quasi modo
Player Valuation: £40m
Tactics, especially at home, far too negative with no idea how to get the ball forward.
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No RB - Coleman is finished.
Apart from Allan and Doucoure, arguably the slowest, weakest Central midfielders in the fastest league in the world.
Not being willing to work as hard, if not harder than your opposition.
Richarlison gone from Brazil standard to Boreham Wood standard in a year
Holgates arrogance without the skills to back it up.
A mixture of weak mentality, over confidence, not being bothered or not being able to get motivated for the lesser games.
Ancelotti watching that 1st half and saying same again lads.
Apart from Allan and Doucoure, arguably the slowest, weakest Central midfielders in the fastest league in the world.
Not being willing to work as hard, if not harder than your opposition.
Richarlison gone from Brazil standard to Boreham Wood standard in a year
Holgates arrogance without the skills to back it up.
A mixture of weak mentality, over confidence, not being bothered or not being able to get motivated for the lesser games.
Ancelotti watching that 1st half and saying same again lads.
Dublin blue 75
Player Valuation: £40m
Complacency or misplaced arrogance. Not entirely sure which.
ElGato
Player Valuation: £10m
‘Winning mentality’ is talked about a lot, and I have no doubt that we are more ambitious and intense against more competitive outfits than perhaps we have been for a decade.
but winning mentality isn’t just about showing up in tough fixtures, it’s about maintaining a consistent, ruthless and intense desire and ambition to win in every minute of every game, no matter who you’re playing.
That’s what we lack this season - the mental resolve to, even if we have just gone through two back-to-back games against top four sides and matched them in every facet, raise ourselves up and go again against a [Poor language removed] side.
I do think mental fatigue is an issue, but only for players who get mentally fatigued from trying to win. Trying to win should come naturally. Some of our players just don’t have it, and perhaps have a career history where they are now used to inconsistency and mid table finishes.
It’s getting better, but we’re still mediocre in the way we approach some games
billyblue80
Player Valuation: £70m
Mentality and the squad aren't good enough. Tactics are part of it too but you have a manager who has won things so it's some of the players obviously not good enough or too inconsistent.
Yep.
But we have been shouting this for years, under Martinez, Koeman, Silva and now we are still saying it. How many different players have come and gone yet the issue remains the same.
Bet we will still be saying it in another 3 years.
We can only play without the ball. 4 Centrebacks sat deep and hoping to score from a set piece. We're Burnley with some better players. When we have to take the game to a lesser opponent we struggle. We're miles away from top 4 and even top 6 is probably beyond us this year.
Eagle Eye
Player Valuation: £5m
Tonight and Newcastle made it crystal clear to me.
Mina and Keane are actually essential to the way we play. They both bring the ball out from the back which pushes the team forward. That didn't happen tonight as Holgate and Godfrey don't do this.
Then without width, we look poor. Tete had Digne in his pocket but our best chance came from Coleman coming from deep wide right and a Gomes cross from deep wide right. Once Bernard helped out on the left we looked a little better, but generally offered nothing from wide positions. Therefore if you outwork us in the middle, we have no chance if we are not getting crosses in from wide positions.
Gylfi and James do not work hard enough to play together. James really doesn't seem to like the cold at all and is not the answer at Right Wing in the middle of winter. One of them has to play off the striker, but with and not at the expense of width. This was a huge problem tonight.
Think we need to sign a couple of proper speciist hard working wide midfielders to enable a plan B. We have enough wingers that can play number 10, or number 10s that can play winger. We need proper dedicated wide midfielders to enable the switch to 4-5-1 in games like this to overload the middle of the pitch.
Mina and Keane are actually essential to the way we play. They both bring the ball out from the back which pushes the team forward. That didn't happen tonight as Holgate and Godfrey don't do this.
Then without width, we look poor. Tete had Digne in his pocket but our best chance came from Coleman coming from deep wide right and a Gomes cross from deep wide right. Once Bernard helped out on the left we looked a little better, but generally offered nothing from wide positions. Therefore if you outwork us in the middle, we have no chance if we are not getting crosses in from wide positions.
Gylfi and James do not work hard enough to play together. James really doesn't seem to like the cold at all and is not the answer at Right Wing in the middle of winter. One of them has to play off the striker, but with and not at the expense of width. This was a huge problem tonight.
Think we need to sign a couple of proper speciist hard working wide midfielders to enable a plan B. We have enough wingers that can play number 10, or number 10s that can play winger. We need proper dedicated wide midfielders to enable the switch to 4-5-1 in games like this to overload the middle of the pitch.
Sean0925
Player Valuation: £225k
We seriously lack pace across the pitch outside of one or two players. Despite bringing in some quality in midfield last summer we still have a lot of work to do there as we get seriously outdone against any team with a bit of athleticism about them, especially if we play the likes of Gomes, Sigurdsson and Davies. When Doucoure and Allan play its not as bad but without Allan its literally only Doucoure with any legs to get about the pitch.
TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £90m
All of this points to the problem without actually saying what it really is. And that is that the midfield stinks. They're horrible. Why do we need Mina and Keane to get the ball forward? Because the midfield doesn't. Why are we blaming James and Gylfi for not working hard (personally I felt given they played winger type positions they both did enough, Gylfi obviously became part of the midfield issue when he moved there) enough? Because the midfield doesn't win the ball back. Why aren't we getting the fullbacks into good positions to attack? Because the midfield can't keep the ball and work us up the field.
I just think until the midfield can be functional all the time, and that means having a working system in addition to the right players, we are going to have days like today.
Eagle Eye
Player Valuation: £5m
Because in games like tonight and Newcastle when the opponents pack the midfield when they do not have the ball (Lookman and Reid were fantastic at dropping in), you need your centre backs to step out and create the space. It is how really top teams operate to beat the lesser teams. Man City's record buy is Dias (previously Laporte and Stones). Liverpool's, record signing is Van Dyke. It is also why Man Utd paid 80 million for Maguire and 40million for Rio Ferdinand (nearly 20 years ago!!) No coincidence. It is the most important position if you are going to win things.
Godfrey and Holgate gave the ball away a combined 24 times tonight. This did not help. The midfield were really poor I agree, but Gylfi and James also did nothing to relieve pressure with any high pressing and we were unable to move to a compact 4-5-1 in defence when Fulham were attacking. Look how the first goal was scored. Ball was allowed into the wide area from the back far too easily. Maja, Reid and Lookman high pressed Holgate and Godfrey into those mistakes all night. In the absence of a proper defensive midfield quarterback to relieve them of their passing duties, we suffered. A switch to 3-5-2 was needed to give us any hope tonight.
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