Hardly proven talent. Alberto is a punt for the future and Aspas is a versatile player that will hopefully add 10+ goals a season (Looks unlikely at the moment, but he needs more time than he's had so far) I'm talking about another player on the level of Suarez, someone who can create chances for himself and other players.
I think it's just obvious that no matter how many we score upfront it's a ****ing waste when our defence is such a liability. It's a real worry for the future because I think good defending and the teaching of good defending is missing from Rogers coaching team and philosophy - it's exactly what stops Arsenal from winning things and I really don't want us to become Arsenal Mach 2.
Southampton were always United's bogey team so wait and see what happens. also United back 4 has Jones & Evans at the CB pairing, could give Southampton a chance
Not saying he hasn't just stats can be misleading - looks at Torre's record last season for example I'd rather he had scored 15 and they'd all been winners than 20 of which only half have been winners etc.
The amount of negativity around us when we draw or lose, home or away, is embarrassing. 3-5-2 is being used because four of our center backs have been playing fantastic recently, and Rodgers is trying to use them all to effect. Only issue i have is Moses, he's clearly a winger, yet gets constantly pushed into this CAM role he doesn't have a clue about. Should have played Alberto from the star and bring on Allen if needed. Decent point, to a Newcastle side who you never know what your gonna face.
I think the negativity when we lose or draw is embarrassing, but I don't agree with you that it's all about the formation. Most people seem to agree that it has worked out alright for us, but providing we have a decent number 10 - which Moses isn't. When Coutinho is back, it'll be all good again.
I take it you didn't watch the game today? And it's the premier league, you never no what you're going to face, but today we were facing a full 50 minutes against 10 men and came up severely short. Missed points add up pretty quickly, and today we should have taken all 3.
If that was the case we should be playing 6-2-2 to accommodate Agger as well. See how that sounds ridiculous? And the negativity is because after every win, we hype ourselves up to be the next Barcelona, see how nice we play, we are gonna be top 4, etc. After a win, the mistakes are covered up by the 3 points. And there's a group of us that always point out that unless mistakes are fixed we will one day be disappointed. My posts are negative today but I'm only pointing out where we went wrong. Who wouldn't be disappointed after missing out on being top for yet another week?
I like the 3-5-2 formation. Yes i did watch the whole game, against ten men your always gonna find it hard to break them down.
Despite not being at our best, we still scored 2 goals - and this was our worst attacking performance. Conceded some extremely poor goals and that's what ultimately cost us IMO. Lack of a midfield is harming us which is a combo of personnel and tactics. Would rather see Alberto as the number 10 until Coutinho is back - looks calm, composed and tidy on the ball. Moses had a very poor match but we can see much more from him on the wings.
Could really have done with winning today but it wasnt to be. Still lacking in depth for attacking midfielder and one more striker. Our defence was **** too and not for the first time this season. Lets not get too down though guys! Still up there and we need to react next week. The scum dropped points too.
50 minutes vs 10 men & failing to win = a crap result. You were very poor first half & the game turned with the penalty / sending off. By the end it looked like you were going to nick it, but you were a bit wasteful in front of goal. You lacked energy & workrate in the centre of the pitch imo.
Yep, fair précis echoed both here and on the Newcastle board. If we are to get a top four place (still a bloody big if, in my opinion) I'm not so upset about having off days, and after 30 minutes I'd have bitten the hand off of anyone who offered us a point. But after the sending-off there was no excuse about not taking three points. Not about performance, and I never thought we'd win 6-0 again, but about results. All the hard work of hanging on to an eighty-eight minute lead against United and ensuring three points rather than one was just pissed up the wall there, yesterday. That's no disrespect to Newcastle at all. I expected to win, but in the first half they were a totally different team to the shambles that played at Goodison last month. You just have to adjust to that. But there's no excuse for playing a team with ten men for over 50 minutes at level scores and not winning. I don't often agree with Mcmanaman, but evidently he was continuously shouting "more pace" at the screen in the second half. we're not a slow team - why on earth were we walking the ball around in midfield for practically the whole second half. Two points lost. Moral victory to the Maggies, and I hope it augurs well for them for the rest of the season.
It's the kind of result that will look a lot better if we win at home next week, if we lose or draw then we are looking at a lot of points dropped.
The problem still lies within our central midfield - Moses (AM), Gerrard (CM) and Henderson (DM) is not good enough. Granted, Coutinho will come in to replace Moses but we still have two midfield spots that need strengthening. Despite this being our worst performance, we still scored two goals - this should have been enough to win the game but our failure to grab a hold of the game is harming us. The tactics need changing.
