unpopular opinions

[PeterParker]

Sterling was a deadwood that needed to leave. Sadly, Jesus also.
Don't think letting Zinch go was smart, but if he wanted that, so be it. The thing is Gomez doesn't look like an improvement.

Calling out the defence, that is actually the main issue. We had our best run with Walker-Stones-Dias-Zinch. That was the eleven that won us the league and sent us to the final of the UCL. He barely changed them and it showed, our defense became a wall. The he tried to make Laporte happy, Cancelo got games, Stones, well, he did what he usually does and so on.
I am not 100%, but I think Madrid and Bayern are not fucking with their defense every single week.

Also, I've said it many times, Rodri is a great ball player, but he doesn't have the brain to be a defensive midfielder. To break the game like Fern did, to be a dirty fucker. Being slow as a crane does not help also.

I understand the rotation, It's crucial to keep a happy squad, but also it should have it's limits.
I think the greatest teams ever always had an eleven everyone knows even if you wake them in the middle of the night. Pep had it also at Barca when he won the UCL two times. He is always saying he had he argie midget, but he also had consistency in his squad selection.

[johnny crossan]

Some harsh words on here, I think unfair too.
We score more goals and it's a different world, our defence is sorted and all is well.

[stupot]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

[CTID Hants]

Some harsh words on here, I think unfair too.
We score more goals and it's a different world, our defence is sorted and all is well.

It would appear JC that is somewhat of an oxymoron in this particulat thread. I dont disagree with you by the way.....

[Sparklehorse]

We are not playing well, everything is at snail pace, there is no tempo to our play and hasn't been for a good while, against the rags was brilliant and thats about it. now when we resume I want to see a bit of urgency, get early leads and let it flow. instead of this turgid tippy tappy crap that seems to be taking over. if it aint going to plan fucking change it

[hayling22]

I think sometimes we have a certain arrogance that we are going to mezmarise teams into submission.
We are OK when we are going toe to toe in an open game with plenty of space, but how many teams set up that way these days?
We seem to find it so hard against a packed defence, and the best payer in the last 10 years we had to unpick those defences was David Silva.
For all the talent we have, for my mind we haven't anyone with his eye for a thread pass, dare I say we are a little predictable at times

[BlueinBosnia]

We are not playing well, everything is at snail pace, there is no tempo to our play and hasn't been for a good while, against the rags was brilliant and thats about it. now when we resume I want to see a bit of urgency, get early leads and let it flow. instead of this turgid tippy tappy crap that seems to be taking over. if it aint going to plan fucking change it

One thing I've noticed this season is that we're not tiring teams out with our passing it around in the first half. Managers seem to have instructed their players to not chase us so much. You used to be able to see our opposition being visibly knackered by the 65th-70th minute, and this doesn't seem to be the case now.

[Dubciteh]

We are not playing well, everything is at snail pace, there is no tempo to our play and hasn't been for a good while, against the rags was brilliant and thats about it. now when we resume I want to see a bit of urgency, get early leads and let it flow. instead of this turgid tippy tappy crap that seems to be taking over. if it aint going to plan fucking change it

One thing I've noticed this season is that we're not tiring teams out with our passing it around in the first half. Managers seem to have instructed their players to not chase us so much. You used to be able to see our opposition being visibly knackered by the 65th-70th minute, and this doesn't seem to be the case now.

I wonder is 5 subs helping our opposition? Half the team fresh legs for last 30. Haven’t looked into how many subs our opposition have made but its a possibility.

[Dimples]

We are not playing well, everything is at snail pace, there is no tempo to our play and hasn't been for a good while, against the rags was brilliant and thats about it. now when we resume I want to see a bit of urgency, get early leads and let it flow. instead of this turgid tippy tappy crap that seems to be taking over. if it aint going to plan fucking change it

One thing I've noticed this season is that we're not tiring teams out with our passing it around in the first half. Managers seem to have instructed their players to not chase us so much. You used to be able to see our opposition being visibly knackered by the 65th-70th minute, and this doesn't seem to be the case now.

I wonder is 5 subs helping our opposition? Half the team fresh legs for last 30. Haven’t looked into how many subs our opposition have made but its a possibility.

I think so. This could be working against us. After 70 minutes most opponents are tired after chasing shadows, the game opens up and gaps appear that we can exploit. Put on fresh legs and tiredness is no longer an issue.

