3 issues to be addressed

[ClausThomsen]

For me if you play with your full backs that high that they are going to be the ones that give you the width then we gotta play with 3 CBs, or we play wingers to give us the width.

At the moment we are easy to play against, we cant keep the ball because there is no width or depth and the play is compressed so invariably it goes backwards to keep possession.

What we saw against Chelsea was Digne giving us width on the left but we didnt get a lot from Holgate on the right. With potent headers of the ball like DCL and Richarlison I think youd want to get wide and get non stop crosses in the box.

Thats why CA gets the money he does and he has won the trophies he has. Like a few have said recently watching Everton these days is painful, be nice to get Europe, not really confident against City in the FA Cup but we will have a go Im sure.

Not sure that's true. Against Chelsea Holgate, Digne, Iwobi and Godfrey spent the vast majority of their time and took their touches in wide positions. A problem was that so did Richarlison and DCL as they got pushed wide looking for gaps around a very well drilled Chelsea back 3. And the odd ball that was squeezed through was often squandered as Richarlison seemed a bit off it.

I don't see going backwards as being a massive problem in and of itself. But when the ball is going back and the right-hand side of the pitch isn't really an option to play it out given the limitations of out of position players there then we just end up hitting nothing balls eventually in the hope that DCL might flick it on.

 

[Blackwell Livermore]

Is anyone else getting frustrated by this tendency to pass back all the time? Allan, davies, keane, holgate and even Gomez are serious culprits. I noticed it in a big way against United and it's the same [Poor language removed] yarn since then. DCL and Richarldson are busting a gut up front and no one is trying to find them. I'd much prefer losing the possession with an audacious through ball then keeping it tiky tak

2. Not keeping possession
This is a major issue. Chelsea were knocking the ball around tonight like any team should when they are protecting a lead. When we're ahead it's just 'sit back and absorb'. Against teams like man city this is going to have crucified.

3. Not pressing enough
Ashley Cole alluded to this after the west Brom game. He said 'they dont run enough off the ball for my liking. If you're chasing your dreams you've got to work much harder'. This is spot on. The aggression and pressure in the second half tonight was excellent, but why arent they like this every game? Why does it take going 2 nil down? A Guardiola side suffocates you, the pressure is immense and you dont get a chance to think. Coleman, davies and allan have great intensity, but I just wish there was this desire aggression from the whole side. Love to see players doubling up and crowding out the opposition. Can't understand why it requires a 2-0 deficit to motivate them into playing like demons.

All these issues can be rectified in a single team talk. Cant understand why they're reappearing game after game. Anyone else notice this lack of intensity and aggression?

Calm down young 'un before you bust an artery. Spot on though.

 

[Blackwell Livermore]

We lose one game and instantly these sorts of threads appear. Our squad is trash and Carlo is doing everything wrong.

Shocker.

Regardless, address the points made rather than do a knee-jerk to a (perceived) knee-jerk.

 

[Lineker]

I've noticed recently that we are doing better passing the ball long and holding it. With DCL this could be an effective way to play with more runners but there frequently aren't.

I am a siggy fan, but for me his biggest sin is slowing a counterattack by passing the ball behind a runner. Happens too often for it to be anything other than a serious defect in his game or intentional for some reason that escapes me.

For me the midfield just aren't physical freaks of nature...too many of them are slow and noone that really runs with the ball in the same way ross barkley did with pace and power (not saying they are good players, just that was a thing he did well). You can have one slow player like that in your mkdfield, the rest need speed or killer anticipation. I think the hope was that iwobi would develop into that but he hasn't quite.

 

[Lineker]

lost away to one of the most in form teams in the league, with several important players out

don't wet the bed please

My post just above aside, this please.

 

[Radzinski radishes]

Winning games ugly cost us CL? Or losing to a very inform Chelsea? Theyre not the same. I also dont belive we’re out of the picture yet, tho it is harder now.

