What is our biggest problem?

[degsy]

Other; pace, intensity, when we get this, most of the other problems...but not formation, and maybe game management, which might get better with more to work with

 

[Toffe3m4n]

Could the problems we have in defense potentially come down to a communication issue above all else?

New players/returning bodies coupled with chopping and changing of starting lineups/systems and various different language barriers I can see being considerable factors in it all..

 

[navidson]

Fitness

 

[Furey1878]

Too much deadwood and strength in depth are pretty much hand in hand.

Can't afford to add to squad depth as we still have too many players to get shut off before it's financially viable to spend money on another wide player, full back or CM.

So I have to say deadwood, we'll see better squad options added once we shift the likes Bolasie, Sigurdsson, Tosun, Delph, Besic

 

[Toffeelover]

I would say the top five choices all go hand in hand, difficult to pick any particular one out.

 

[jamieni]

I would say the top five choices all go hand in hand, difficult to pick any particular one out.

I’d agree. If we had a proper option to replace Pickford we may have sorted out the defence. Everyone with international players is getting hit with injuries and our bench is mostly rubbish.

 

[cjuk87]

I just can't wrap my head around how we watched Leicester win the league. We watched them weekly press, pressure and chase every single ball. Then watched Liverpool do the exact same thing, never letting the opponent breathe, every single player working for the shirt and then decided that we'd continue allowing the opposition as much time and space as they need.

It doesn't even take world class players, it takes willing players, which is probably our issue over the years. A team with Richarlison's workrate and determination and we'd be sorted.

I remember a few seasons back, I'm sure it was West Ham at home, we put so much pressure on them throughout and it was a joy to watch. I finally thought we'd cracked it, then the next game, we went back to sluggish, lazy football.

It baffles me. We always look like the slowest, least arsed team in the league. No matter what squad or manager.

 

[jamieni]

I just can't wrap my head around how we watched Leicester win the league. We watched them weekly press, pressure and chase every single ball. Then watched Liverpool do the exact same thing, never letting the opponent breathe, every single player working for the shirt and then decided that we'd continue allowing the opposition as much time and space as they need.

It doesn't even take world class players, it takes willing players, which is probably our issue over the years. A team with Richarlison's workrate and determination and we'd be sorted.

I remember a few seasons back, I'm sure it was West Ham at home, we put so much pressure on them throughout and it was a joy to watch. I finally thought we'd cracked it, then the next game, we went back to sluggish, lazy football.

It baffles me. We always look like the slowest, least arsed team in the league. No matter what squad or manager.

If Moyes’ team had a playmaker of the quality of Rodriguez and someone in the form that DCL is in then we would have troubled the CL spots. Attitude and work rate goes a long way.

 

[Cmonefcsortitout!]

Strength in depth. I feel like our best 11 is only a player, or two, away from being really decent. Once we lose any of those players, with the possible exception of the centre backs, we become much weaker. How have we ended up with Iwobi playing as a left back?! I dread losing Dom, we would be left with Tosun as our main striker.

 

[Furey1878]

Strength in depth. I feel like our best 11 is only a player, or two, away from being really decent. Once we lose any of those players, with the possible exception of the centre backs, we become much weaker. How have we ended up with Iwobi playing as a left back?! I dread losing Dom, we would be left with Tosun as our main striker.

Presumably Richarlison would get the nod through the middle before we started Tosun, but still then we're back to Iwobi or Bernard offering little from the left.

 

[Lanolin]

Our biggest problem is everything that happened before last Xmas since Martinez first season was mostly utter crap or average at its best. Filled with mistakes, mostly around recruitment. We have been regularly horrific for a long time.

personally I’ll be waiting for a further year or probably more before worrying about much in the current regime. Never mind actually putting the boot in and mentioning sackings, and criticizing the few decent players we do have....

if you keep thinking success comes with just a change of manager and a couple of signings, then you are going to be disappointed and stupidly angry, almost every time.

I agree with this, but to be fair I don't blame the fans at all, the attitude comes from the club. There was no point sacking Silva for a bad start to the season if we were then going to say it's going to be another 3 years before the manager replacing him can be expected to have an impact. There's no point spending a fortune on James, Allan and Doucoure and then saying we don't actually expect to achieve anything until their contracts have expired. The club needs to commit to either a slow burning long term vision or a quick short term boost with a view to building on it later. At the moment we seem to be falling half way between the two, and so we're just stuck in a neverending cycle of averageness.

 

[jamieni]

I agree with this, but to be fair I don't blame the fans at all, the attitude comes from the club. There was no point sacking Silva for a bad start to the season if we were then going to say it's going to be another 3 years before the manager replacing him can be expected to have an impact. There's no point spending a fortune on James, Allan and Doucoure and then saying we don't actually expect to achieve anything until their contracts have expired. The club needs to commit to either a slow burning long term vision or a quick short term boost with a view to building on it later. At the moment we seem to be falling half way between the two, and so we're just stuck in a neverending cycle of averageness.

I imagine the club wants to be on the up going into the new stadium. Europa league footy is not impossible next season if we address some of our issues in January.

There’s no way anyone can expect any manager to challenge for regular CL footy, never mind the title, with the squad as it is. First XI decentish, bench horrific. Even the likes of Leicester and Wolves have options coming off the bench. We have pretty much zilch.

If we get very lucky with injuries and suspensions for the rest of the season we might do pretty well but we’ve already seen what happens when we have to bring in Sigurdsson, Davies et al to the starting lineup.

 

[Lanolin]

I imagine the club wants to be on the up going into the new stadium. Europa league footy is not impossible next season if we address some of our issues in January.

There’s no way anyone can expect any manager to challenge for regular CL footy, never mind the title, with the squad as it is. First XI decentish, bench horrific. Even the likes of Leicester and Wolves have options coming off the bench. We have pretty much zilch.

I've said a few times, I think the CL is a long way off even with a new team. It's hard to break into that top 4, there's a reason the top/big 6 are called that, because the top 4 is almost always made up of 4 of those 6 teams. CL qualification is not something I would expect us to achieve any time soon if i'm honest. The title is only a possibility if either we 'do a Leicester' and win it by some sort of freak, or Usmanov steps out of the shadows and bankrolls us to a ridiculous extent.

I'm not really looking at those things as part of my thinking to be honest, they're way off. I'm thinking more of turning that top 6 into a top 7, so we are considered very much part of the big group, and winning a couple of cups. The point though, was that we need to either accept it will take a while to get to where we want to be and so buy (and use) young players with a view to improving, or focus on the here and now and look to get better quickly. I still think we can't quite decide which path to take, and it shows.

 

[Agent Blue]

We need pace, pace and more pace.

 

[Methuselah]

Strength in depth. I feel like our best 11 is only a player, or two, away from being really decent. Once we lose any of those players, with the possible exception of the centre backs, we become much weaker. How have we ended up with Iwobi playing as a left back?! I dread losing Dom, we would be left with Tosun as our main striker.

I agree 'strength in depth' is our no. 1 problem. If we have 2, 3 or 4 injuries (which we have had) the regular first team players know better than anyone that the replacements are not up to scratch. This must be demoralising before a ball is even kicked.