M_Afro

Agree about Watkins and Ings. I just think if you are going to play with 2 wingers, firstly your wingers need to be really good and secondly you really need two combative defensive centre mids. I don’t see us being able to tick either of those boxes at the moment. I also agree that our summer business was a bit of a mess. Our midfield was the area that really needed addressing and we ignored it. We then replaced our left attacking forward and best player with two right attacking forwards and a centre forward! Bonkers!

I don’t agree at all. I think 4-3-3 is the best formation for our squad. We don’t have the defenders to play 5-3-2. We don’t have the midfielders to play 4-2-2. Any attempt to play 4-2-3-1 without Grealish has been absolutely shambolic. There are other variations but I think they are even more unsuitable. Out of interest, what would your preferred formation be?

I agree. Those 4 form the spine of our starting 11. Remove the spine of any team outside of maybe City and Chelsea and they would struggle. Add in the fact that you have to play Luis in a position that in my opinion is not his best and also have to chuck in Traore for his first start in months! Not forgetting that SJM has just been through Covid (and Christmas!). It’s not that surprising that we weren’t great!

Another one?! Come on! He has proven time and again that he is not up to it. I like the bloke but he is way down the pecking order now and for good reason.

Nail on head. It happens a lot. He should 100% have been closing down the shot not holding his position. He does it often and it drives me mad. The Leicester goal is another example. I’m sure it’s one of the reasons he doesn’t get dribbled past too often because he does not commit to a challenge. To be fair to him, Targett, Ramsey and Hause had all messed up before it got to that point!

I agree but until we improve the quality of our players Gerrard will be forced to continue in a cautious manner. Dean Smith loved a basketball match and we used to get picked apart with ease. Gerrard won’t allow that to happen. When I talk about aggression, I’m not just talking about strong challenges. I’m also talking about aggressive intensity. We sauntered around the pitch today as if we were playing a Sunday morning testimonial. Our passing was/is laboured. Our reading of the game and anticipation is non existent. We hardly won a second ball all game. It’s too easy. There is a real lack of intelligence amongst our team. Gerrard will address all of these things but it will take time and the progression will be phased.

He is spot on with his comments in his post match interview. Mistakes and a lack of aggression cost us today. That’s completely on the players and can only really be fixed in the transfer window. He will get backed and will start to address these issues. We have previously been obsessed with signing diminutive, tidy football players who are flaky at best. It’s no surprise that our performances have dropped without Marvelous. He is our only real physical presence in the centre of the park. Gerrard will address this in time. I expect him to sign some strong players who know how to stick their foot in and don’t give an inch. They will be most welcome. Our midfield three were truly awful today. They are all capable of having good games but are equally as likely to stink the place out. Unfortunately when they all do that at the same time, we lose to rubbish teams.

I don’t get the Konsa love in. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he is a problem and there are much bigger issues elsewhere that need addressing first but I don’t think he is anywhere near as good as other fans make him out. If we sign a new centre back it’s him that will make way not Mings.

Why 2 games? He was awful today, do they double it up for poor play?!

Like so many of our players today, he is so half arsed. They looked half asleep and he was the sleepiest of the lot.

We really missed Mings, Marv and Ollie. They provide our physicality and intensity. Add to that the fact that all of our midfield three were truly awful and you’ve got no chance. We need a new Centre Half to put pressure on Konsa, who is always lacking in intensity. We need a DCM who is consistently good and a new starting left back. All of them need to be fast, strong and preferably big. Bad day at the office today. It happens. I trust Gerrard to get the players in that will make a difference. Our summer signings are proving to be disappointing so far. Plus point was Buendia who was probably our best player today.

We are just so sloppy. We give the ball away under no pressure time and again. Our midfield is still powderpuff when competing for second balls. It’s so frustrating. Needless mistakes undoing some really good work! Brentford are starting to get in between the lines and have some joy. This is where we really miss a top quality CDM. Hopefully this will be addressed before the end of the month. Still all to play for but momentum is with them. We need to massively up our intensity at the start of the second half. If we do we have a great chance. If not we will lose comfortably. We really are missing Mings today.

Newcastle will stay up 100%. They are not as bad as their results suggest and they are about to sign some good players. I also think that their manager is pretty good too. You can double your money backing them to stay up. Easy money.

Tagliafico is a top, top player. At least, that’s what 20 minutes of google searches would suggest! Never seen him play but if SG wants him, that’s 100% good enough for me. Get him in.