Like, i also want us to play sexy football. But as Carlo said after the Chelsea game, we dont have the squad to do it right now and sadly hes right. With everyone fully fit we’re closer, but still not there. If we tried, we’d probably ship goals like a Martinez team, and nobody wants that.

Martinez was a utopian. never seen such a manically positive human being. Head melter. There was a good bounce when he came in initially because that attacking style and crackerjack personality was a tonic when blended with Moyes and his defensive solidity. After a year defenders had forgotten how to defend and the wheels came off. The kicker was when he'd give interviews after a 4-4 draw or a 5-4 win/loss and he'd be ecstatic.. Clearly, there were some fantastic qualities there but he couldnt mend his way. If you want to see 9 goals every game [Poor language removed] to the states where nobody understands football. They'd enjoy that. I'd take a controlled and organised 1-0 any day of the week.

 

[2xpetes]

Iwobi Delph Gomes All holding us back

 

[Barnfred 55]

Our squad cannot keep carrying sick notes like Delph, Coleman, Mina and James
That’s just short of half a million pound a week!
At least James offers a bit of class when he plays but these players need shipping out this summer
Proper players and the right investment needed

Mina is not a sicknote

 

[Nymzee]

Mina is not a sicknote

Kind of is. 9th injury spell since he joined us according to this.

Yerry Mina - Injury history

This is the injury history of Yerry Mina from Cagliari Calcio. On this page injuries as well as suspensions.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

 

[davids]

My wife has watched a few games recently and cannot understand how our squad of internationals gets run ragged by crap teams with few internationals.
I feel that our players are not working to their full ability and that is attributable to the manager.I am NOT saying carlo is bad but, we do not play like a team of international;s under one of the best caches in the world, getting legged by Newcastle and Fulham.
I dunno., a bit of desire would really help

So much of football is mental. Play teams who are fighting for their Premiership survival when so many of our squad are used to being comfortable and complacent. I'm sure Ancelotti Would love to bin some of them today,but finance being what it is he's stuck with them. He can drill them and coach them til the cows come home but when they cross the line it's down to the players and with the likes of Gomes and Iwobi in the team...

 

[Yarrgh]

1st issue
richarlison, DCL, ?
digne, davies, alan, ?
godfrey, keane, holgate

As a first team, that's CL level, if there's two top class players ahead of Holgate on the right.
Imo, if these two are world class, and with Carlo at the helm, that's more than just reaching Europe, its proper competitive for any of the titles.

2nd issue
Will Pickford be the best keeper for the team going forward. He's def picked up, but are his instincts and temperament that of a title winner.

3rd issue
Squad depth. This a major challenge.
Am optimistic that Brands can get in two right sided players and it will instantly make a difference, but getting players at a European level across positions is obviously a bigger challenge which will have a lot to do with whether trophies can be achieved. At the moment we've got James, Doucs and Mina.

The good thing in all this is that the major issues are playing personnel rather than culture and/or management.
Think its fair to say things have moved on a bit.

I kinda agree but it relies on Davies progressing and the 3 CB and DCL maintaining (and improving over) the same performance levels as this seasons. At worst they would be more than adequate squad players who would see a fair bit of game time.

As ever I'd take an improvement if a better player was signed but that right hand side is a priority and some more guile and speed in the centre wouldn't go amiss.

 

[Blue Roo]

I kinda agree but it relies on Davies progressing and the 3 CB and DCL maintaining (and improving over) the same performance levels as this seasons. At worst they would be more than adequate squad players who would see a fair bit of game time.

As ever I'd take an improvement if a better player was signed but that right hand side is a priority and some more guile and speed in the centre wouldn't go amiss.

