Liverpool have a hard working midfield in Fabhino and Henderson but they also have someone with Thiago’s IQ. you need that balance or it’s just a hard grafting midfield with no magic in the locker. Who’s that man for us starting or off the bench? Squad quality and depth required. one thing I will criticise Conte for is not being brave enough to play Bergwijn at RWB
We can’t be certain it still won’t be overrun as none of those players are the types to control a game from a central area. Plus, if Lucas or Bergwijn comes in at the expense of a CB (Davies?) then we’d likely shift Kulusevski to the middle, moving him away from a position he’s been very good in since joining. Lucas/ Bergwijn can’t guarantee an improvement in the team, they’ve had plenty of games over the seasons to show that. I’ve said about giving White a shot and I’d agree that’s something to hold a gripe on over Conte. Mistakes aren’t being repeated over and over though, we’ve had two bad games after a strong run of scoring a ridiculous amount of goals, the system was perfectly fine in those games so you wouldn’t just automatically change it after one bad performance like the Brighton one, the fact it was bad yesterday was annoying but that’s more on the players than manager. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the moment we take the lead for fourth our players then bottle the next two games. There’s a serious mentality issue at this club and it’s been here for many, many years.
That I do agree with, that is a mistake on Conte’s part. The fact Emerson regularly comes off in a lot of games too should highlight that something needs to be done at RWB. Either play Bergwijn as you’ve said or promote Lavinier for a few games.
Their hard grafting midfield is also complemented by attacking fullbacks with great delivery. We don't have that extra creativity in the midfield and our wide defenders don't create much. The Scouse also have and use their attacking options from the bench. Mane, Salah and Jota are backed up by Diaz, Firmino and even Origi, Elliott and Minamino. Klopp has taken his time to get into this position. Conte won't do that.
Who nevertheless would give us a creative option off the bench late in games. Conte has usually had that as an option. Doesn't seem right to have ditched it completely.
Kulusevski was very good when he had Doherty playing alongside him. The Irishman's runs inside drew defenders and created options for the Swede. We don't have another defender that plays like that. There aren't that many in the game. Underlapping wingbacks are very strange. That's one of the reasons he struggled until recently. I'd argue that it wasn't just the Brighton game, but most of the Villa one, too. We got the early goal, Doherty got taken out and we virtually stopped playing. They had to come out because they were behind and we took advantage. That was after they'd missed a ton of chances and should've been ahead, though. We can't break down teams with the current system and personnel. Conte needs to either coach the fullbacks into wingbacks or change the tactics. I don't think that he has time to do the former, especially in their current condition. Reguilon and Sessegnon are struggling for fitness and Emerson's confidence is shot.
We could equally argue that he needs to instil the components and philosophy of his system into the squad in preparation for next season, which is exactly what Poch did throughout 2014/15. It laid the foundations for what followed and established a core of players who were fluent in what the manager wanted from them and around whom he could therefore build his own squad. The fact that we've seen visible improvements in the likes of Dier, Doherty and Davies plus greater productivity from Kane and Son since Conte came in suggests that the system is starting to sink in but ultimately it speaks to certain players' abilities more than it does others. Those others are the ones who need binning as tbh most of them aren't particularly good in any system anyway - we have years of evidence to support this. Casting my mind back to Poch's first season I do recall we'd similarly manoeuvred ourselves into a slim chance of getting top 4. To do so we needed to win our last 6 games and the spot was ours. We drew to Soton, lost at home to City, then lost to Stoke which made it impossible to clinch 4th ahead of a poor United side. We rallied to win our last two games and clinch 5th but we just weren't there yet. Should Poch have adjusted his system to get more out of clear liabilities like Paulinho and Cheery Cheese? Perhaps. But that may have sacrificed the long term gains that followed for the short term gain of finishing 4th. Or, as is more likely, it would have led to a very confused set of players managed by a very confused manager, which is exactly what we were from Aug 2019 - Nov 2019.
