Good post
We miss Fern so much
Cannot afford to be without him. Look at the last few weeks since chelsea defeat . How did we do without him? Lost twice .Elephant in the room really unless we start admitting what's a gaping hole of a problem .
Same fixture last year , Fern present. Heck leicester even had a good Mahrez that day .We had 70% possession , nearly 800 completed passes and gave them 0 shots on target . This was on the 18/11/17
Pep's teams are so well oiled that even a small percentage of an anomaly can result in disaster . Sorry to be so hyperbolic but in reality the well oiled machine has certain requisites - possession 9/10ths of the law usually, 85% and above pass completion rate so that there's an end product that doesn't often result in turnovers to opposition, low amount of corners to opposition , tackles that involve winning balls back, 2nd actions etc that involves commitment and intensity etc , 5-10 shots on target Did we see an acceptable rate of that today ? Just asking .
Fern does that donkey work that we Unfortunately take for granted in spoiling and
David Silva has also been out injured. Huge player -scores goals too.
Mendy has been missed because his attack keeps oppo on their toes and adds to percentage possession and completion rate. He can be caught out at times but not so much as to concede too many goals.We allied far too many shots on target today -5!
Kevin hasn't been missed until we have lost the other 3 to injury. He only played half a game today. Not enough to secure a result.
It all adds up
But Fern is a huge loss , a spoiler, a grinder, a workhorse, as ubiquitous as the day is long , accurate passing,nearly all moves go through him, director and initiator of actions , scores the odd goal etc list goes on .
Let's see how Pool do withoutVVD and Salah for 3 games. Thing is ,they wouldn't fall apart as much as we do because we are such an optimal machine. A thing of beauty that is disrupted when certain huge players are injured and rhythm is lost.
At Southampton if we have 6 shots on target we will score 2-3 .If we allow them 5 on target they could score 3.
Need Fern back
If not then Pep you have to find something .
