So what is wrong at the moment?

[super_city_si]

Using the same tactics over and over again, an ever-changing back four, the inability to deal with rapid counter-attacks despite it happening on a regular basis.
When playing out from the back, more often than not the ball ends up with YT, that used to be a good thing, he has vision and accuracy, trouble is, his potential targets are known to the opposition and closely marked. Thus the slow, short 5 yard sideways dance begins until the ball is lost, a simple forward pass and another counter-attack begins. Occasionally, a flash of brilliance from Silva or Aguero, even more occasionally from the big man himself results in a goal. Our tactics have not evolved, opposition tactics have. The players show no sign of being better, in some cases quite the opposite. When our m.o. is so rigid it makes everyone's job so much harder, forcing errors. Psychologically the team look bewildered.
What happens next? If the early part of the season is a guide, nothing. MP seems incapable of change. He will live or die by 4-4-2.

Spot on. We do the same thing every game, and at the moment we are short on form through out the whole team. We need to ride this storm with a pragmatic approach. Lets keep it tight at the back, no bombing forward from full back, keep a defensive shape and start getting some clean sheets. We have the players to grab a goal from little so lets play back in to form by getting some defensive confidence through pragmatism. Then when we have the payers fit and firing we can start letting the leash out.

 

[3rdgenerationblue]

It is rather simple to explain but rather difficult to fix.

As several posters have correctly stated, the players are not working as hard as last year, in effect they are not earning the right to show that they are the better players.

In short, they need to run around a bit more and with more purpose and with more aggression as the system we play needs that otherwise we lose the ball too much and our midfield becomes overun and the back 4 get exposed. Last year we kept the ball for ages in the opposition half, this year not so much.

It is so simple to see the problem, but as any manager of people will know, its really bloody hard to motivate people who dont want to be motivated without a very large stick or rationale for them to move faster and it would seem our lot have lost that reason to move about and we all know, big sticks dont exist in modern football.

Time will tell if Pellars can do it, hope so for all our sakes.

 

[daztrueblue91]

It really is simple. Twice we have won the PL and twice we have rested on our laurels when we have not been in a position to do so.

Out of the top 3 teams last season Liverpool weakened their squad and it has shown as it has with us not improving and Chelsea improving.

 

[FantasyIreland]

It really is simple. Twice we have won the PL and twice we have rested on our laurels when we have not been in a position to do so.

Out of the top 3 teams last season Liverpool weakened their squad and it has shown as it has with us not improving and Chelsea improving.

Mangala,Fernando and Sagna are improvements IMO.

Especially in the case of the first two,they need regular games with,injury permitting,a consistent line up.In Fernando's situation that would also mean playing in a system that suits him and the rest of the team best.

I'm sure a superstar signing would have helped.......but unfortunately the cash was limited and had to be spent in a manner considered more prudent.

 

[Blue Elvis]

It really is simple. Twice we have won the PL and twice we have rested on our laurels when we have not been in a position to do so.

Out of the top 3 teams last season Liverpool weakened their squad and it has shown as it has with us not improving and Chelsea improving.

I agree with "rested on our laurels" .IMHO it's a mental attitude problem not a lack of skill. Bottom line for me is that collectively we are simply not as good a team as we think we are. Success in the PL has deluded us into thinking that we are now a top European team and the evidence is clear - we are not. We ARE a work in progress not the end result by a long way.

But I believe that we are closer to being a top European team than we have ever been since that night in Vienna in 1970 when we lifted the Cup Winners Cup.

The season finishes in May, lets make our judgement calls then and who knows what the last day of the season will bring!!!
CTID

 

[jimharri]

If you go by this;

It would seem that wouldn't appear to be a lot wrong. However, as Disraeli ( I think!) said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. I think most on here would agree that we're nowhere near the form that we were showing at the back end of last season. Have the players/management become complacent? Have we been rumbled by opponents who know how to set up against us? The poor transfer window didn't help, but there was fuck all we could do, with FFP tying the club's hands. Chelsea are catchable, undoubtedly. The problem is that we simply can't afford to throw away too many more points; we've already got to haul back 6. It won't be easy (things never are with us!), but it can be done. And ditch the 4-4-2 Manuel. Aguero up top, Jovetic (minus the fancy flicks) just behind him flanked by Merlin and Samir. And Fernando with Jimbo in front of the back 4 of Zab, Vinnie, Martin and (when fit) Kolarov.

 

[Aguero_Element]

twats on forums giving there 'views'.

that is what wrong at the moment.

 

[daztrueblue91]

It really is simple. Twice we have won the PL and twice we have rested on our laurels when we have not been in a position to do so.

Out of the top 3 teams last season Liverpool weakened their squad and it has shown as it has with us not improving and Chelsea improving.

Mangala,Fernando and Sagna are improvements IMO.

Especially in the case of the first two,they need regular games with,injury permitting,a consistent line up.In Fernando's situation that would also mean playing in a system that suits him and the rest of the team best.

I'm sure a superstar signing would have helped.......but unfortunately the cash was limited and had to be spent in a manner considered more prudent.

I have no doubt that Fernando and Mangala will improve the squad but both need time especially Manga. Also, for Fernando to be successful here he needs to be deployed like De Jong otherwise he's wasted in this set up.

However, if you was to name (at this moment in time) our strongest 11 using Pellegrini's 4-4-2 then none of our summer recruits are starters.

This is the issue for me. We need to start buying players who can improve the starting 11 and then using the replaced players as back up. That way we will have reliable and top draw back up. But instead we are buying players who are nowhere near as good as the players they should be competing with.

 

[salfordbluetrue]

pointless rotation in defense slow aging midfield didn't freshen up the attack when we lost an important player but we still have the best squad and first team we just have to get the best out of them

 

[cleavers]

I think its very very simple, confidence is pretty low, and there's only one way to sort that, and that is graft a few hard results out, and keep some clean sheets.