I don't think that adjusting the system for five games is going to set him back that much. Sticking with it could actually be more damaging, as it undermines the players' confidence in it. If they learn that passing it to the wide defenders doesn't work, then Conte's system is screwed.
This year we've played 15 league matches and got 28 points according to my calculations. Doesn't seem too bad. We've played very well sometimes and very poorly other times as to be expected while Conte is settling in. I much prefer managers who stick to a system regardless of personnel and opponents. Leads to better long term understanding by the players of what is required to them.
I prefer versatility and being able to adjust to the opponent and circumstances. I doubt our squad is ever going to be good enough to steamroller everyone. What works against City doesn't necessarily work against Chelsea, for example. Horses for courses. I don't see a lot of this with modern managers. They all seem to have one way of playing and stick with it until they're sacked or they quit.
We can’t break teams down full stop unless Kane produces magic, it’s been like that since Eriksen’s decline in form and departure, luckily for us Kane does it more weeks than not but when he doesn’t we’re left with games like yesterday and Brighton. 4 managers have tried and failed with trying to coach it, similar to trying to coach these WBs, gets to a point where you need to accept we need upgrades. The formation won’t change anything because the quality isn’t there.
Which means that we have to create more opportunities for Kane to do his thing. Letting our midfield get overrun and not creating anything out wide isn't going to do that.
Easier said than done. We don’t have the players to create those chances, and haven’t since Eriksen left. Our WBs bar Reguilon can’t adequately cross or even take a man on, our backup forward players aren’t good enough and there isn’t a midfielder in our ranks capable of playing meaningful passes with the possible exception of White - who I do think should be getting chances from the bench but is an unknown at first team level. I think if we change our formation to add another forward/ midfielder, we’d sacrifice some defensively solidity but with little upside for creativity/ potency. If there were genuine standout options who should absolutely be getting on the pitch I’d understand gripes with the manager but there isn’t. Our bench is horrendously lacking any form of quality.
Brentford had Eriksen, so in that regard, yes. Brighton have given the best teams in the league tough games. They’ve had draws against Chelsea, Liverpool, have beaten Arsenal and Spurs. They’ve both also had managers implementing their systems over the course of a number of seasons and have players who clearly fit them. We’ve had a manager for 7 months still trying to work with a number of poor/ inadequate players that have gone through at least 3 permanent managers.
They're 11th and 12th in the league and one of them's newly promoted. I'm sorry, but this is just excuse making for Conte. Brentford had three first XI players out yesterday and they still did well. Brighton have lost to Newcastle, Villa and got smashed by Burnley at home. We've collapsed because one player got crocked. It's not Kane. It's not Son. It's not Lloris. A couple of months ago most people on here would've driven Doherty to another club themselves. Being unable to adjust to his absence is poor management.
It’s not excuse making, our squad minus Kane and Son would be finishing 11th and 12th, put them in Potter’s or Frank’s teams and we’d be trading places in the league, they’re the only reasons we’ve remained competitive for as long as we have. Even with them we probably would’ve struggled had Nuno been kept, Conte’s already made a huge difference in that regard as we’re now disappointed at letting fourth slip. Give him more time and his own players and he’ll almost guarantee better results. We finished above Pep in his first season at City and above Klopp for three seasons. Doherty’s loss as well as Reguilon’s injuries certainly haven’t helped as Emerson isn’t a WB and Sessegnon is ****. Not having a creative midfielder is also a killer as it basically means all teams have to do is stop Kane, if they manage that, no one else in our squad can step up.
He has Kane and Son, though. He still didn't get the team to create a single chance. The rest of the side could be utterly average and we still should do better than that. The side has played below it's capabilities in the last two games. That's on the manager.
Who’s going to create the chances? Under which other manager were they creating chances for you to suggest something different needs to be done? The side has played below its capabilities and that’s on the players. Conte hasn’t changed anything from a side that was free scoring other than forced personnel changes via injuries. The players haven’t turned up, just like many haven’t for years.
