He was one of the only players actually trying to press in the first half. It was clear the instruction was to sit off Monaco and try and hold what we had, which anyone could see was never going to work. Kev ignored this and tried pressing by himself some of the time, which was also never going to work. Either the whole team presses or the whole team sits in, you can't have some of one and some of the other, it just leaves huge holes to be exploited.Did you watch him. Did you see the lack of press, losing all the 50/50 challenges, not tracking runs, letting players run past him. Doesn't matter where he is picked, there are certain basics that we should expect. I think there is something wrong. He is not the player we all know he is just now.
He was one of the only players actually trying to press in the first half. It was clear the instruction was to sit off Monaco and try and hold what we had, which anyone could see was never going to work. Kev ignored this and tried pressing by himself some of the time, which was also never going to work. Either the whole team presses or the whole team sits in, you can't have some of one and some of the other, it just leaves huge holes to be exploited.
Mate, I think we watched two different games. I am not a Kev basher, quite the reverse which is why I was so disappointed in him yesterday.He was one of the only players actually trying to press in the first half. It was clear the instruction was to sit off Monaco and try and hold what we had, which anyone could see was never going to work. Kev ignored this and tried pressing by himself some of the time, which was also never going to work. Either the whole team presses or the whole team sits in, you can't have some of one and some of the other, it just leaves huge holes to be exploited.
He's lacking confidence at the moment and it's affecting his use of the ball, which has been really poor for a few games now, but his effort can't be questioned.
Pep only made that gesture after we'd scored. He fucked up the first half and he'll know he did. His decisions last night were on a par with Bayern's disaster against Madrid in 2014.If that was the case then why was Pep screaming at the team to push up and press. You are wrong. Kev's first half press was woeful and it left the others having to check to the second man.
Pep only made that gesture after we'd scored. He fucked up the first half and he'll know he did. His decisions last night were on a par with Bayern's disaster against Madrid in 2014.
How do you explain the difference across the entire side in the 2nd half? First half they were told to sit back and defend. By half time he'd worked out he'd messed up and adjusted for the 2nd half. Just look at the positions of Sane and Sterling in the first half compared to the second. Must be at least 30 yards deeper.Mate, you're wrong. He was screaming from about 5 minutes in. The press fell apart due to Kev's lacklustre attempts at it.
Had Pogba done the same, we'd be pissing ourselves laughing.
How do you explain the difference across the entire side in the 2nd half? First half they were told to sit back and defend. By half time he'd worked out he'd messed up and adjusted for the 2nd half. Just look at the positions of Sane and Sterling in the first half compared to the second. Must be at least 30 yards deeper.
He was awful, but my argument was that it wasn't through a lack of effort. He's just not playing well at the moment.Because in the second half we made a huge change, which was to drop De Bruyne deep and make Silva do the press instead. It was more effective, plus Monaco sat back making it easier to do tbh.
De Bruyne was absolute pants last night, surely you can see that.
He backed out of every tackle available to him and just let runners go past him.There is clearly something not right with Kev at the moment but anyone questioning his attitude and desire need to give their head a wobble, the guy is a model professional.
What I want to know is why he was played as a defensive midfielder for most of last night.
Harsh on Yaya. He's been brilliant in over 90% of his matches this season.
He was awful, but my argument was that it wasn't through a lack of effort. He's just not playing well at the moment.
As for the "huge change", it wasn't that De Bruyne dropped deeper, although he and Silva bot got closer to Dinho who was struggling to break the lines in the first half. You've been done by BT who mentioned that over and over again as if that was the only way to explain the change in momentum. It wasn't. In the second half we played our normal game, we pressed high, we looked to get Sane and Sterling in behind and we attacked. We didn't do what we'd done in the first half and try and simply defend our lead. Which was just stupid and I can't believe Pep thought we could do it.