Villas-Boas' Zenit St Petersburg side beat Krasnodar 1-0 to go 8 points clear at the top of the Russian league. He made mistakes at Spurs, but it makes you wonder how much responsibility should be put onto some of our players.
While it's fair to say he screwed up by having too many players in the squad and he failed to balance the team because of this, it does need to be asked how many of them were players he wanted - or if he wanted that many in the first place.
They massively overperformed last season, TMT, due to Suarez and (to a lesser extent) Sturridge. They frightened teams because they ran in behind them and were deadly in front of goal. Without that threat, they are barely a top half team. Their defence leaks goals for fun still, they have a lightweight midfield and they have no star players who can spare their blushes by producing something when it matters. Rodgers bought badly. One superstar cannot be replaced by seven B list players. The squad may have been strengthened by numbers, but not quality. And having more ordinary players to pick from has not improved them. They got carried away buying Lovren, Lallana and Lambert on the back of a good season for Southampton. The rest are unproven anywhere. Liverpool should have been competing for Costa and Fabregas.
I suppose the star player being replaced by 7 B list players is an allusion to Spurs selling Bale and buying duffers Luke but your summing up of Liverpool there is spot on except for your claim that they over performed. With the star that they had I thought that they deserved what they did but without that threat then yes, you're right. Recall I posted that Man U with LVG will be alright? Took an own goal yesterday but you're getting there.
The russian league is s**te...he was s**te The only thing it makes me wonder is why are we still ****e?
I’ve been a broken record on this topic...but what the hell...our players are talented but they do not, can not and never will play the AVB/Pochettino 4-2-3-1 system well. So it’s the fault of those two coaches for installing a system which doesn’t work with our players and refusing to change it for too long, despite the fact that experience has amply demonstrated the wisdom of doing so. I mean, what’s going to happen if Pochettino plays a 4-4-2 with regular wingers the rest of the year, aside from us playing better and winning more? The only thing I can think of is that he’ll look more like a good coach and less like a one-trick pony/stubborn mule.
I think, because on the whole, our players are mostly nothing more than average. With the possible exceptions of Eriksen and Chadli, we bought badly and overpaid for very ordinary players.
Why persist with one striker when we are struggling for goals? Anyway I'm bracing myself for maybe one point over the next two league matches unless that was the win to kick start us but...................! Everton and Chelsea.
Everyone can see that Utd need some experience and quality in defence. I think RVG will buy in January, but I fear it will be a make do player at an overinflated price. I suppose the advantage Utd have over Liverpool at present is that LVG has a few star players who can win games with moments of quality - like Rooney's finish on Saturday (although di Maria fluffed an easier chance!). But like Liverpool (and Spurs presently), the players are a random collection of individuals and not a team. If you make wholesale changes, you have to be prepared to be patient. I won't use the 'g' word, but players need time to adapt.
Hoddle, I promise you that I'm not wumming. With who they have I thought GENUINELY that they'd challenge. Why you think otherwise about Liverpool is your opinion. Tell me why you think they wouldn't.
Because playing two strikers makes you less likely to score goals! You get over-run in midfield and never have the chance to get the ball to your strikers. Of course if you happen to have Bale and Modric in your team 442 might well work. But 4231 would have too as the standard of the players is much more important than the system. You can't make up for inferior players by also playing an inferior system.
There's not a lot of difference between a 4-4-2 with one striker coming deep and a 4-2-3-1. Our main problem is the inverted winger issue. The whole thing's far too narrow.
