2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[D410]

Yeah but he had a fully fit squad bar Dom to choose from yesterday and did that

Don't you think the players didn't fancy it too when they knew they had no DCL upfront? Felt like we were defeated before the players crossed the line.

 

[BlueToff]

I agree tactically he needs to address the issues but I’m tired of seeing the same old tried and tested players given opportunity after opportunity. Seeing slugs like Gomes who was atrocious getting 90 mins casually jogging around flicking his hair like Prince Charming without breaking a sweat is disgusting.

It is, but the manager didn’t help yesterday

you can’t throw Gomes, Gylfi and James into the same area of the pitch and expect full-throttle, intense play

 

[Jim Hopper]

It is, but the manager didn’t help yesterday

you can’t throw Gomes, Gylfi and James into the same area of the pitch and expect full-throttle, intense play

Absolutely but look at the options he has.

I’m trying to see it from both POVs for me the issue is a 50/50 players and manager are both to blame. Even if he set us up to deal with the pressing game (which he really needs to work on) he then has to rely on our jokers going out there and implementing it, which in itself is a massive ask.

 

[Axlswhk]

This is it for me, and the reason why we are so easy to play against. We don't have players capable of committing the opposition, no one with genuine pace who can run with the ball, and we also don't have players who make runs off the ball to show and give options. So it becomes very easy to predict where the ball is going to go, and easy to defend against. Someone like sigurdsson hiding making sure he's not an option just kills us, but he's not alone in that. We need to clear out the players not prepared to impose themselves on the game, and work for the team, and bring in energy and pace.

all down to fitness. Our players can’t sustain pass and move with high tempo closing down. This is the root cause of our problem and it’s been plaguing us since moyes left. Our players seems reluctant to take risk knowing that any pass with high risk will end up losing possession and they have to work double hard to win it back, leading to safe sideway passes.

Vicious cycle of problems created by lack of fitness.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Yeah but he had a fully fit squad bar Dom to choose from yesterday and did that

Allan wasn’t really ready, I’ve got no idea why he was on the bench if he wasn’t fit enough to play. Gbamin is out, Delph is out, DCL is out, Pickford is out. Close to a fully fit squad but there’s three midfielders there who all of fit would feature ahead of Davies and Siggurdson.

I take your point though. For me it’s a symptom of a squad that isn’t good enough. It plays well one week and everyone forgets the Robles and are then massively disappointed when they come home to roost.

Pickford Coleman Davies Gomes Bernard Siggurdson are not good enough for where we want to be. Add also every single player who left the club on loan in January apart from the youngsters. The remaining players have zero competition for places and for most of them zero rotation options.

At the moment no matter how tired, poor, or lazy Siggurdson Gomes or Davies play they know more than likely they’re playing a part in every single game and making every match squad if fit. That’s just not good enough. These players should be close to being phased out he squad not guaranteed to be in it. Richalrison and DCL know we haven’t got a hope upfront without them. All of the defenders know that they’re all as bad as each other at times and they’ll all play games regardless .

 

[hallamblue]

I watch a lot of football, and while teams like Spurs and Chelsea are having these results - they absolutely are not having these performances.

Did you see Spurs play Brighton? They were battered.

 

[APN_EFC]

The one thing I simply can't accept about our home performances against the likes of Newcastle, West Ham and Fulham is the low block - it's completely unnecessary against poorer sides.

Every single time we lose the ball the team automatically drops back 15 yards. Compare that to Fulham yesterday who pushed up when they lost the ball to try and win it back as soon as possible (which they often did).

It's not pragmatic, it's downright negative. By all means play like that in away games, but at home against dross like Fulham and Newcastle? Nah.

Player Leadership qualitys needs to be a big part of our summer recruitment process.


No point adding quality if players decide when to pick and choose when to turn it on because they don't fancy the opposition or can't or won't back the managers tactics on a game to game basis


All teams loose games but as fans we can see when players hide or are not brave enough to dominate there opposite player or space.


It struck me last night that full backs and our midfield didn't trust the players ahead of them. That has to stop , every player can influence or change a game with the right positive mental attitude and courage.

I think many of the problems lead back to captaincy.
I love Seamus, have also been hot & cold about Gylfi and sometimes can also accept him for being a cool & calm character, which we also need, but at the moment, we 100% need a trusted Ancelotti captain, who is able to do the following
- give feedback on tactics, help almost as an assistant (this is rare of course)
- implement tactics, keep everyone in shape during the game
- drag the team forward and back with his voice
- talk to referees, fight for our players
- lead Richy, DCL, Holgate, Davies and James when they are on the pitch - keep encouraging and helping them (James cos he must get frustrated sometimes, the others cos they are younger and need it more)
- drive the team forward when our heads are down

we are guessing when we think the players don't fancy it, but we're just guessing based on what we see. We are looking for a minimum amount of effort and if we are not coherent and the attacks and ideas are just not working, we are at least looking for tackles, pass attempts, running, running running, shouting, running, shouting more...especially on those days when the attack is not clicking and passes are not sticking.

