Our whole team has been lop sided like this for years. We’ve done a mixed job of managing it, but have been largely successful. Our left side is just far more robust in terms of quality (defensive ethic) and players that cover each other. Our right side is the opposite by enough of a margin for teams to push that side. It seems to be a sacrifice we’ve been willing to make to free up Salah etc.
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Doku was unplayable yesterday. That was a special occasion performance and a thankyou to Pep. I doubt you’ll ever see another ninety minutes like that again from him.
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Our left or central-left side in 21/22 was arguably one of the best “sides” in football at the time. That quartet of Virgil, Robbo, Thiago and Mane (then Diaz, when Mane went up top).
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Who?
Did he play for us?
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I think this year was planned as a transition from a Liverpool with Salah to a Liverpool without Salah. His current form and confidence is impacting how effectively we can do this, and injuries in related areas (Frimpong) I don’t think have helped either. I think he needs to be dropped now to accelerate the transition. Bite the bullet, rip off the plaster, it can’t be any worse can it? That’s not that Salah doesn’t have a role to play, but a fresh Salah you can bring off the bench would be much more effective than what we are persisting with now.
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Or Konate.
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There is a history of players who can’t run enough anymore to do what is asked playing wide, being moved inside so they can focus on what they can do, without worrying about what they can’t.
Ronaldo is the obvious example.
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Sadly he’s gone from our greatest threat to our opponent’s best opportunity
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I actually didnt think Mo’s defensive contribution was the problem yesterday and thought he contributed a reasonable amount. To me its that he’s a black hole when we’re in possession and even looks so unsure of himself when he’s got it. I’ve always, somewhat controversially, rejected the idea that he has a great touch. What he has had though is lightening quick feet and that has allowed him to not just accommodate some average touches, but actually use them to his advantage as he coaxes in defenders to take advantage of a loose touch and skips past them. I think what we’re seeing now is his touch looking worse not because it is but because he’s struggling to reliably make up for it.
For boxing fans the analogy is a bit like how Roy Jones Jr all of a sudden became really easy to hit when previously he had “a technique” that meant the best fighters in the world hadnt been able to lay a glove on him in years.
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Ronaldo is also more complete than Salah and teams (basically only Juventus and second United stint in terms of top European level) playing with Ronaldo up top had known issues with balance. They had to camouflage him defensively, the same we try to do already. Salah going central means we cannot press from the front, or not as we would like to. Plus, he doesn’t like playing there.
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There is also an issue with effort from some, the two performances are chalk and cheese and your not telling me Real Madrid are worse than Man City.
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Real are still trying to find their identity and have players falling out with the manager all over the place. They are playing a left footed DM who plays more of his football at LB at RW and a CM who plays most of his football on the RW at RB.
The challenge the two teams posed when we were in possession is night and day
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And yet they lead La Liga and lost 1 in 13. I know people like to shit on La Liga but if a team was as dysfunctional as you make out they wouldn’t be were they are.
Man City up to yesterday had own goals as their second highest scorer.
Maybe it’s not as fucking atrocious as you think it is. And perhaps the sky isn’t fucking falling in and perhaps Villa wasn’t as good as you think or Man Utd as bad as you think.
Let’s sack him and get a boost from Pardew. I’m bored of this now. Time for a fucking break.
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Football is a weird game at times. Most of us have been following it for a while not to be surprised at beating Villa and Real after losing 6 out of 7 and then losing to City. Also, playing very good against Real and not being at the races against City. In the space of days.
The two wins we had were hardly going to mean a run of 10-15 wins in a row. We always had this international break coming, also. There will be more bumps along the road, it’s up to us to use limited training time and games to reduce damage as much as possible.
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Also…European night at Anfield. That atmosphere had a huge impact. And you can’t tell me that Trent being in the opposition didn’t provide some impetus for the players to produce an authoritative performance.
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And you can see evidence of that in how little clear cut they created despite such a poor performance from us. They scored 3 goals with a non-penalty xG of less than 1. Without the ball though City were excellent and that was the major factor in how different a dynamic there was in the two games.
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Our XG has been excellent throughout this run but apparently we are lethargic, boring and don’t create anything?
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I also thought City were much, much better than Madrid. They looked as dangerous as I’ve seen them, and I thought we were a little unfortunately that Doku decides to put together the performance he has been threatening for two years against us!
I don’t buy the idea that they were there for the taking. They looked quality.
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Ok so Man City are excellent… but we are worse than ever.
This all feels very clear and concise, I can see why we are moaning on a forum and not managing a football club now.
Doku’s gone up a level this season, so it wasn’t only yesterday. They were quality indeed. Good off the ball, better than us. With a day less of rest. And we gifted too much space, to Nunes, Haaland, Nico, etc. Even if the goal for 1-1 stood, I doubt we would’ve got something from the game. It just wasn’t our day. We were struggling to progress the ball from deep areas. And they were clever to drop Bernardo to a right sided double pivot zone in their build up phase, exactly where our press isn’t as good or it’s the least good.
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