The players will have to respond now because mentally they have switched off in 2 games back to back. Honestly at half time yesterday after the performance we put in, i reckon any liverpool fans watching that would have been worried. But in that second half they would have been rubbing their hands because the players failed to nullify the game for a 15 minute spell to take the wind out the opposition and instead leaked 3 goals again.
This is what we seem to be lacking when the opposition is going forward. It is not about sitting deep or getting everyone behind the ball, but about gaining control of the ball, staying calm and focused and slowing the game down for a period of the match so that it stops the opposition building momentum.
What this week has done is actually highlight the weakness in our team - unfortunately this seems to be our so called dip in form period even the missed chances were reminiscent of last season - being hypothetical here, had the results against liverpool and yersterday gone for us, this flaw would have been highlighted against Barca/Real or Bayern
It is something that Pep will be annoyed about and you can bet he will be laying into the players about this weakness and trying to see why it has happened. What is out of his hands is the implementation of it during the game because that is down to the players to handle it
Big game Tuesday now, but we should focus on that first half yesterday. If we replicate that over the whole 90 minutes but also be prepared to slow the game down at times to frustrate the liverpool attack when they have a spell of game, we have every opportunity to get the 3 goals to at least go into extra time.
It is April, and it is only know that these questions are being asked of us, which highlights how brilliant we have been this season.