That was absolutely shambolic. Worst performance I can remember in recent history and the juxtaposition between today and the cup final is typical of us as a team. We can only put in shifts every now and again, and it fools people, including myself, that there's a team we can field week in and week out and be successful. That's a dream, this team is nowhere near winning the league and again, that's because of the tactics and the laziness that arises from the tactics we adopt.
We give teams time on the ball to do as they please, we don't shut down any of the dangerous spaces on the pitch, most notably the number ten position in front of our back 4. As soon as the opposition get in that space you're in trouble and it's so easy to get there playing against us. Our midfielders have no awareness of what's around them and track nobody who runs off them.
Even on Sunday, when we let Liverpool into those dangerous spaces it required a near perfect defensive performance to shut them out. We aren't going to have those performances every week and we can't rely on Kompany to save us last ditch. You need a secure system and we don't have one with these players.
Take nothing away from the bin dippers though, their pressing was outstanding. They taught us a lesson in work rate. I can't remember us stringing more than 7 passes together all night? Fair enough they made it hard, but why did Pellegrini not have anything to counter it? Why not insist on your players playing a bit more compact and giving yourself options as opposed to just hoofing it long? Like many times this season, it looked like there was absolutely no plan in place, we just turned up and thought 'yeah, this'll do'.
The cup final was the same and we had the same tactics and we did well because the individual players abilities on the ball got us out of trouble and let us counter attack really well. After tonight I question how much credit Pellegrini can take for that cup win, because I think we won DESPITE his tactics.
The man is very humble, very likeable, but the heights he provided us with in his first season are long gone and we are becoming a shadow of an intimidating team. I can't wait til Pep comes and makes us a team that doesn't give the other team a sniff. The way we play at the minute we let other teams have time on the ball and if they can pass they will have a chance. Liverpool pressed us to fuck tonight and pummelled us into submission and suffocated us as we couldn't pass. I want us to do that; suffocate teams no matter who they are and give them no hope against us whatsoever. That's what the worlds best do, and until we start working hard we will continue to stagnate and unfortunately regress.
I'll snap your hand off now for a top 4 finish.