[PeterParker]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

Stu, I suspect you have a thing for Laporte more than Mase has for Kola

[Dimples]

Lilo.
We have started conceeding goals since he left.
We stopped conceeding goals when he arrived.
That is a fact.
Midfield is the source of most of the defensive issues.
Bern in midfield stops most of the counterattacks.
On the wing he cannot do that and then with Gundo and Kevin in midfield playing of Haaland's shoulder they are to high up to stop counterattacks, so the defense is left exposed.
Start Bern in midfield every game. Then let's see how if there are still defensive issues.
We need Lilo back.

[Im_Spartacus]

Jesus or Sterling at centre forward helped us put pressure on from the front.

We definitely have gained on the goals for column with Haaland, but I do fear it's put a bit more pressure on those further back and it may take a bit of time til we have that figured out.

Would seem that the genuis tactic from 2 years ago of pushing the fullback infield could be the solution but not when that fullback is Stones / Akanji / Ake and too slow to make it back to do their day job, whilst Cancelo's head is clearly elsewhere.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Jesus or Sterling at centre forward helped us put pressure on from the front.

We definitely have gained on the goals for column with Haaland, but I do fear it's put a bit more pressure on those further back and it may take a bit of time til we have that figured out.

Would seem that the genuis tactic from 2 years ago of pushing the fullback infield could be the solution but not when that fullback is Stones / Akanji / Ake and too slow to make it back to do their day job, whilst Cancelo's head is clearly elsewhere.

Pep has gotten away with murder playing players in the wrong positions at the back but those cracks have been papered over as we had someone in front of them that protected the back 4 - as soon as that protection fails the tactical decisions by pep at the back has fucked us .

Cancelo cannot fucking defend and stones cannot play on the RH side either .
Pep is too pig headed to change it and that’s why we are suffering at the back.

I’ve given up of ever having a settled back 4 (or a top class left back ) whilst pep is here —- so either we take every single chance in front of goal or we just accept losses like we saw against Brentford .

[stupot]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

Stu, I suspect you have a thing for Laporte more than Mase has for Kola

I love him PP the same way you do Stones.
Our record with him is fantastic, he carried us defensively the last few games last season and his passing out of defence is fantastic. The total opposite of Stones.

[PeterParker]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

Stu, I suspect you have a thing for Laporte more than Mase has for Kola

I love him PP the same way you do Stones.
Our record with him is fantastic, he carried us defensively the last few games last season and his passing out of defence is fantastic. The total opposite of Stones.

Dias.
Stones is liabilty. I think he is the most talented from our defenders, but he always lacked a brain.

[carl_feedthegoat]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

Stu, I suspect you have a thing for Laporte more than Mase has for Kola

I love him PP the same way you do Stones.
Our record with him is fantastic, he carried us defensively the last few games last season and his passing out of defence is fantastic. The total opposite of Stones.

Agree about stones but Laporte cost us in the CL - he was a huge contributing factor why we lost that game against RM .
He’s made some huge mistakes in big games and you’d expect a player like him not to make them in those particular games .

[stupot]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

Stu, I suspect you have a thing for Laporte more than Mase has for Kola

I love him PP the same way you do Stones.
Our record with him is fantastic, he carried us defensively the last few games last season and his passing out of defence is fantastic. The total opposite of Stones.

Agree about stones but Laporte cost us in the CL - he was a huge contributing factor why we lost that game against RM .
He’s made some huge mistakes in big games and you’d expect a player like him not to make them in those particular games .

I'd say he was unlucky with the handball for the pen.That was his only possible mistake for me.
We were cruising it 2nd leg until Walker got injured. 1st leg we had no full backs- that's what cost us. Walker injured, Cancelo suspended.

[stupot]

When he changed the defence of Walker, Dias, Stones, Zinch that won the league and got to the CL final to please Laporte and play Cancelo we then won the league again whilst conceding 6 less goals and would had got to the CL final again if we'd have not had Walker injured and Cancelo suspended when we conceded 3 at home in the Semi

Stu, I suspect you have a thing for Laporte more than Mase has for Kola

I love him PP the same way you do Stones.
Our record with him is fantastic, he carried us defensively the last few games last season and his passing out of defence is fantastic. The total opposite of Stones.

Dias.
Stones is liabilty. I think he is the most talented from our defenders, but he always lacked a brain.

Dias was brilliant 1st year but he's had a dip in form for a good while now. As i say without Laporte last few games last season when he played with an injury we don't win the league.

[Hazy2]

Dias has become passive, not the leader he was when he arrived.

[Outcast]

Give your head a wobble if you think we missed Sterling and Jesus. Our rivals gave improved, we could be in worst position had they stayed on