Toulouse (A) Europa League

[Mark79]

Trent is having a bad season so far too. And the set up that is designed to get the best out him creatively is hindering the midfield and defence.

At least for the run in last season he was delivering a shed load of assists. Now there’s no real pay off to this inverted full back stuff.

[Buzzo]

Ah yeah, meant to post about this at the time.

I wonder about the tactics for whomever is playing inverted RB. On the, I think third Toulouse goal Trent for me was culpable.

They were breaking,our back 4 had a solid retreating line, BUT, were quite compact. Trent checked over his shoulder and could see the LW was about 15-20m wide of him.

He checked back to follow play, at which time the ball is being swung over to the space behing him with the LW now about 5m away and in a great attacking position.

Trent got a deflection on the cross, which lead to the goal, but slightly unlucky.

However if you are watching the game you are targeting that space in behind Trent on the break every time.

We need to be better at stopping attacks at source as opposed to last ditch defending that we are sometimes forced into.

I get the risk v reward aspect, but if a team like Toulouse can expose this, imagine what Pep and City are thinking.

Whether it is on Trent or the system is really the rub, and I am sure is something we are working on.

[Norbs]

I thought that having Endo on would mean Mac Allister would have a chance to play further forward but he was aimlessly wandering around same as usual yesterday. Didn't see much creativity from him

[Buzzo]

Endo undid all of the good work from his performance in the home leg. Mind you, we were ****, maybe even worse, for the first 30 of the second half also and he was hooked by then.

[Kenneth]

I thought that having Endo on would mean Mac Allister would have a chance to play further forward but he was aimlessly wandering around same as usual yesterday. Didn't see much creativity from him

I think there was a 10-15 period in the first half where he did that and looked creative, and his passing nice and quick, but it didn’t last.

[Buzzo]

Same towards the end of the second half when we finally realised we were going to lose the game.

[Scratch]

A big gripe for me, that might have been mentioned, was pulling Doak at half time. We were only one down, the lad had done nothing wrong so unless we are managing his recovery minutes, taking him off at half time seemed a bit over the top for me.

[vlahka]

We'd be having less problems if our useless defence werent constantly passing amongst themselves for 3/4 of the match and telegraphing everything they did. Its no wonder they jumped Tsimikas. You can say he screwed up but the opposition knew the pattern and just anticipated it. Every game we do this and take forever to get it forward. Meanwhile the other team grab it and instantly are at our box every time. Getting frustrating to watch. You know what else pisses me off? Midfield and defense, most of them always stop the ball thats passed to them before doing anything. Constant stop stop stop. Play like you've got 4 hours why dont you.