If only Westwood had a Brazilian Grandma. Imagine the scenes as he turned up for Brazil duty ready to ping some sideways passes out to the full backs who unfortunately had not read the script and had advanced 40m ahead of play.

Seeming more and more likely that he will be off. I’m not all that bothered to be honest so long as we are getting another CH through the door. He isn’t good enough to start for us and he wants game time. Fair play to him for wanting to push himself. If we get Gomez on loan as a replacement then it’s win win.

I love the way he is with the media. There’s no joking or arsing around, it’s strictly business. He has a real air of authority about him and the media are clearly on edge with him. You have to really believe in yourself to behave in that manner. Manager’s who lack belief use their friendships with key figures in the media to create a false narrative (not naming names but look out for flying cabbages).

I know that January is a difficult time to make signings but I am really interested to see what we try to do. It might lead to very little but the intent is what will make it really interesting. I’ve been impressed with everything that Gerrard has done so far. He is proving to be a really class act but his greatest influence may be yet to come. Gerrard has played at the very highest level. He knows what good looks like and has the pull to really attract a higher level of player than would have been attainable previously. I expect him to show real ambition with his attempted targets. Links to the likes of Gomez would previously have been totally unrealistic but now we do have an outside chance of making this level of signing. The next 4 weeks could prove to be very exciting.

I agree. The only concern is his injury record. In terms of ability, he would easily be our best defender.

Lots of talk about Hickey still. We are also interested in Patterson at Rangers. I think both would be excellent signings for us. They are both capable of being top full backs. Add in a CDM, get some of our injured players back and the second half of the season could be really enjoyable.

He has his weaknesses but I think this is a tad harsh. He has a great engine, is an effective presser and scored key goals. I would like to see him in the Gerrard team to see what he can do. It could be well wide of the mark but I do wonder if he could convert to an effective right back similar to what Cash did and of course Elmo.

Looks like he is off to Forest on loan. Hopefully a chance to really prove himself at a decent level.

I would be happy with Hickey and Gomez. We don’t need another 8 so I would be amazed and also a bit peeved if we signed Kamara. Swap him for a good 6 and I’d be happy

I think the way Gerrard has us set up is pretty much as good as it gets with our current squad. We seriously lack football intelligence throughout the team though and we will continue to make big mistakes until we address it. That’s why Young has been important. He is a clever footballer who genuinely makes the right choices. If you take the Chelsea matches as an example. Across the two games, we were actually fairly evenly matched and yet ended up losing 6-1 on aggregate! There are many examples where poor decisions at both ends have cost us. It’s hard to decide which of the six goals we conceded was the worst as they all should have been avoided but I think the most annoying two are the first and last from the home match. The first was awful. We had just taken the lead. We were on top in the match. Looking dangerous on the break against a team who have been struggling to create chances. Step up Cash. Under absolutely no pressure he brings down their player and gives them a spot kick. Utterly brain dead defending. He had no idea where his attacker was and then went to ground when he should have stayed on his feet. Needless and infuriating. Chelsea straight back in the game! The third was nearly as bad. How many times do you see City in a similar defensive position and just bring the centre forward down on the half way line and take a card. It was in injury time. If it had been the first minute then maybe not but in the 93rd minute it is the only option for an intelligent defender. Again. Utterly brain dead defending. It’s not just Cash and Targett either. Mings, Konsa and Axel have all been guilty of similar poor decisions in the concession of these six goals. Our front players are equally as guilty. We got into so many good goal scoring positions across those two games and came away with just a single, lucky own goal. So, when it comes to upgrading our current players, we need players who are physically superior to those that they are replacing but also much smarter. It’s maybe a bit harsh but really only Martinez and Young consistently make the right decisions. The others need to start learning very quickly.

This is a really good point. Even at 26/27 Vardy had massive holes in his game. He improved year on year. Ollie is learning to play a new position whilst holding his own in the most competitive league in the world. He is also a new Dad which can take it’s toll, particularly during a global pandemic! Ollie always works incredibly hard and gives his all for the team. He is a constant nuisance to the opposition defenders. He makes the most of many hopeful punts up front and he has really good physicality. For where we are right now he is as important to our starting eleven as any other outfield player. He also has massive scope to improve. He has to play up top though. Move him away from central striker and his effectiveness plummets. The strange signing of Ings has certainly caused confusion because he does not make it into our first 11 and that can never have been the intention.