KingArthur

Miley passes there and it is easy goal.

Tbh, he is playing against great RBs, but he has also played against some total dross and hasn't performed then either...

Or Gordon of today on the bench more likely.. But agreed.

He is ignored by Gordon, true. But comparing to Trippier on the other side for example, he moves inside much more. That has to be instucted. I think Hall works a lot better with Barnes. And Gordon should be getting crosses and shots with his right, his left seems very hit and miss.

I think one problem here is that Hall doesnt overlap very often. He is staying more central this season. Maybe because he actually can shoot?

Bruno does drop occasionally, but they have done that with Tonali for long. They have freedom to switch positions, even Joelinton occasionally ends up deepest of the 3. This is not just Bruno wanting the ball, which he does. He carries the team. When we are in problems with the press, we are usually too deep and our ability with the ball is pretty poor. Burn, Tonali, Pope and Trippier are not really good under pressure... Bruno moving deeper doesn't solve the problem that we cannot break into the box. He helps us beat the press, but what is opponent doesnt even try to press? He is the one we need to get on the ball 25-30 yards from opponent goal, not 50. Tonali cannot play throughballs, but he can switch play very well. Tonali is poor/average passer, but that means he surely cannot then play as a 8 in our system. We have enough ability to get the ball to final third. It's not like opponents are pinning us back (maybe PSG and City do it), the problem is we have no imagination, combination, long shots, 1-2s, dribbles etc up top. It's just cross after cross after cross. Would Bruno dropping as a 6 help that? Perhaps in one way, but then his ability from right half space would be lost. Meaning there is someone like Tonali or Willock, who are not able to receive the ball between the lines, cannot dribble and would most likely just play the easy pass towards the flank.

But we did. It is the final third which is the problem clearly.

This is some basic stuff from the training pitch. When ball comes to Murphy or Trippier or whoever, players have to know what run to make. You can't just aimlessly cross and hope it hits someone.

We didn't and Howe decided Tonali can play it. And he is a much better 6 than 8. No, I don't think just because it worked last season it must work now. But you are saying this midfield doesn't work, like automatically, as a given fact it just doesn't work. But it has worked, so the problem is not those 3 players, but how the team is set up and how other players perform. Our problem is not midfield three. Only thing I would expect from them is more goals (beside Bruno, who funnily enough wouldn't score this much as a 6). You say the midfield is a problem, but we get to final third just fine you make no sense. Drawing against Wolves or not scoring against Villa was not down on midfield 3 not getting the ball up. We did. We controlled the ball enough to win the game. Of course we lacked Bruno's ability to play through balls, but we would lack it if he played as a 6 also. Moving Bruno to 6 solves none of our issues. I am thinking you don't even watch the games.

When Bruno was playing deeper, every single person here said we need to move him higher up the pitch and sign a no 6. Tonali started as an 8 for us, but he cannot receive the ball in tight areas and is only effective when game is happening in front of him. edit. and I dont know why you think last season that midfield worked and didnt invite pressure, but now it is clearly wrong and inviting pressure. When "inviting pressure" is not our problem. Scoring goals is.

They didn't. Yea, but "unconvincing going forward" is not Tonali-problem. Why it is not Miley/Joelinton/Ramsey/Willock problem that midfield is ineffective? There are at least 5, maybe 6-7 players who have bigger part to play to our attacking play. If we couldn't get the ball from defence to wingers/8s/forwards that would be partly on Tonali. But wayward crossing, not playing combinations, not taking on the fullback, not making runs behind.. These are not problems Tonali could change. And he had our best chance playing DM!

Naah, it doesn't. If you think our problem yesterday was DM, you are not paying attention. Bruno dropping there means we are attacking more. So it changes the whole dynamic. Villa would have run through there 5-10 times on the counter with Bruno as a DM

Again, the problem wasn't the defensive midfield. You could have put prime Busquets there and it wouldn't have changed anything.

Certainly there are players around Europe with pretty much the same attributes (hard working, lots of running, no end product) who are a lot cheaper. This is his pass map from Villa game

Yea, but which of our players can ran through if we counter from our own corner? Elanga yes, perhaps Gordon. And thats pretty much it. But you make a point: The problem with 4-3-3 with Howe is, it turns to 4-5-1 or even 5-4-1 occasionally without the ball. Then when there is Woltemade or Wissa up top, the pass have to be spot on so they can hold up for a few seconds. And because we lack ability to pass the ball, that often is not the case. They are isolated -> we lose the ball rightaway. Same happened with Isak and people were frustrated with him, when it was a ridiculous task. Problem: we don't have outlet or idea how to break when we get the ball deep in our side. But yesterday we had players up, that was not the problem. We really had very few counterattacking moments, cause Villa let us have the ball and were very compact. Seems like if we don't score first, at the moment there is no way we are winning the game. At least against slightly better teams. Crossing aimlessly just doesn't work if there is not right kind of movement.

I think your style now seems very much like with OGS. Defend quite deep, hit counter attacks when you get turnovers. Bruno can pass, Dorgu, Mbeumo and Amad running behind the defence. It works when opponent has the ball, but will it work against smaller teams? I don't think Carrick gets the job anyway.

Surely they can.

No chance.

Our coaching in the final third seems to be missing. We lack ideas. Just cross after cross.

Tonali really is not Italy’s best player. Gordon has been total wank for a year. Our GKs are mid table, fullbacks are good, but dont stay fit. CBs ok but not better than Romero, VDV, De Ligt etc. Our squad is pretty much 7th at the moment. ManU and Spurs can spend money, we cannot. That is the difference. We can end up higher than them for a few times, but there are big limitations in our squad

There is a problem with out counterattacking, and that is we are so deep and have no threat behind. Case in point when Digne fouled Elanga and got a yellow. If Elanga got past him, it would still have been 2v4. Like that just doesnt work. and why we have no long range threat anymore?

We have been totally overachieving. And helped by ManU and Spurs being shit. Our squad is not UCL-level.

League is close and all that, but we are not getting to Europe next season.

naah. We had players up, and when we lost the ball Villa ran 3v3 or 2v2. Our ability with the ball is shocking.

Gordon has to be stopped. I mean, how bad he has to be to benched?