It will interesting to see how things play out.
They're sitting back (squeezing the defensive lines) and drawing the opposition on because the risk is less than extending the lines.
The risk outweighs the rewards because there is not the spread of quality to keep possession and manipulate and create certain types of goals.
The fume is right over players taking the back pass when its obvious there were good options, its obvious who those players are and its not Davies or Allan.
But you have to think overall those players making those attacking passes, just going for it, would see us further down the table, especially during the time Allan has been out.
This has been a good time though for building a solid foundation. Its been a long since the team has been able to absorb pressure and more often than not come out on top. Sure goals are going to be conceded, but its hasn't been going behind and not having a clue like in the Silva years. They know what they're about.
And they now how to get goals. There's only been a few they haven't scored in. And against Chelsea they were certainly off their game in this regard.

Imo, with these foundations it will only take two top quality R sided players in the starting line up for this team to evolve into an attacking beast as much as a defensive one. And with that qualities in other players we haven't seen much of will start to shine through, including Davies and Holgate, ie what we are currently getting from Godfrey we may start to see in others. Essentailly what's needed at the moment is the ball going to the wide and forward players and the opposition not knowing what's going to be played rather than easily reading it and having us on the back foot scrambling to squeeze the lines. Digne, Richarlison and DCl can't do it on their own, they need the right side to come to the party. And think Tommy D will start to shine in that sort of set up, thats when you'll see the improvement in him, and no player coming in will understand like he has to the potential to. It'll be fascinating to see how it plays out anyways.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Kind of is. 9th injury spell since he joined us according to this.

Yerry Mina - Injury history

This is the injury history of Yerry Mina from Cagliari Calcio. On this page injuries as well as suspensions.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

Quite a lot of close season and shutdown covered in that, and also 2 were minor knocks where he literally missed 1 game in each. So that is 7 injury spells over nearly 3 seasons. He played little during his first season admittedly. But he missed 9 premier league games last season and so far missed 8 this season and was rested for at least 1 of those. I don't call that being a sick note personally. Obviously I'd prefer him to never get injured like.

 

[Bluelladevil]

Some very interesting articles about Michael Beale and his influence as a coach at Rangers which reinforce the importance of the coaching staff. You can have the most inspirational and motivational manager in the world but you'd get nowhere without a great coach. Ancelotti is that manager, respected by his players and they have great trust in him. But his coaches? Well the coaching staff includes his son and Ferguson.
Pressing - for me the lack of pressing as a team is entirely a coaching issue. We play with individuals (usually DCL or Richarlison) pressing an opponent who is in possession but we don't press collectively as a group, in other words we don't press the opposing players who are not in possession. As a result the opponent who is being pressed has easy open options to pass to. I've noticed that our player who was pressing then just switches off once the opponent has passed the ball so that our player doesn't look to cover / indirectly press that opponent who is then not in possession. Davies as a young central midfielder is woefully guilty of this - he reactively presses ,i. e. only presses when an opponent near him has the ball. That has to be down to poor coaching.
Passing backwards - that's OK if the person in the defensive position holds possession and waits until they can play the ball through the lines. But we have developed a very worrying tendency of hoofing the ball up the pitch to DCL or Richarlison at head height, not into feet or chest height. (Holgate if he doesn't pass backwards or sideways is especially guilty of this). As a result we predictably lose possession. Now what does that remind me of? Well I saw enough of that football in the 90's with Ferguson at the top of team to last a lifetime. I hope this isn't his influence.
Pace - I believe we have very expensively assembled a team with some great talent but there are too many players who are just too slow namely Sigurdsson, James, Gomes, Bernard, Delph. You can have one of these players in a team but we play 2 or 3 in every game.

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

So much of football is mental. Play teams who are fighting for their Premiership survival when so many of our squad are used to being comfortable and complacent. I'm sure Ancelotti Would love to bin some of them today,but finance being what it is he's stuck with them. He can drill them and coach them til the cows come home but when they cross the line it's down to the players and with the likes of Gomes and Iwobi in the team...

Yes and no, imo. He keeps playing Iwbo over King, Sigs over James, Gomes over Davies. All the latter appear to offer more in general than the former, I understand he needs to rest players but not every other week. Also, the complacent thing, they are fighting for their lives so they play better.....surely, fighting for CL would encourage our players to work harder?