We were shit for 45 mins in midweek though .
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What's Happened To Our Defence?
- Thread starter jrb
- Start date
Kippax Street 1880
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One of the biggest problems, imo, is playing Alvarez just behind Haaland. We are shoehorning him into the side as he’s “too good” to leave out, but it’s leaving us light in midfield. Bernie has also not looked at the races when alongside Rodders as well.
I‘d also say we’ve looked laboured, pace wise, and seem to be panicking like fuck when ran at.
I don't know why we never try him off the flanks, he looks comfortable drifting into wide areas and has a great cross on him. Im sure he played wide at points in the World Cup aswell.
jim tolmies perm
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I meant at HT exactly mateWe were shit for 45 mins in midweek though .
Stiff Little Wingers
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I think so too. We are still in good contention for 3 trophies. Plus the rest are getting better. A few points.Take our chances and teams will undoubtedly be scared - this is a blip fear not!
1. Think Neville is right about complacency (and though a rag twat, he has been through it himself). In previous years the Dias/Stones partnership led the way in defensive celebrations for every tackle/block/save. There was a real intensity not to concede in every moment of every game. Think with us being Treble winners that has dropped a little - the 3rd yesterday is a prime example, a nothing move with colossal fuck ups by Walker, Ake and Ederson not moving again whilst standing in the middle of the goal sums it up.
2. The loss of Fernandinho, Gundo, Mahrez, Laporte, Cancelo and Palmer in the last 2 years - all players who no one would bat an eyelid if picked individually is a big one and coupled with the world class KDB and Stonsey makes it even worse. This has to be included in our expectation levels - we are not and never have been nailed on for 4 in a row. Yet (despite some poor play from us, it takes an outstanding performance from the opposition to even get a draw. So to me that’s not that bad a sign.
3. Pep is still working things out - people on here talk about controlling matches but that’s hard to do with Doku and Alvarez in the side so he has to find a balance. You could play control and chaos with Messi but he’s a one off.
4. Don’t think the Walker Foden partnership is really working seeing as half the time Kyle sees himself as a playmaker and I’ve no idea why. Just use your pace, aggression and experience properly man. Pep hopefully will sort that out when Stones is back but he is fragile.
5. Pep has basically said that only Stones can play that hybrid midfield role so if he’s out, why carry on with it? That smacks of Pep stubbornness although to be fair, we should have won the last 3 games by at least 2 goals.
6. I love Haaland but he can’t score every goal - we badly need to replace the Gundo/Mahrez/KDB goals right now and whilst Julian is scoring he just isn’t in the game for periods or gives it away / but then again, he’s the best presser. Another cunundrum.
Keep the faith blues because this is a wonderful ride and I look forward to seeing what solutions we can come up with.
supercity88
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Does it make sense to leave Doku as the person left back at a corner to deal with Son? It makes no sense at all to me. I’m not sure why Pep thought that would be a good idea.
We had Doku and Walker back so it certainly felt like it was planned, considering the pace of both of them. Doku's attempted challenge was fucking woeful to be honest, I know he's not a defender, but I don't think that matters! Having said that, we had Akanji and Dias at the back midweek and they didn't exactly show Doku how to do it!
Middedon
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I know people don’t like Sam Lee but I thought his assessment of things from the latest Let Me Talk podcast was good - very measured and reasonable. He discusses a lot of things that have been discussed here - including what’s happening in the midfield.
eyalluvitt
Well-Known Member
He did talk a lot of sense, but a broken clock shows the correct time twice a dayI know people don’t like Sam Lee but I thought his assessment of things from the latest Let Me Talk podcast was good - very measured and reasonable. He discusses a lot of things that have been discussed here - including what’s happening in the midfield.