how we should approach the bus parkers

[danperkins]

I think in our current squad Lallana will be crucial to breaking these types of teams down. Without our creative spark gone in Phil, Lallana can work in tight spaces and pull teams out of their shape. I still feel we will miss someone Like Coutinho who can pick a killer pass out of nothing. Can, Gini, Milner & Henderson offer us nothing in a creative way and are essentially work horses, working in between transitions.

[baitman]

we need our wingers going wider and a striker in the middle.
the real creativity needs to be a bit further back so they can probe for gape in the wall of opposition players and then wiggle their way through.


with the ball...

mane - - striker - - salah
- - firmino - - - lallana - -
robertson - oxlade - - TAA
- - VVD - - - -matip - - -
- - - - karius - - - - -

without the ball...

mane - - striker - - salah
- firmino - ox - lallana -
robertson - vvd - matip - taa
- - - - karius - - - - - -

[gratziani]

I think in our current squad Lallana will be crucial to breaking these types of teams down. Without our creative spark gone in Phil, Lallana can work in tight spaces and pull teams out of their shape. I still feel we will miss someone Like Coutinho who can pick a killer pass out of nothing. Can, Gini, Milner & Henderson offer us nothing in a creative way and are essentially work horses, working in between transitions.

The problem with relying on lallana for half a season is his fitness issues, think he is miles away at the moment unfortunately

Maybe changing to Mane and OX wide , with Salah and Firmi up top

Can and Milner / hendo as the two midfielders

[Fosterbloke]

Anyone else think this is all a bit knee jerk?

I mean, we've lost 5 games in 46 games across all competitions.

That's really not bad at all.

It was just a **** day at the office for all, let's move on and trash Huddersfield, WBA and Spurs.

[gratziani]

I feel it is relevant as we could not score against WBA and Swansea the bottom two in the league.

Especially after having extra day to prepare for the game and be so lucklustre

[Buzzo]

I think we are second top scorers in the League, and probably top scorers in the CL so far, so fair to say we typically don't have problems scoring.

City have made the League look ridiculous this season, so us dropping the odd point here and there is magnified.

We have drawn a few too many games this season, but really, how many of them were down to us not scoring? There is a 3-3 in there, a 2-2 and the Everton gam with the dodgy pen off the top of my head.

[baitman]

Anyone else think this is all a bit knee jerk?

I mean, we've lost 5 games in 46 games across all competitions.

That's really not bad at all.

It was just a **** day at the office for all, let's move on and trash Huddersfield, WBA and Spurs.

how often are we banging on the door and struggling to get through, and we get sucker punched on a counter, or from a corner.

if we were better able to cut our way through the other teams who have come to keep it tight and score an extra goal here or there then a draw and 1 point suddenly become a win and 3 points.

and what do points make....

W 13... D 8... L 3...

[Buzzo]

how often are we banging on the door and struggling to get through, and we get sucker punched on a counter, or from a corner.

if we were better able to cut our way through the other teams who have come to keep it tight and score an extra goal here or there then a draw and 1 point suddenly become a win and 3 points.

and what do points make....

W 13... D 8... L 3...

I thought the drawn games were because we were wank at the back?

We've only failed to score 4 times this season.

[baitman]

I thought the drawn games were because we were wank at the back?

ive not broke it down, but will do some checking.

yep, we are still wank at the back.

[Buzzo]

ive not broke it down, but will do some checking.

yep, we are still wank at the back.

We've failed to score against.

Man City 5-0. Man U 0-0. WBA 0-0. Swansea 1-0.

Our other draws were all score draws. I'd say if you were to trawl the match threads in most of those games we would be bitching about the defending.

[baitman]

are we losing or drawing with better or worse teams...
the ones in BOLD are games we should be winning. we could be forgiven the odd slip up against other top teams, and maybe the odd bad day against the 'lesser' teams, but looking at the ones in bold show we have dropped 13 points against lower teams.

lost to;
swansea, man city, spurs.

drawn with;
man utd, newcastle, chelsea, everton, west brom, arsenal, watford, burnley,

[danperkins]

It seems a common tactic for lesser teams to sit deep against us as it does seem the best way of getting a result. Any team that comes out and plays against us are in for a rough day. This season and last season we have thrown away so many points vs the lesser sides that play the same tactic. It's is absolutely not knee jerk IMO, if it was a result in isolation you would say 1 loss in 19.. it happens but we've seen a common trend over the past few seasons.

[Buzzo]

are we losing or drawing with better or worse teams...
the ones in BOLD are games we should be winning. we could be forgiven the odd slip up against other top teams, and maybe the odd bad day against the 'lesser' teams, but looking at the ones in bold show we have dropped 13 points against lower teams.

lost to;
swansea, man city, spurs.

drawn with;
man utd, newcastle, chelsea, everton, west brom, arsenal, watford, burnley,

Based on that, if we had played better in say (or achieved a better result in) 3 games

- If Everton hadn't got a dodgy pen
- if Chelsea hadnt scored a fluke equaliser
- if we had defended better on one of the three goals v Watford

We'd all be happy

We aren't far off then?

[Angryred]

Based on that, if we had played better in say (or achieved a better result in) 3 games

- If Everton hadn't got a dodgy pen
- if Chelsea hadnt scored a fluke equaliser
- if we had defended better on one of the three goals v Watford

We'd all be happy

We aren't far off then?

a bit better at defending against Arsenal 3-3 draw?...

[Buzzo]

a bit better at defending against Arsenal 3-3 draw?...

Exactly. The attack isn't the issue.