It's Quiet the £250m return

again people banking on rodri being the player he was and also not getting injured again (he laready has picked up another injury)- this is going to take another 6 months before he is back to anywhere near his best IF that happens.
He was always going to pick up injuries niggles this year we can’t rely on him someone else has to step up
 
I'd sooner we stopped making our defenders look like shit playing them miles away from goal and just play with a proper defensive shape but can't see Pep abandoning it now, its been an obvious problem for a while.
This would be less of a problem if our forwards could finish more of their chances
 
Worth watching this just to provide some context to what we need to improve.

Quite funny as, like a lot of us on here, his previous tactic review labelled our new system against Juventus as "genius"...

 
Apart from recouping money for Lewis and Dias, neither deserve an extension on their current performances. I am mostly shocked about how Dias went from a leader to an error prone liability in our defence.
My opinion is that it wont really matter who we sign as defenders since more or less everyone will all look like a ”error prone liability” having to constantly defend counters with little to no help from the players further up the pitch.

We used to attack and defend as a team, now all it takes is the opposition to boot it long and our players in front of the defenders are completely gone. Until that change, we will continue to concede loads of chances no matter who we have in defense. Hopefully Rodri being back will help a lot, but he wont solve it all by himself. Not to mention that he cant play all the time. Wingers, midfielders etc have to step up and do the work both ways on the pitch. Or be replaced by players who will.

Just my opinion :)
 
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I'd sooner we stopped making our defenders look like shit playing them miles away from goal and just play with a proper defensive shape but can't see Pep abandoning it now, its been an obvious problem for a while.
And a prime reason for our success.
You have to have some pace in the back line.
You have to begin the defensive process at the front.
 
The fix I think is...
1. Our CBs need to be very fast, tall and tough. Like Kompany years ago. They get to the threat fast and obliterate it.
2. Our CBs to be excellent passers, long and short passing, so that they aren't dwelling on the ball too much. Like Stones or LaPorte years ago.
3. Our CBs need to play a little further back to that there is more space in the middle and they have less of a race.
4. Our FBs and midfielders must not amble back to help. They need to bust a gut because often the treat is the 2nd or 3rd pass from the break.
5. We need to vary our attacking style by dropping back and creating space when the squeeze method is repeatedly not working. This involves everyone stretching over the entire pitch imo. Invite the opposition to catch us with offside but have tge quality to beat it and get into the space.

Essentially we need all 11 players to create more space, be excellent at passing short and long and be very fast in body and mind.

Or something else that Pep comes up with but for crying out loud come up with it soon Pep.

Pace in the backline and ability to win duels (ground & aerial) is essential. This is the most recent data for comparison on Data MB (doesn't give 24/25 for Ake or Stones, or Josko at all). We just can't have that weakness in winning challenges at the back
 

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Pace in the backline and ability to win duels (ground & aerial) is essential. This is the most recent data for comparison on Data MB (doesn't give 24/25 for Ake or Stones, or Josko at all). We just can't have that weakness in winning challenges at the back
Serious lack of pace at back inc. GK exasperated by contiuous suicidal high line whilst being very weak in the air/ hip height 50/50s etc (the bread and butter of the gritty side of the game) - Pep has lost sight of that massively . . .
 
Worth watching this just to provide some context to what we need to improve.

Quite funny as, like a lot of us on here, his previous tactic review labelled our new system against Juventus as "genius"...



Difference was that second half in last game the players got lazy they dropped of in previous games they stopped running back pressing!
 
My opinion is that it wont really matter who we sign as defenders since more or less everyone will all look like a ”error prone liability” having to constantly defend counters with little to no help from the players further up the pitch.

We used to attack and defend as a team, now all it takes is the opposition to boot it long and our players ahead of the defenders are completely gone. Until that change, we will continue to concede loads of chances no matter who we have in defense. Hopefully Rodri being back will help a lot, but he wont solve it all by himself. Not to mention that he cant play all the time. Wingers, midfielders etc have to step up and do the work both ways on the pitch. Or be replaced by players who will.

Just my opinion :)

I mean the reality might be that we have a deeper rooted problem than simply our players just being bad. Last season was blamed on absence of midfieldes. They got replaced and we played against a Saudi team, and conceded 4 goals (none of which were midfield related problems). Albeit Pep decided to only start 1 of our new midfielders.

From my perspective we lost the pace of Walker, and technically lost the ball playing ability of Stones last season. Both integral players for our ability to defend effectively. We certainly had some outrageous defending errors this season. Nunes against United, Akanji at the Emirates, Dias at Bernabeu, and plenty of Rico mishaps. I am simply highlighting we decided to pick up two young CBs that we are not developing, when we really needed a more experienced player.
 
Pressing is a whole team thing.

The video I posted shows how aggressive the new tactics are. As a result they're reliant on a lot of energy to make sure the opposition don't have time to find a pass or run through us.

What is clear, and has been to most of us, is that we cannot play such an aggressive press with Gundo in the side. He just doesn't have the legs so the whole system falls apart.

Al Hilal's tactics weren't genius, they were simple. Draw us onto them then pass and move or dribble then find the space. We leave acres of it, so if we don't get the press right we're fucked.

Pep should know by now we have to play a more conservative defensive if we don't have the right midfield partnership. Dias and Akanji need to sharpen up, as does Eddie, but it's very hard to be a CB when you're defending an entire half on your own and outnumbered by the opposition.
 
Nah the guy was pressing like a man possessed against Juventus. It's not his ability or laziness that is an issue, it's the resilience he has when he notices no one else helping him.
He isnt made for effective pressing ,he is big, cant stop his body that fast and he isnt effective on making fast movements from one side to the other, but he does his job as good as he can and others need to do much better job when pressing high up the pitch.
 

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