What's the problem(s)?

Our pressing after 20 mins was almost non-existent. Coupled with our defence playing deeper, this left a huge amount of space between our lines for Leeds to exploit. Poor tactics and lack of fitness.
 
I said it last week, if we only press hard for 20 minutes, we only should play high line for 20 minutes.
Otherwise balance is off and panic sets in.

Liverpool seem to have better fitness level, but they cannot press for 90 minutes either.

What they do have tho is a hard working defensive midfield line of Keita/Fabinho, Henderson, Wijdaldum who do the dirty work of stopping counters, helping out wide areas in transition while robertson, TAA are leaving space behind when joining attacks (and scoring, assisting goals every game basically from fullback position), dropping between defence if needed and generally protecting the defence.

We have Rodri for all these at City when press if dead.
and Mahrez, Sterling strolling around upfront while they build quick attacks from the back...
(Mane, Salah, firmino also work very hard pressing high up the pitch, Mahrez would not survive long under Klopp...)

What is incredible how many times does it need to happen for Pep to change tactics.
 
Last edited:
IMO losing david silva and ferna through non optional rotation means our control of the ball in midfield is dropped times a million.
 
cleavers said:
I'm guessing you don't agree, maybe it's David then ? Haha.

The biggest problem today was the City players who couldn't pass to other City players, the City players who were constantly getting mugged of the ball by players who were in the championship last season, and greedy twats who think it's all about them and not the team.

Once over that white line, not a lot the coach can do about those things, other than make changes obviously which he tried.

The vast majority that played today were piss poor, and that is what was wrong, all quite simple for my eyes (see last Sunday).
Click to expand...
Pep could have made changes much sooner,he let the game go on far too long without addressing the problems.As for the lack of effort from one in particular,that was also predictable in my eyes,and that player should not have started.I think some others were poor because they are knackered.

We need a striker who keeps the ball and buys us time to recover.
 
alexmcity said:
Injuries, covid, new players, no pre-season.

Even Pep needs time to create a team without the legends of last decade. We are still in transition.
Click to expand...
KDB might as well request a transfer.

He simply has not got any years to waste.
 
Del_Bosque said:
He was completely overwhelmed

We had to sacrifice a forward to get Ferna in to help him

He’s been a shocking buy
Click to expand...

I don't think it is possible to play with a single CDM like Rodri and succeed in this league. Not unless your back four are perfect and your pressing is incessant. He was a luxury that we couldn't afford. It is also concerning that we actually looked better offensively when we sacrificed Mahrez for Fernandinho.
 
FantasyIreland said:
Pep could have made changes much sooner,he let the game go on far too long without addressing the problems.As for the lack of effort from one in particular,that was also predictable in my eyes,and that player should not have started.I think some others were poor because they are knackered.

We need a striker who keeps the ball and buys us time to recover.
Click to expand...
Giroud please
 
FantasyIreland said:
Pep could have made changes much sooner,he let the game go on far too long without addressing the problems.As for the lack of effort from one in particular,that was also predictable in my eyes,and that player should not have started.I think some others were poor because they are knackered.
Click to expand...
None of that though should affect our ability to pass a football or win a 50/50 tackle, our movement from after 20 minutes was shocking, see throw ins, and having to be told to take it, then we do it's straight to an opponent.

Daft thing is, if KdB's shot had gone in off the post, or been put away from the rebound we'd probably have 4 or 5-1.

If.
 
kaz7 said:
They have had even less of a pre -season than the others so they are not fit , they are all getting match fit on the job
Click to expand...
Okay. But how much of a pre season did Everton have? Not that much, I would guess. The fact is, we can't really afford to be dropping the points we're doing. If Liverpool win tomorrow, as expected, they'll join Everton in being 8 points ahead (albeit with a game more played) after 4 games.
 
pep, txiki, mendy, mahrez, rodri/gundogan, peps arrogance’s, mendy, mahrez, rodri/gundo...
 
Homar said:
I don't think it is possible to play with a single CDM like Rodri and succeed in this league. Not unless your back four are perfect and your pressing is incessant. He was a luxury that we couldn't afford. It is also concerning that we actually looked better offensively when we sacrificed Mahrez for Fernandinho.
Click to expand...

Mahrez is one of our problems for me. All about him. Lazy and greedy and can’t be arsed half the time. Bad buy and doesn’t fit in. We have never looked right with him in the side. Flashes of genius here and there but nothing consistent.
 
cleavers said:
And we've done exactly the same 2 games in a row, though rather fortunately today, we didn't get beat.
Click to expand...
Yep we were lucky today in the end, we could easily of come away from that game with no points, even Pep could see it coming hence the reason he put Dinho on to shore it up at the back
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top