think he is weak mentally as well

 

[Damanino]

Lack of intensity in our first halves. It is mindblowing how slow we start, and then when the pressure is going up as its still 0-0 or 1-1, we are able to turn it on for the last 30 minutes but until then we are 3rd or 4th grade only.

Early lead could do wonders ans it can open up parked bus defences, well not for us as then they make one attack , make one shot and that is a goal most likely like vs Newcastle.

Slow first halves are really a thing we have this season, this is when most of our shots are blocked, most of the crosses not even going into the box, even couple of rare counter chances are wasted due to slow transition.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Midfield is the most important part of the team. Intensity comes from midfield. The tone for the game comes from midifield.

Silva is coming to the end now and doesn’t have the intensity to his game anymore. Gundo and Rodri are far too slow.

The thing is we have three midfielders that surely would make up the best midfield in world football - Fernandinho, Bernardo and de Bruyne. Who has a better midfield than that?

I think we have to build our team around those three for the rest of the season. Play Rodri at the back and get Fern back into midfield.

I just don’t think Pep will do that.

The thing is as well, no matter how slow we’ve been in midfield or what mistakes we’ve made at the back, in every game we’ve dropped points we’ve criminally missed great chances that would have sewn the game up. Yesterday Jesus, Bernardo and Sterling missed sitters - that’s not fucking good enough!

None of our forwards apart from Agüero are ruthless enough.

I just really hope Sané stays. I really really bloody want him to stay!

But even if he doesn’t, for the rest of this season once he’s back for, play Sané left, Sterling right and the midfield of Fern-Bernardo-deBruyne.

 

[alexmcity]

There are two different aspects of intensity: the pace of running and the pace of passing the ball. The second is more important than the first. At some point in the 2nd half we started to play with more urgency and created 3-4 good chances, more than in the pervious 65-70 minutes. Pep's teams are mostly about the speed of thinking and passing. The latter wasn't quite there in the last months which indicates that the problem might be related also to mental tiredness. The thought that any dropped point might be fatal is a serious burden. Think Liverpool will get burned-out at some point this season too. The dream of the 1st PL title might help them to cope better though. Or, alternatively, make the burden even worse. A sudden collpase shouldn't be completely excluded.

 

[TFC]

I honestly think it's mental. I had no doubt that we would overhaul the scousers even just a few days ago, but despite the usual lip service shite from the players on Twitter, I'm not sure they believe it. They certainly don't fucking act that way anyhow.

I would also like to see Pep take some chances ffs, he isn't blameless by any stretch. Yes we have injuries. Put some youth in, freshen things up, it's hard work watching our midfield get bypassed game after game yet it's like fucking groundhog day every match.