robsblubot

Are you saying poch is doing a fantastic job then?! 😄 I mean I personally consider the roster under potter far superior than this.

hehe I don't mind Poch staying or leaving tbh. Don't particularly like his teams, but he did take a mediocre Tottenham side to CL final once. Just don't see a light at the end of this tunnel just yet -- for the reasons stated above. So, patience will be required regardless of what we do next.

heh Liverpool has and will miss Salah -- it's in the big games like against Arsenal the time you miss the big players. Their attack is really good, but they will miss Salah when he leaves. AFCON is just too long... is it longer than Copa America? useless competitions.

Fair, but you will make no money out of that (League prediction) 😅. CL is a different beast: remember their scrappy win against Inter (hardly a powerhouse)? I'm not sure that Bench is more shocking for City's perspective or ours; like our Bench looks pretty average compare to any other bench in the league. Not long ago, Kovacic would be rotating for us.

makes sense, but I'm not sure it's just individual mistakes as the stats would suggest. Pool plays a high line just like City. City holds to the football, and prioritizes that, for much longer than pool which takes a much more direct approach. Both teams don't protect well enough their defenses, but City has Rodri who is definitely good at that when needed, whereas Liverpool has a less defensive set of mids. In other words, I think pool's D get into difficult situations more often than City's D does, so statistically, they have more opportunity to make blunders.

Heh we always find alternatives to the more obvious, and painful reason that players just aren't good enough. Enzo is understandable given that he's been struggling with niggling injuries, but I'd stop there.

not a fan. Disasi isn't good enough anywhere for me, and that's why I think Colwill should be LB: no-one better at LB w/ 4atb and we can go with Silva and Badiashile at CB for the time being. Yes, we should be getting a proper LB so that Colwill can play CB, given that Cuccu has flopped, but I'm talking about best starting XI for me. agreed and why Poch used him in attack. I have a hard time criticizing managers when they try to field the best players even if employing them out of their original position. Say Poch gets sacked. The next manager will know, from video and staff, what experiments worked and which didn't.

Colwill should play as CB, LB, or DM ... because he's better than the others.

Besides, Jose would pick the starting XI by seniority, which means we'd start games with 6 outfield players and no goalie.

We are the heavy underdogs against Aston Villa.... 😢 3atb might help accommodate Chilwell and Silva (for diff reasons).

I think this roster is a lot worse than you do. Poch hindsight “mistakes”? The alternatives aren’t better. Even the good players like gusto still make stupid mistakes due to inexperience. Badiashile had a horror game the other day... individual mistake too not due to system. I happen to think colwill is by far the best LB option we’ve got (sad I know). Chilwell works better in a 3cb as his defending is akin to Alonso’s time. prediction: if we change managers, we will get a couple of good results and then go back to this.

Not give the ball right back to the opposition would be a good start. He did not make the first mistake because he was surrounded by 3-4 players, but then he often got pressured on the ball because the opposition smelled blood. This will keep on happening too until he cleans up his game. if you think he had a fine game, then let’s just agree to disagree once again.

I do see a very clear system with players executing very specific tasks — just not very well. caicedo was plying pivot getting the first pass from the goalie and misplacing passes under little to no pressure. That’s lack of skill not system. when Silva is embarrassed by Neto who simply runs past him to assist for a goal, that’s just a team with too many holes.

Manager grinder. Manager makes no difference whatsoever. At least 3-4 players from wolves today could really improve our team… and it’s wolves!

Watching the game now. folks are talking about drive and I just don’t see it. Players were giving everything on the pitch. they are just no better skill wise than the players they face. furthermore a team cannot survive a performance like Caicedos today. I’m shocked by his lack of skill on the ball. heh gusto had a stinker too. get position by position and compare with wolves: the question isn’t potential, but right now. Are we better?! does Conor give us a competitive advantage over the likes of wolves?

Agreed. At some point we decided to disregard CL, which is essentially what differentiates small and big clubs. Big clubs *can* and have won the CL (some multiple times 🙂 ) while smaller clubs only take the occasional stroll there and then go back to their normal mediocrity.

Strongly suspect that Nkunku starting or not is not a Poch decision alone at this point -- as in not a merely technical decision. I'm sure he'd love to have the player fit and ready do go, but we are in Feb and he hardly played this season. Can certainly see physios and fitness coaches being super cautious with him.

Hehe that’s nitpicking though. Lots of international breaks and pretty easy matches for us. I’m personally not worried about results. Just wish I saw any improvement t like you do. I think the team has reached its limit at this time and it’s nowhere good enough. some of the players like madueke simply do not belong at this level, at least not right now.

And Tbf the winger situ is the most baffling. It’s not that anyone would look at our options and say that we were going top eh.

It was a home game at the beginning of the season where fitness alone made everybody fair game. Since then, they improved so much that their level of play is simply not attainable by our team. We play slower, more ponderous on the ball, and a Lot less clinical up front. We just don’t have the players to compete with them. im not sure being satisfied with the mediocrity shown by this club is helpful either.

He may very well not be, but we need players not a manager. Our best players would sit on the Liverpool bench. Some of our players wouldn’t make their roster. it does not matter if so and so player will be great 2 years from now, we need players who can come in and face off against top players right now or we will struggle. Can’t really understand how one watches this game and thinks what if player X had started… been outplayed in all areas from start to finish.

Aside from VERY personal preferences, and Nkunku who's had a very hard time physically and is likely sitting because of that, I really don't see any obvious mistakes. Regardless, my point was that *even if you start each of our very best start XI* Liverpool would still be the WAY better side: better starting XI, roster, and trained for much longer. Their D line hasn't changed a whole lot over the last few seasons, for ex.

heh I really don't see all that importance in the starting XI. The issue the club has today isn't about that, but the roster. It's an extremely difficult fixture against a far better side and away from home. The only silver lining is Salah's absence, but we will need to work very hard to take anything out of this match. The lineup points exactly to that: hard working team to cause them trouble.

That's a very low bar for what we used to be though. We have to constantly qualify by citing age and another struggling young striker for pretty mediocre play and numbers. Honestly, I don't expect much from him. Squad player looks about right right now unless he's been shy and hid the best of his game so far. Sorry I just don't see it. 🤷‍♂️

Agreed, but that was my point: for whatever reason, Nkunku does NOT play and has not played for us this season yet...we are in January! He has only had short cameos--perhaps a full half? The options available is also quality in a team, not just its starting XI. We can question Werner, Mount, and Pulisic, who were hardly world beaters, but together they offered good options on the left--different characteristics too! Pulisic and Mount more mercurial (former even more so), while Werner was that consistent 6.5-7 rating. For me the drastic drop in quality is fairly palpable, esp on the wings. Madueke for ex IMO wouldn't sit on the bench for any top PL club.