You’re right, but it’s not the whole story. Part of the problem has been that the defence feel under pressure because we don’t score enough goals. Just as an example, we could have gone ahead at the Etihad with a bit of luck, but as it was we ended up unsuccessfully trying to hang on for a draw. The 2 we let in against Watford wouldn’t have mattered if we’d scored 3, and so on and so on.
Football is so easy isn't it! It's not like Watford changed anything to counter us. We just decided to stop playing and let them score twice because why not? And I've been one of the few on here that have said our attack has been lacking on here since Mane and Pelle left and we signed Redmond and Austin had apparently replaced Pelle (even though we were short of a striker when Pelle was here). People moaned about the people pointing that out and insisted that Redmond, Long, etc were enough for us, though I'm glad a consensus has now been reached on that. It's not MP's fault he has been dealt a bad hand by the club, of course he's made mistakes but you'll find that most of our dropped points come from our centre backs not being strong enough, or Forster turning into gas whenever the ball comes near him. Pellegrino has cost us points too, but with competent centre backs and goalkeeper we'd be comfortably mid table IMO. The criticism of him outweighs his part of the problem.
I don’t think those of us who have been saying that we should have replaced Pelle and Mane sooner are few, I’d say it was most of us!
Someone told me there was no reason Long couldn't be a 15 goal a season striker and had at least 4 likes. Austin has been seen as the messiah in here by a lot of people and Redmond was heavily defended till very recently because he scored 7 goals last season. There's also the majority who think Gabbiadini is an out and out striker, I've had enough arguments about this over the last few years to know I was the minority.
We went out with a different mindset in the second half and that was to try to contain them and see out the game...it backfired spectacularly. One more goal would've killed the game but we didn't even try to get it.
I don't think that was the case but I missed the start of the second half. Going to watch it at some point this weekend. No manager is stupid enough to do that, especially with our defence. There's two sides to a football match, we started well, they adjusted to us and we had no answer.
In your Saints tinted lenses we do. We have nothing like the options they do. Their attack would batter our defence most days. Their first choice midfield would give ours a good run too.
I disagree, we were better than them for the last few years, Our Management is weaker this season granted.
They took control from the second the whistle blew, so the first 10 minutes are somewhat telling. Richarlison had what would've been a free header from six yards, but he was 'defended' by Deeney (I believe), who also had a free run at it and got in the way.
Going to be interesting to see if he changes shape and plays Gabbi off Carrillo. I don’t think he will, but I’d very much like him to.
If Guido isn't played as a lone striker (and I know nothing about him to say whether that is likely or not), I bet he plays alongside Long and not Gabbi.
Doesn't have to be a matter of "alongside", though. Gabbiadini's natural position is on the right side; we should be able to play the two together with no change of shape.
I don't see why it's bizarre. The club obviously believe there's more chance of Pellegrino turning our season around, than some random replacement. The players are still trying for him. The club has faith in him; let's hope they're right. We're not replacing the manager, time will tell if that's the right decision or not, but I'm happy to back him if the club are. We need at least one more signing though imo.
Providing he scores : Guido Carrillo he signed from France. The English press said he had no chance. 19 million down the drain but Guido Carrillo scores again! Na na na na, na na na na etc. Tune same as Chelsea's for Willian.
