RB Leipzig (A) | Post Match Thread

[Chippy_boy]

Pep doesn’t “bottle” anything but like any human he does make mistakes. To call it bottling is just childish. Haaland isn’t the biggest talent the prem has ever seen (Henry was miles better for instance) but I do agree with your last sentence.

Pep has become one of the most defensive coaches in the league. It is usually effective as we have better players but can be a pain to watch as a fan

Ok bottle is the wrong word. Balls up would be a better description.

I've said repeatedly that Pep is (or has been) clearly the best at managing a team over 38 games - keeping everyone motivated, getting everyone to understand the system so we can successfully rotate around injuries and suspensions. So over 38 games, more often than not, we come out on top.

But when it's a one off, must win game, for whatever reason he just doesn't do it. He messes with working formations, stubbornly refuses to change it, makes too few subs and makes them too late. It's not like just the occasional blip, it's every season. We've had arguably the best side in the CL for years now - certainly a team capable of winning it - and yet we've ballsed it up every single year.

Einstein said the definition of insanity was doing an experiment over and over again and expecting a different result..I don't expect a different result. We'll balls it up again.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Walker is finished mate. He's even being done for pace now.

The loss of David Silva and the downturn in Kev cannot be overstated.

We have gone from the most creative team in the world to one which looks for inspiration and is now rigid in its functionality and that allows teams to plan for just staying in games.

Bellingham is a must and also need a world class playmaker.

Spot-on.

 

[jim tolmies perm]

Return leg needs the biggest mega press for first 25 mins (that means Alvarez out there) and I think this tie will be put to bed

 

[East Level 2]

Not running round cheering but it's still a good result away in Europe in the knockout stages, Pep was happy, he knows we aren't firing full on but what team is ? Trust in Pep and stop moaning, it's fucking tedious, God help some of the posters on here if they had to watch city when we were ACTUALLY shit...

Well I watched us home and away when we were ACTUALLY shit and I'm still pissed off about last night. Not the result as such, but the way we failed to utilise Haaland, failed to capitalise on our possession in the first half (especially after similar failings on Saturday), the way we collapsed in the second half and Pep's failure to use subs even though Leipzig clearly benefitted from their substitutions.

 

[shevtheblue]

The biggest problem in our team, and Pep went on to mention it in the post-match, is lack of pace. This in turn causes him & the players to be over the top with control, because they know they can't recover as quick as they used to. So we now have a monster up front who wants to attack space constantly, but the rest of the team (inc the manager, although he keeps saying they need to give him the ball) who refuse to pass to him due to fear of turnovers. Don't get me wrong, turnovers are a huge problem for us, but i don't think the answer is to try & have 90% possession because what happened against Forest & Leipzig will happen. Giving instruction for possession and control over everything leads to what we are seeing at the moment, a fear of turnovers and a fear of taking chances, like playing Haaland in behind when he's making runs.

If you think back to early on in the season when Haaland was scoring for fun, it was because we were taking risks. Obviously we were conceding at times because of this as well, there just needs to be a fair balance until we can get some pace back into the team.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Nowhere near. He moves to his front post and then realised the ball was going over his head.

How many times do I have to say that his positional sense is poor and that he doesn't (even try to) dominate his six yard box?

He lets things happen at dead ball situations, leaves it up to defenders to clear the ball, and hopes for the best. That's why we've seen so many goal-line clearances by the likes of Stones, Dias and Walker.

I thought he played well last night, but his weaknesses are still clear. He's probably the luckiest goalkeeper I've ever seen. To be so average, and still playing elite football... it's almost unbelievable..

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

Not had a chance to trawl through people's views on last night but thought I'd share mine in brief.

I watched the game with complete confusion and knowing expectancy at the same time.

It was like groundhog day of many games lately, particularly the Forrest game. Start off decently enough, get more stodgy throughout to the point where we let the other side gain momentum, Pep makes zero input to change things via substitutes, the other team finally scores, Pep makes little/no input to change thereafter.

Its like a car crash in slow motion where we all know the ultimate end point.

Something must change if we aren't banking on luck alone to win us something this season.

If I didn't know better it could seem like Pep was actively managing like this to be sacked for "the footballing" reasons he mentioned in his post PL charges presser. I don't believe he is for one minute but his actions are so weird for someone widely regarded as the best manager on the planet

 

[Brendan110_0]

If we spanked them 0 - 5 then the return leg stadium would be half empty. Now it'll be full and good atmosphere.

 

[JCB001]

So they also forgot to check both goals?
I suppose the alternative s believing they are useless/biased/corrupt (delete as applicable).

I have done

 

[Mr HJ]

Walker is finished mate. He's even being done for pace now.

The loss of David Silva and the downturn in Kev cannot be overstated.

We have gone from the most creative team in the world to one which looks for inspiration and is now rigid in its functionality and that allows teams to plan for just staying in games.

Bellingham is a must and also need a world class playmaker.

I'd agree with this especially about Bellingham. Since the return from the World Cup something has been slightly off. We were very good prior to the break so I don't agree with those who say this year has been a bust but several things, just very subtle things have made us far less of a threat.

Last night was a perfect example of our recent form - they are a decent side and we stifled them through possession. However, we didn't really create a great deal. It occurs to me that our more dynamic players seem to have fallen out of favour a bit - example:

Pep decided to play with a supporting striker and chose Riyad instead of picking a player who understands how vital linking up with a fellow forward is - that guy (Alvarez) has done that since he came out of the womb and would in my opinion would have got more out of Erling. Riyad is arguably having his best period but I've always thought he plays more for Riyad than the team - hence why his assist numbers are not as high as they should. I've never seen a wide forward go back so many times in games - I know I'll get pelters for that opinion but to me it's a fact.

Because Pep perceives that we are a team without pace he picks a midfield that is brilliant at keeping the ball but lacks the drive or the will to play early passes forward. Bernie has been fantastic but now loves to turn inside and out - problem is whereas David would do that much further up the field causing all sorts of mayhem Bernie does it inside our own half. Gundo too has a first instinct to play back & forth with a centre back rather than turn and drive forward. It's odd because when he does drive forward he is brilliant - is that age or what he is being told to do?

I'm not saying the players are all of a sudden poor, far from it. I firmly believe that it's just a subtle tactic that needs to change. We need to get back to the first half when we got the best out of Kev, Erling, Phil and others.

Of course it could be much worse - I'm gong to call a few folks at Anfield to ask how things are going for them this week.