andym

I'd be surprised if any of his teamates actually like Pickford, always shouting and moaning at them if he has to save a shot, then lets in goals like that.

23 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Brentford were favourites too, couldn't see it myself.

Another team we struggled with, getting destroyed by average Wolves., It's getting a little worrying for us.

Tbf Brentford just sat back against us which was always going to be more difficult to break down

Been much more open and adventurous tonight and although that means they've had more chances than against us, they've paid the price at the other end

Also Collins seems to have forgotten he transferred from Wolves to Brentford

18 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Sheffield United lost from 2-1 up at home to Luton so I'd say not finding a way to beat them at home and really not playing that well was the pressure or at least the expectation of going top getting to us a little bit.

When we played Luton they barely got out of their own half all game but we still strolled to a 3-0 lead.

Last night was incredibly frustrating aswell just for blowing a lead like all the previous times we've done it v Man. United home or away so probably a bit more reactionary based on the opponent as it wouldn't quite have hit so hard if it had occurred v Man. City or Arsenal (as could well happen later on in the season).

Ultimately this is still just about masquerading as some sort of title thread so ultimately if you want to be a serious contender you have to take your chances to go top when they arise and we haven't been good enough on two occasions and two different game scenarios.

I think Sheffield Utd was more complacency than expectation getting to us, Unai's approach for certain games has clearly been to try and win within ourselves (thinking long term till the end of the season and energy conservation), given the speed we play at at times, but we took it to an extreme against Sheffield, where we played at a snails pace. Although i think we could have expected the ref/VAR to do their job properly on at least one of the occasions where they messed up.

You are spot on with your final point -  ultimately it all comes down to taking your chances when you get them, and for whatever reason, we couldn't.

3 hours ago, DJBOB said:

In general, the same perseverance of thought from Legia away exists now. 
 
We have a very strong XI and maybe 12th and 13th. 
 
But when have to start playing players 14-17, the quality drop off is noticeable and I respect Unai for trying to play the same way as it would be somewhat foolish to throw away everything from the training ground because Dendoncker is playing. 
 
But he really should have had a Plan B with the lesser players out there. 

I think that's the case with all of the top managers like Pep, Klopp etc - they have their principles, and although there can be tweaks here and there, they stick to them nearly all the time as over the course of the season it gets them where they want to be overall, even if it may cost them bad results at times. If a player really can't play the system, he just gets replaced. Its also probably quite hard to try and ingrain multiple systems to the level of detail required these days.

I think we do have the alternate/B system, where we've gone with the 3 CBs and Cash more advanced, even though Cash doesn't seem to be able to play that role, and i've wondered a few times whether he's sticking with it to get the team used to it and then he will look to just sign someone more suited to that role instead of Cash.  

He's said a few times there's been occasions where he's had to basically practice stuff in games given how the fixture list has been leaving less time on the training pitch, and he's always thinking long term - after that run of losses last season to Leicester, Arsenal and City people were saying stop the playing out from the back because we can't do it, but he stuck with it because he knew we'd benefit from it later down the line.

Maybe i'm just overthinking it.

17 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Yep, two chances to go top (win tonight and we'd have had an opportunity to do it v Burnley) and we've come short both times and in different ways.

No shame as bitterly disappointing as that second half was but this is an important lesson for the players. We will have far more high pressure games than this in April/May if we want to finish top 4 and actuallly win something so they need to show a bit more in digging in then they did at 1-2 as that was very poor to witness.

But was that down to failing to deal with pressure?

We've dug it out plenty of times this season, and end of last season we got over the line including the crucial final game against Brighton to get into the conference league. Before last night we hadn't dropped any points from winning positions this season (no other team bettered that), so was bound to happen at some point, although for it to happen in that manner was galling.

We need a freshen up, because some of the errors we've made last two games, in attack against Sheffield with endless sloppy passes in the final third, and defensively against Man U scream fatigue to me - the Carlos pass was a stand out, but Lenglet and McGinn's attempted blocks/clearances for the other two goals were also really poor.

The thursday/sunday routine with Europe can catch teams out if they are not used to it (see West Ham last season who look to have learnt from that this year, and Brighton so far this season), and we've had the added issue of 4 starters (and key contributors) from last season missing nearly all of this.

Prior to last night we hadn't dropped any points from winning positions, the only team to have been in that position half way through the season.

We've also gained 12 points from losing positions which i think is 3rd best. (funny how when our rivals get late goals to rescue points it's strong mentality, yet when we do it it's lucky and getting out of jail)

Last night was a shocker, we were complacent against Sheffield, and we've thrown in some other really poor performances at other times this season.

