Liverpool - post match thread.

BillyShears said:
Some simmering tension towards Pep in this thread. Odd to see. The guy's been in charge for six months and has had one transfer window. Most of us said last summer he needed 11 new players because of the age of our squad. He got about half. It'll take time. Writing him off now is only gonna make you look foolish in 12 months.
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I don't think many are writing him off so much as saying they are disappointed so far. People have every right to question, based on what they have seen to date. Notwithstanding the excuse of transfer windows, it was almost impossible not to improve on last year's lacklustre stuff under a lassez-faire manager. Yet here we are at the halfway mark, 10 points behind the leaders and with the rags right up our arses. Both those teams are in transition, and their managers have been in place for the same time as Pep.

Moreover, netither they nor Klopp will stand still while we get our act into gear.

So, although I suspect most still have confidence in Pep over the long run - including myself - you should night be surprised that blind faith is being tinged with a few doubts.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
I agree we weren't that bad but we weren't that good either. The first 30 minutes of the second half we were comfortably in control but we offered no threat. Yaya played facing his own goal much of the time, KDB was utterly wank, Fernandinho wasn't involved, Silva did what Silva does and pretended he was playing in a gentle training game instead of a top of the table clash.

Aguero can frankly fuck off for me. Shows no interest or positional awareness. In a game of few chances, he was offside whenever we built anything that looked promising. If he was needed in or around the 6-yard box he was outside the area and there was at least one opportunity where he should have been around the penalty spot but was on the edge of the 6-yard box. World class my arse. I'm sure he'll bully Burnley on Monday though.
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Have to be honest .... agree on all counts. Only Stones and Otamendi came out of the game with any credit for me.
 
BillyShears said:
Some simmering tension towards Pep in this thread. Odd to see. The guy's been in charge for six months and has had one transfer window. Most of us said last summer he needed 11 new players because of the age of our squad. He got about half. It'll take time. Writing him off now is only gonna make you look foolish in 12 months.
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You get everywhere. Happy New Year btw.

I haven't read the thread and doubt that I want to. I'm sure that I am out of step with a lot of people. I actually think you can see what Pep is trying to do take shape. Unfortunately, his players keep letting him down in decisive ways too frequently and results are worse than our overall performances. Today was a prime example, we restricted Liverpool to 5 shots at goal, 12 below their game average; whilst having almost twice as many shots as them and more than they allow on average but we allowed them to, sucker punch us and score with their only shot on target. They produced one bit of quality to score but we gifted them the ball cheaply and couldn't produce that necessary bit of quality at the other end despite our players' ability. People can blame the manager for all sorts of things but he set his team up well and was entitled to expect more from them.
 
GY.Blue said:
Yeah exactly a mid table side.
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But United aren't a mid-table side, are they?

We've now won 2 out of 5 games against the other teams in the top 6 (which is rapidly separating itself from the rest of the pack). That's not a great statistic, and provides ample ammunition to criticize the team or the manager without trying to make it seem even worse. To put our 6 pts into perspective, Liverpool have taken 11 pts, Chelsea 9 pts, Arsenal 5 pts, Spurs 5 pts, United 5 pts from the same games. There's clearly room to be a whole lot better, but we're far from shit.
 
Think as a squad, we are very much in a state of flux. Conventional wisdom says we use the personnel we have and play to their strengths and I think if we do that, we are a very difficult team to beat. Problem is, its not the way the manager wants to play, and sooner or later we have to rip up the playbook so to speak and go balls deep on Peps system....looks like its sooner as it probably should be.

I would say this is where the disjointed look to a lot of our play is coming from, there have been glimpses of what it can be, and when it clicks its a beautiful thing to watch, but we keep reverting to type and I con only imagine its as annoying for Pep to watch as it is us. Thats where the obvious need for new personnel comes in, personally I would like to see some of the youth play more, they certainly couldnt do any worse than some of the senior pros have at times and you would think they would be more pliable to the managers methods.

As pissed off as I was today, theres no doubt it will be down the line before we see the best of what Guardiola has to offer....just seeing a bit more fight would do me in the meantime.
 
It was an ok performance. Highlighted our lack of cutting edge and directness in the final 3rd.

World class striker though he is, im not sure Aguero is suited to our system.. feel it requires a grafting playmaking striker and/or direct wingers. Muller/Griezmann/Tevez style.
 
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