Our attack - what's off?

r.soleofsalford said:
Our defense. Opposition teams play 11 man defense behind the ball. Which other team has to contend with this mass defense ?

Its been proved successful, if they counter attack with pace when our wingback are caught deep in the opponents half .

Every time a team catch us on the counter it proves that system against us works.

Pep likes possession the opposition fall back condensing their defense in front of their goal. We try to play through the defense and takes shots when there are as many as 21 players in the congested penalty area.

Teams catch us on the break because our pigeon catcher gets caught up field quite often. The same pigeon catcher who has limited effect going forward.

The problem is there for Pep to solve. He hasn`t solved it in the last 47 league games and IMO the problem is getting worse not better.

We have the same problem in the CL.
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Do people seriously believe teams don’t park the bus every week against Liverpool(see Leicester last night try It despite the scousers missing plenty of their best players) and against any other top team in Europe like Bayern? It’s been happening for years and was happening against us 3 years ago but we could open teams up, only difference is it now works a treat against our crab like narrow approach.
 
All of these are true, but why can Pep and the board seemingly not see it, or at least be failing to address it!? It's the same slow shit and missed chances every fucking week.

We desperately need to change either how we play or sign some more direct, pacey attackers and unless we're writing this season off they need to come in January.
 
I think a number of things are off, defence hasn’t been solid which put extra pressure on them to score 2/3 goals a game.
Change in the midfield dynamic has meant build up has been slower.
Teams know what spaces we want to work in and have closed them off.

The big thing for me is that we are so reactive in the transfer windows. We arnt proactive in bringing a top player in just cause he will make us better.

United under Fergie constantly was bringing fresh attacking players in once he felt the old ones had been worked out.
Liverpool this year added Jota and it changed them just a touch which means teams still arnt sure how they will play.

We have let our front line go stale, if anything it’s weaker for Sane leaving. We still havnt replaced Dzeko.
Mahrez is a step below where we should be going. Torres looks great but really he should be brought in slowly and shouldn’t be a first 11 player yet. Silva has left and we are weaker for it.
When did we last buy a top top attacking player that improved us in the final 3rd??
Youv got to change, youv got to keep teams guessing. It creates a buzz around the team when a new player comes in and scores a few.
Sadly we have ignored it the final 3rd and once again we are left chasing our tails.
 
When we dominated the league in 18/19, we played with Sane (left footer) on the left and Sterling (right footer) on the right. Our RB and LB moved centrally to support Fernandinho in stopping the counter.

The best we've played all season was vs Marseille when we had Foden on the left and Sterling on the right.

Using inverted wingers isn't working, because the opposition teams are packing out the penalty area already. We need more width from our wingers to create more space for the central players.
 
didn't we not so long ago win about 20 games back to back at home ?

You spoke to away fans on the way to the stadium at that time and they would say "travelled all this way but hold little hope".. Now teams must come to our place and it feels like a party.
 
Starts in midfield really for me:

David Silva gone
Fernandinho too old now

Neither of them were adequately replaced

De Bruyne struggling with injuries and form

Sane gone and not really replaced
Mahrez not good enough
Sterling inconsistent

Aguero is old and struggling with re-occurring injuries
Jury still out on Jesus for me
 
Its not rocket-science...if you replace individuals with inferior ones, you will get worse as a team. Unfortunately, we have become experts in doing this.

Mahrez - Not as good as Sterling
Sterling - Not as good as Sane
Rodri - Not as good as Fern
Jesus (Who I love) / Current Aguero - Not as good as peak Aguero
Whoever - Not as good as Merlin

We have gotten weaker in 5 of the 6 midfield/forward places and the only reason its not a full-house is because KDB is still here. What makes it worse is we have managed to do all of this over a 2 year period, which is a feat in itself.

We had IMO collectively the best midfield/forward 6 in world football and now we don't.
 
trevorriley said:
didn't we not so long ago win about 20 games back to back at home ?

You spoke to away fans on the way to the stadium at that time and they would say "travelled all this way but hold little hope".. Now teams must come to our place and it feels like a party.
Click to expand...
They have the same mentality that started appearing at The Swamp over the last couple of seasons. Teams would get off the bus knowing they had a mountain to climb - goal scorers and refs who would gift a pen for a fresh air tackle (which seems to be making a reappearanxce!), and then it changed and ordinary PL teams were getting results. I used to turn up at The Etihad with the sole idea that we might keep the opposition to five, then my mentality changed when Mancini and Pellers arrived and it was a case of 'how many will we score today!', and now that's changing. If teams give it half a go we can still let in the sloppiest shittiest goal, and if refs oblige with the aid of VAR we can get fucked over seemingly more than most. Once we get a goal, and another, teams gave up the ghost and we romped on! I look at our back line - Walker, Laporte, Diaz, Mendy, Cancelo, and think 'brick outhouses, bunkers from the Western Front or Atlantic Wall, the Maginot line, and then we shoot ourselves in the foot and the bastards are round the side, through the middle and in. But, heigh ho, 'nother match coming up!
 
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