At half time we were saying that the 2-0 lead could be dangerous as Mourinho had a chance to get them going so we HAD to come out strong in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Yet when we came out it was obvious immediately that no one was taking responsibility, we weren’t clearing the ball in dangerous situations, we weren’t winning 50/50 balls and no one was imposing themselves on the game. I’d love to know what was said in the drsssing room at half-time
That allowed them to get their heads up and we showed, yet again, that when teams do that and have a go, we lose our shape and our heads. And when we concede we then go to pieces completely. There’s a real problem somewhere with this team, whether of mentality, organisation or both when we’re on the back-foot.
Guardiola says he only knows one way to play and of course that’s an exaggeration to a large degree but he doesn’t seem to have the one weapon in his armoury that he needs, which is the ability to shut up shop when necessary and absorb a bit of pressure. We saw Klopp’s team do that in the second half and we’ve seen Mourinho make a career of it. We needed to do that on Wednesday for an hour and today for 45 minutes but Pep doesn’t seem able to do it and serious questions have to be asked of him.