We played well against City's reserves in the Community Shield, especially when Darwin came on. Apart from that, I'm at a loss to comprehend where your boundless optimism comes from. As you say, we were beaten by the bottom-of-the-league team last night, but more pointedly, we were utterly outplayed by them in that first half, as we were at Fulham. Three games in is not a blip, though it's not a crisis yet either: but if we don't comfortably get three points against Bournemouth I'd be saying yes, doom and gloom is not out of place.
I'm actually delighted my fire stick packed up last night so I didn't have to witness this ****. What the **** is going on. Like many, I thought we should have invested in midfield, but it's not just that. The attitude has stunk so far and that is truly worrying.
If we were getting done by the likes of City, Spurs, etc, then I take your point. But if we can't put a side out that doesn't get comprehensively outfought and outplayed by Fulham and United we are in dire straits, I'm telling you.
A couple of things i took from the match was that we all look very leggy, no quick fire bursts that kill the opposition and the amount of tired and misplaced passes that are so not what we are about. I honestly think that the fact we played each and every game last year, hardly much down time or rest for the majority of the players this summer coupled with a new team trying to get uses to everyone has now caught us up. The intensity of the remaining 8-10 matches last year has obviously taken a lot more out of the team than i think we could imagine and a complete break from football this summer would have allowed us to re-set from such an impressive run last season... As for the missing 1st team players, that's always been about, Christ we played one season with about 40 different combo's in the back four so you just need to get over that. But this time it dos feel different, that bench last night looked weak, very weak and that needs to be addressed especially with our Dad's Army going past their sell by dates. Early doors but top 4 is now the challenge as chasing Citeh until the last kick of the season has gone...!!
On a positive, Elliott looked positive. I thought Gomez played well other than one moment where totally bottled taking out rashford in second half. Just tried to block it rather than actually go win the ball and take out rashford. Carvalho looked lovely when he came on. Picked up the ball and wanted to do something with it and run. Was a nice touch and turn to get a shot away for the equaliser as well.
What you missed was the shambolic and embarrassing spectacle of a Liverpool side repeating the first-half performance they did against Fulham - they were tested and they folded. Well done United for being up for it - I expect them to kick on now with the confidence it must give them. But while I've seen Liverpool get battered at Old Trafford over the years, sometimes with teams far, far worse than we put out last night, and against infinitely stronger United teams, it's hard to put a finger on such a supine, defeatist, limp-wristed lack of effort or pride as we saw last night.
I agree, but if we're going to persist with 4-3-3 again, regardless of the players available, I'd prefer Cav in the forward line: seems a bit lightweight like Joe Tex was to be playing in a three-man midfield. I'd with play Joe at right-back and push Trent into midfield when we get another CB fit (or do it now if we play 4-2-3-1) , or put Joe in midfield - yes, he has the energy, pace and control we desperately need at the moment.
Interesting that some stats on sky about how our passes per game average has increased dramatically from 416 in 15/16 to 555 this season so far. we’ve gone away from that quick counter attack pressing team, to a more possession style. now nothing wrong with that, but in the past because we’ve been so counter press our midfield has needed to be workmanlike. They’ve been a shield to win the ball and give it to the creative players out wide and the full backs high to punish teams. Ora why coutinho didnt work, and why despite sometimes for fans calling for more creativity it never came because that wasn’t their job. However in recent years where we are dominating the ball more, it’s meant our midfielders are playing more passes. For all their quality, Hendo, miner, Gini when was here just don’t suit that game. Thiago offers more and I think Elliott and carvahlo may also be that more creative type. But atm, we don’t have the personnel to create things when we do have that midfield. As such I think they’re trying to do things not used to, and it’s also then leaving us more open. We seem to be heading towards a more Man City style, but you look at kdb and gundogan/b silva and compare to Hendo/Milner and can see the star difference in attributes. Now maybe thiago fab eliott is more like city’s midfield and maybe that’s the way we’re heading. But seems like the team are slowly going through tactical adaptations and some of the players that were key to our old style 3/4 years ago are suddenly becoming average because it just isn’t suiting them
The moment Nunez is available i hope we switch to 4-2-3-1 and also drop the CB 's deeper just as we we were doing a few years ago .
I stand by my summer prediction that this year we will have a tough time fighting for top four. None of our troubles are new, they were there the last half of last season, we just kept winning despite playing badly. This is a transition year. We have kids and older players and missing a lot of the balance mid-career players. Our newer players will get valuable experience this year, our older players will continue to try and drag us through the muck, but without Mane and with a loss of speed, Salah isnt going to be able to pull us too far by himself. We will struggle and may or may not get top four, but the future isn't so bleak. We've got good young players, Klopp is a legend and with a couple of smart signings and experience in the younger players we'll be back in the fight for 23/24. I don't think we're going to turn around this season enough that we'll ever threaten the title though... ... And I'm accepting of that because I never expected to finish top two this season.
Yep, I said that in the pub last night: because we seemed to have got older and slower overnight, we are trying to play like City - but with Milner and Henderson instead of De Bruyne and Gundogan. I vaguely remember when we had that possession in the second half of Neville wailing that United couldn't hold out against this 'relentless pressure' - one of my mates snorted 'yeah, we're absolutely going to smash United on possession stats outside their box if they're going to score the game on that and not goals'. Don't worry though, we're getting Bellingham in next year to address that - providing nobody else puts in a bid for him, and that other side is a CL team and we're not next season....
This. From Chelsea away to Spurs at home, we only dropped 2 points in four months, and that was against City. ****ing magnificent, and we did all we could to reel City back in from a 14-point deficit: no complaints with that. BUT, apart from battering a hapless Leeds and spanking a woeful United, I can remember barely scraping past most other sides in that run. Fair enough when we put scratch sides out against Villa and Southampton - we had a CL final coming, and winning the Prem was reliant on City dropping points, but we stumbled through many of the games. That said, we competed on four fronts last season, and we played in EVERY game we could feasibly do - results were more important than performances - but **** me, we're playing now once a week with no distractions. I can't see anything to excuse this start to the season, not even injuries.
He could be used at the head of a diamond in a 4-4-2, or a centre in a three in a 4-2-3-1, but putting him in a 3-man midfield will be like how Klopp first tried to shoe-horn Coutinho into a left-sided midfielder in a 4-3-3 : he just isn't right for it.
Since mid-March Hendo has won just 4 of 28 loose ball duels. 14% His career is ~46%. Fabinho in the same time period has 42 of 65 - 65%. And this is a Fabinho people say hasn't been at his best for 6 months.
yeah, Fab took a bit of hammering for that limp tackle against Palace in the build-up to their (well-taken) breakaway goal. But ffs, if we're basing staying in the side on the number of mistakes you make then Our Future Captain would only be allowed to play at right-back with a carer alongside him.
Aye, but my point is that it's been once a week until Bournemouth - and we'll have a MAXIMUM (not guaranteed at all) of 5 points from 12. Doesn't auger well, as you imply, for when we go to two games a week for practically the rest of the season bar the WC.
