The last 15 mins of games...

Gazza said:
The fullback (or player in that position at the time) thinks he's done his job by just standing in front of the crosser and stopping him from getting past, all that is doing is shifting the problem into our box.
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Why isn’t Pep sorting that out though? It’s fine when teams only have 4/5 attempts in 90 mins and spend all game defending like in previous seasons but when we are under presssure like we are in pretty much every game we play currently then it’s not fine. It’s like we do zero defensive work in training at pep is just hoping everything go backs to normal but without having the players to execute our usual game.
 
Donmcfc said:
I really want James McAtee to do well and become a regular first team player but his high and wild shot near the end of the game gave possession back to Brentford when we should have been keeping the ball in play and running down the clock.
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I thought it was a decent effort and the right choice, there was an awful lot of football played after that and from my point of view, I find it disappointing that James should get any part of the blame for poor defensive work.
I really hope he gets a start against Ipswich Bernardo looks shot.
 
failsworthblueboy said:
I thought it was a decent effort and the right choice, there was an awful lot of football played after that and from my point of view, I find it disappointing that James should get any part of the blame for poor defensive work.
I really hope he gets a start against Ipswich Bernardo looks shot.
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I forgot the sub had happened, and expected the ball to hit the net as I thought it was Foden. I was surprised when it didnt go in - then I realised it was McAtee. Not blaming him, it was the right choice, but it was also pretty poorly executed.
 
Our old men and older legs fade badly in the last 15 - last night Brentford were younger and fitter in midfield and it showed in the final stages. West Ham couldve scored at least 3 times in the final 15 mins as well; Salford doesnt count as they are shit.

Until central midfield - and particularly hold midfield - is addressed and new fresh faces who can actually run up/down for 90 mins come in, things arent going to change. Last night we couldve conceded 5, though we also couldve scored 6/7.

At the moment we need to score at least 3 to have any chance of winning. Kid centre halves and the bloke from Frankfurt arent going to rectify the situation either - its the midfield thats shot to pieces. Everyone knows it including opposition managers/players.
 
I agree with OP fully. It doesn't mean I'm bashing Pep or don't appreciate all he's done, I bloody love the man and have almost never criticised him in the entire team he's been with us. But I do feel it's blindingly obvious at this point that players like Kev and like Bernardo no longer have the legs to keep up the necessary intensity for those last 15-20 minutes when teams are throwing everything at us to try and grab a result. So we have to adapt to that or we're gonna keep throwing points and wins away.

As much as people love to bash him, last night was calling out for Jack, in my opinion. Brentford had good chances at 1-0 and were showing signs of getting an equaliser at 2-1. At either of those times, Jack could have come on to do what he does well, maintain the ball, win some free kicks, and calm the game down. Who can forget those times in the treble season, for example, when him and Haaland were just wasting minute after minute at the end of games winning corners and free kicks in the opposition half over and over.

That's the kind of thing we needed yesterday, and I think O Reilly could also have had a positive impact, and Doku would have made them more nervy about overextending, as he could have threatened them on the counter.

All of these seem logical subs to me. Of course I'm not a multi title winning manager so I understand that Pep knows best, but I can't help feeling confused about it all. He's always had a reluctance to make subs unless the team is like 3-0 up. But in situations like last night, it seems particularly bizarre to not use the talent on the bench.
 
The Light Was Yellow Sir said:
It’s a funny game though. I’d have taken Foden off at half time as he’d been awful. He then scores twice and, all of a sudden, starts to look like the player we know he is and THEN Pep takes him off, whilst Bernie looked like a 50 year old!
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Love Bernardo but it's like he's been running on empty for months. Too much football over several years perhaps? I suppose Foden's turnaround in the second half shows that it could suddenly start clicking for Bernardo too.
 
MichaelBBack said:
I agree with OP fully. It doesn't mean I'm bashing Pep or don't appreciate all he's done, I bloody love the man and have almost never criticised him in the entire team he's been with us. But I do feel it's blindingly obvious at this point that players like Kev and like Bernardo no longer have the legs to keep up the necessary intensity for those last 15-20 minutes when teams are throwing everything at us to try and grab a result. So we have to adapt to that or we're gonna keep throwing points and wins away.

As much as people love to bash him, last night was calling out for Jack, in my opinion. Brentford had good chances at 1-0 and were showing signs of getting an equaliser at 2-1. At either of those times, Jack could have come on to do what he does well, maintain the ball, win some free kicks, and calm the game down. Who can forget those times in the treble season, for example, when him and Haaland were just wasting minute after minute at the end of games winning corners and free kicks in the opposition half over and over.

That's the kind of thing we needed yesterday, and I think O Reilly could also have had a positive impact, and Doku would have made them more nervy about overextending, as he could have threatened them on the counter.

All of these seem logical subs to me. Of course I'm not a multi title winning manager so I understand that Pep knows best, but I can't help feeling confused about it all. He's always had a reluctance to make subs unless the team is like 3-0 up. But in situations like last night, it seems particularly bizarre to not use the talent on the bench.
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Yep, I think Grealish would've been the logical choice to bring on. That said, I thought we were doing well keeping the ball in those closing minutes but as we're all too familiar with now, it often only needs the opposition to reclaim the ball for a short period of time, launch one attack, and end up scoring.
 
I think there’s something in the way our fitness conditioning that we generally aren’t at our peak until later in the season. It’s a reason why we tend to wobble in October and November (August/ September most sides are working towards fitness) but peak from January on. I think the issue this season is we have had too many injuries and as a result some players are run into the ground so the players are more noticeably tiring.

I would say that we were fading after an hour or so in our terrible run but “only” faded from the 80th minute last night. Problem is a lack of athleticism in midfield in general. Bernardo and Kovacic were struggling and Gundogan coming on doesn’t fix that.
 
Donmcfc said:
I really want James McAtee to do well and become a regular first team player but his high and wild shot near the end of the game gave possession back to Brentford when we should have been keeping the ball in play and running down the clock.
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Nonsense. The execution was poor but if he doesn't take the shot then football is not for him. It was a really good chance not a hopeful punt.
 
Donmcfc said:
I really want James McAtee to do well and become a regular first team player but his high and wild shot near the end of the game gave possession back to Brentford when we should have been keeping the ball in play and running down the clock.
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Bollocks, you’d have been having a go if he hadnt shot, that goes in and we win 3-1, Gundogan shouldn’t have been in front of him in the six yard box he’s the defensive midfielder, he stays 20 yards back he stops the breakaway.
 
The OP is correct , but we could have been two down in the first five minutes last night. Replacing Rodri is impossible, but I think our defence are to eager to go upfront and some of them don’t have the legs to get back for the counter, and with nobody in defensive midfield, we are lambs for the slaughter
 
M18CTID said:
Yep, I think Grealish would've been the logical choice to bring on. That said, I thought we were doing well keeping the ball in those closing minutes but as we're all too familiar with now, it often only needs the opposition to reclaim the ball for a short period of time, launch one attack, and end up scoring.
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Indeed our game management from conceding to 90 was actually pretty good, As soon as we hit injury time it was non existent
 
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