As for the tactics, I think it looked like a negative low block, but with the attacking full backs, but that didn't work out. I think with Siggy and Gomes playing well in recent weeks, he maybe gave one chance for Gylfi-Gomes-James to all be on the same pitch, but it is clear they can't be, because they blow hot & cold so we can only afford one of them. I think now it's clear that Gylfi is a reserve for James, and Gomes is a reserve for midfield if it's an appropriate opposition. Otherwise, for me the first choice 3 is Allan-Doucoure-Davies now.

 

[hallamblue]

Spurs have not been completely dominated in a match by a team at the foot of the table. They were awful against Chelsea and rolled over by City, but that is a different kettle of fish.
Brighton beat them but not with sort of ease that Newcastle and Fulham waltzed past us.

I disagree, Brighton dominated Spurs and should have won by more.

 

[Jim Hopper]

I disagree, Brighton dominated Spurs and should have won by more.

Brighton’s stats against Spurs were little different to their stats when we played them at home this season. We took our chances well against them, in fact two of our goals came directly from errors from their midfielder other than that statistically they matched us.

 

[hallamblue]

Brighton’s stats against Spurs were little different to their stats when we played them at home this season. We took our chances well against them, in fact two of our goals came directly from errors from their midfielder other than that statistically they matched us.

It's not just about stAts it's about the flow of the game, and Brighton against Spurs wasn't too dissimilar to Fulham against us last night.

 

[Jim Hopper]

It's not just about stAts it's about the flow of the game, and Brighton against Spurs wasn't too dissimilar to Fulham against us last night.

Except Spurs seen more of the ball, made more passes, had more shots and more shots on target than we did against 18th placed Fulham.

 

[BlueToff]

Absolutely but look at the options he has.

I’m trying to see it from both POVs for me the issue is a 50/50 players and manager are both to blame. Even if he set us up to deal with the pressing game (which he really needs to work on) he then has to rely on our jokers going out there and implementing it, which in itself is a massive ask.

He had enough options yesterday not to use that system, though

King, Iwobi, Bernard - not saying they’re amazing but we’d have been able to play a system which we know can work as opposed to one that is genuinely horrifying to watch

 

[riddick]

I don't know we haven't done that every game have we....

There was one match I watched this year where we were absolutely boss in our movement and attacking in the first half. I think it was the reverse fixture against Fulham actually. During the break the commentators were raving "THIS is Carlos Everton!".

Then the second half we reverted to type, sat back and almost bottled it. It's clearly instructions to sit back. But who the hell knows what they do in training because they're still knackered after 60 minutes, we have almost literally no movement off the ball and we can't do basic passes to teammates.

 

[COYBL25]

Allan wasn’t really ready, I’ve got no idea why he was on the bench if he wasn’t fit enough to play. Gbamin is out, Delph is out, DCL is out, Pickford is out. Close to a fully fit squad but there’s three midfielders there who all of fit would feature ahead of Davies and Siggurdson.

I take your point though. For me it’s a symptom of a squad that isn’t good enough. It plays well one week and everyone forgets the Robles and are then massively disappointed when they come home to roost.

Pickford Coleman Davies Gomes Bernard Siggurdson are not good enough for where we want to be. Add also every single player who left the club on loan in January apart from the youngsters. The remaining players have zero competition for places and for most of them zero rotation options.

At the moment no matter how tired, poor, or lazy Siggurdson Gomes or Davies play they know more than likely they’re playing a part in every single game and making every match squad if fit. That’s just not good enough. These players should be close to being phased out he squad not guaranteed to be in it. Richalrison and DCL know we haven’t got a hope upfront without them. All of the defenders know that they’re all as bad as each other at times and they’ll all play games regardless .

Post of the day.

 

[Jim Hopper]

He had enough options yesterday not to use that system, though

King, Iwobi, Bernard - not saying they’re amazing but we’d have been able to play a system which we know can work as opposed to one that is genuinely horrifying to watch

I agree he needs to work on his approach to teams that play in that manner. It’s the 4th/5th game this season we have come up against a side who play like that and we have had no answers for it. The fact he came out after the game and just said “we couldn’t deal with their high pressing approach” is waving the white flag and admitting he 1) Doesn't know what to do or 2) He doesn’t have the team to be able to cope with that style of play (which is somewhat evident, particularly in the middle of the park).