I think its the in between the ears part that's got us dropping points late of late.
No offense to Kyle and i know it's not as simple as this but i simply don't think we have the right leadership on the field in late game situations that is able to read these lulls and to a man pick the other players up by the scruff and ride out the final portions of a game that appears won. I'm not sure who does... Rodri seems not to be that vocal on the pitch, Dias does. IDK. We have all the parts minus the depth.
Isn't this why we have a Captain's group?
I'm not sure if it's purely about on-field leadership or any one thing in particular.
Against Luton we went back to basics & we fought. When Luton raised the tempo & physicality, we matched them & raised it some more to a level they couldn't compete with.
This is something we seem to have lost since we evolved from a false 9 to having a target man in Haaland.
Personally, I think we need to revert to a flat back four with a dedicated left back, a single pivot, & a No 8 & No 10 as we had with Gundog, KDB, Bernardo & Foden.
We used to have supreme control & pressed from the front, so even if an attack broke down, the opposition were at the other end of the pitch, & we had that famed reputation of regaining the ball within 5 seconds.
To be fair, the 5 seconds thing was bollocks, but we'd harry the opposition until we got the ball back before they even crossed the halfway line, & if we couldn't retrieve it, Fern would commit one of his famed professional fouls to stop any attacks from developing.
I played at a decent level, & I always remember our manager saying the further our opponents were away from our keeper, the less chance they stood of scoring, & the same can be said of City in the Guardiola years.
With inverted defenders we can flood the midfield & forward areas, BUT it leaves us short at the back. Perhaps, this is part of the basics we need to get back to until we sort ourselves out?
We did it against Luton & got the win, however Gvardiol & Walker were playing more like wingbacks which worked when Palace were stacking their defence, but as soon as they got desperate & came at us, we looked vulnerable.
Pep realised this & was ready to bring on Stones to shore up the defence, but it turned out to be too late. I've analysed the fuck out of our recent run of draws, & players rushing to get back into defensive positions is the issue I keep arriving at.
We just need to reset & rebuild from there imo. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