But overall to say this side is mentally weak and can't deal with pressure is frankly disrespectful to Unai and the team, given how the seasons gone so far (and the last 14 or so months really).

We may run out of steam, and that's likely if we don't freshen up the squad in jan, but that's going to be because of lack of depth exacerbated by injuries, and the thursday/sunday routine that comes with europe, not because we are chokers.

Putrid

Should have them in at 9am tomorrow tomorrow for debrief and training, because they clearly didnt want to work in that 2nd half

To be 2-0 up and then concede 3 against a dog shit man utd side who are the lowest scorers in the division is an absolute disgrace

Switched on to see a replay of Bruno hacking down a Forest player.

Checked match stats, somehow no yellow.

2 mins later he's diving and grabbing the ball, and somehow getting the freekick

Gets away with it every week, one of the dirtiest players in the league

For all the talk that teams have worked us out and will just sit back, we are better when underdogs etc, we've played 12 games against teams lower than us at the time of playing (i've also included everton 2nd game who were level on points but i think everyone would have had us favourites)

8 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss.

2 of those draws away at Wolves who had just beaten Man City and away at Bournemouth who have won 5 out of 6 (us being who they dropped points to).

Its a similar ratio if you consider Unai's time as a whole.

There's going to be games where we dont perform like we can and drop points to lower teams, but that happens in this league. Overall, we are beatings teams we are expected to, with the added bonus of getting results against our rivals.

Some people seem to go into crisis mode unless we beat a team 3-0 with no chances against. 

19 hours ago, GlobalVillan said:

Yes I think our squad has shown itself to be significantly worse than Spurs squad several times this season. (By that I mean that we have struggled pretty much every time we have had to make a few changes ie Mostar, Everton,  Sheff Utd.....)

We won at their place when they had about 6 players out and whilst it was a good win, we barely got over the line. 

Had they had Maddison and Bentancur (they had many more out)! and we were missing Watkins and Luiz, I reckon we would have lost heavily.

But my main concern is that we rely solely on Watkins as a striker, due to having absolutely no quality back up.

Spurs are only 3 points behind us despite their ridiculous injury list and when they get the likes of Maddison back, they will push on.

They also have no Euro distraction.

I doubt Buendia coming back will have the same effect, and that's if he comes back this season at all.

I'd be delighted with 5th and it would show real progression. I cannot see us finishing any higher, but it's hard to see us finishing any lower either.

We've had Mings and Buendia out all season and only just got back Moreno, with Ramsey missing lots of games. All starters last season and would have been heavily involved this season.

Spurs big issue against us was having to play a full back at CB because Romero was out. Nothing unlucky about that, it was his own stupidity getting him banned.

As for us struggling at times and barely getting over the line on occasions, why are Spurs any different? 

Needed a 96th min OG to beat a 9 man Liverpool (as well as liverpool having a legit goal ruled out). 

Needed 98th and 100th min goals to get past Sheffield Utd.

They also imploded at home to a woeful Chelsea side, blew leads against us, Wolves and West Ham.

You can pick holes in both sides (and any side fighting at the top end this season tbf). Spurs may finish above us, but i dont think our squad is significantly worse, and we have just as much chance of finishing above them.

15 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

I didn't think his layoff was badly weighted at all.

Yeah was a good layoff, unfortunately it was about the only good thing he did.

Multiple times he tried to take on 2 players, lost it then just stood there. One of those times was in our half and led to Sheffield getting into our box (may have been the Konsa near own goal).

Needs to wise up quick

Breaking down a well drilled low block is tough, and Sheffield played a very low block; at half time they showed average positions and Sheffields CBs were basically on top of their GK.

Its why top teams go out and spend big money on players who can create in tight spaces.

We didn't help ourselves with some sloppy passing in the final 3rd. Could have done with Tielemans tonight.

Really good run and header

Zaniolo!

Awful all round

McGinn and Cash dogshit tracking, then 4 players in the box yet Archer has 5 yards of space?

Got what we deserved for a pathetic attitude tonight

Disgraceful

Ball watching

Final ball/shot has been appalling tonight

Too many overhit, aimless balls into the box

Stop doing stupid stuff

Some really dumb play atm

Bailey's stupid shot, Duran just there

Hasnt he just whacked that with his arm?

It was a foul by Ramsey, but Ramsey was being fouled himself

Not even considered

Sheff Utd player pulling Ramsey's shirt off his back

Getting fed up of the ball going out to Cash, he has Bailey open 20 yards further up, but delays and ends up having to go back to Emi.

He just doesn't see the right pass quick enough

Some very poor passing in the final 3rd