allani Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Just now, hippo said: "We have a clear system in mind - but don't yet have the players for that system " You couldn't make this stuff up could you It's shades of Remi Garde "right man wrong time" nonsense that was spouted during his tenure. Is it worse than spending 2 season putting together a squad and then not knowing what system to play? I think we are suffering from the fact that (wrongly) Smith believed that McGinn and Luiz were good enough to be our central midfield pairing. Until that is addressed I don't know that any system we play with the player that we have will work. I think ultimately that cost Smith his job (that plus the fact that he struggled to get us to perform with Jack in the team). I think we need to let Gerrard try and fix that (or decide that it doesn't need fixing) before criticising him too much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmygreaves Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, allani said: Is it worse than spending 2 season putting together a squad and then not knowing what system to play? Yes it's worse, on several levels. It demonstrates a lack of ideas and flexibility. It's also incredibly risky and potentially very expensive. What happens when the "right" players are signed, Gerrard's system is implemented to the plan and we don't improve. What happens when we have injuries so the system can't be implemented..... Smith should have been removed, we needed to move to the next phase. Throwing the year on year improvement away and starting again feels unnecessary and very risky. Especially with a coach who's so green. Edited February 19, 2022 by jimmygreaves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 20 minutes ago, allani said: Is it worse than spending 2 season putting together a squad and then not knowing what system to play? I think we are suffering from the fact that (wrongly) Smith believed that McGinn and Luiz were good enough to be our central midfield pairing. Until that is addressed I don't know that any system we play with the player that we have will work. I think ultimately that cost Smith his job (that plus the fact that he struggled to get us to perform with Jack in the team). I think we need to let Gerrard try and fix that (or decide that it doesn't need fixing) before criticising him too much. Slightly different point to your original one though If he has a clear system in mind (your words) but doesn't yet have the players to play it (again your words) Isn't that a basic managerial error to try and play a system that he doesn't have the players for ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 1 hour ago, hippo said: Digne hasn't been a considerable upgrade. Most certainly no. Lost possession more than any other player v Newcastle. And 8 of his 9 crosses hit a Newcastle man. It did feel like he was trying to assault a Newcastle player at one stage 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Glad the manager lived up to his word and made wholesale changes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 2 hours ago, jimmygreaves said: Yes it's worse, on several levels. It demonstrates a lack of ideas and flexibility. It's also incredibly risky and potentially very expensive. What happens when the "right" players are signed, Gerrard's system is implemented to the plan and we don't improve. What happens when we have injuries so the system can't be implemented..... Smith should have been removed, we needed to move to the next phase. Throwing the year on year improvement away and starting again feels unnecessary and very risky. Especially with a coach who's so green. OK fair enough. Get rid of Coutinho and bring back AEG and Trez. That must succeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 The formation has already shown its weakness on the turnover. Having two defenders as the only people back is madness. I'm all for attacking full backs, but both at the same time. Pace will kill this team time and again. Great save from Emi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 24 minutes ago, allani said: OK fair enough. Get rid of Coutinho and bring back AEG and Trez. That must succeed. Asides from the fact I think this is extremely unfair on El Ghazi who is not a striker but got double figures last season and a call up to the Netherlands squad, no one is suggesting that having good players is bad. Merely questioning the set up and long term success we will have following this strategy both in terms of set up and signing profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 1 minute ago, Dale said: Asides from the fact I think this is extremely unfair on El Ghazi who is not a striker but got double figures last season and a call up to the Netherlands squad, no one is suggesting that having good players is bad. Merely questioning the set up and long term success we will have following this strategy both in terms of set up and signing profile. Let's at least give the guy a proper transfer window and pre-season first. I mean we have all been crying out for an midfielder for the best part of 2 seasons because it has been causing us problems. Questioning our long term success when we haven't even had a proper chance to solve that problem just seems a bit over the top. IF we don't sign any midfielders OR we do and still struggle THEN questions should be asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepal_villan Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Not convinced with our tactics at all. Defensively lots of gaps in the middle and channels and our midfielders very static going forward. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuwabatake Sanjuro Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 We are almost too symmetrical with our shape too, last season when we used to have the lad on the left to focus our attacks through we were able to create overloads, now it is just Cash and Digne out on their own on the wings and we are not looking as creative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Reivax_Villa Posted February 19, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 19, 2022 (edited) The two number 10’s are not working. We are playing to narrow, overly relying on our full backs that currently lacking quality. When the full backs push forward stretches our midfield that are covering the full back position, that leaves space in the middle and vulnerable at the back . Offensively we are not stretching teams because we play too narrow, so it’s very easy for teams to park the bus and catch us on the counter. Gerrard Ball has easily been sussed at this level. Edited February 19, 2022 by Reivax_Villa 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepal_villan Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 This system does not work. You can see the players are confused and we are constantly exposed on the counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 Don't know what the answer is but its not right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 We're not getting a tune out of: Philippe Countinho Emi Buendia Danny Ings Leon Bailey Ollie Watkins Not good enough at all. So much class there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I just don't like the system. Maybe it will work after the summer transfer window but I can't see where it works at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevpants Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 This system is like some kind of abstract thought experiment. You could probably put together a nice document, maybe even a book, outlining its merits. But it doesn't actually work in real life. Maybe it works with top players. Not the jokers we have though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM3000 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 13 minutes ago, DCJonah said: I just don't like the system. Maybe it will work after the summer transfer window but I can't see where it works at the moment. The bulk of it isn't going to change much. Ideally he would keep Coutinho, can't see Buendia being sold. Digne is the full back of choice, could maybe get a new RB. He seems to love McGinn and Ramsey. A new DM and RB isn't going to make a huge difference, Ings and Watkins are good strikers for where we are it's just not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grobs Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I don’t like this saying as it’s cliche. But we really lack any sort of nastyness in the squad. We are the easiest away match for any team in the league I would argue. The spine of the team is gutless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 3 hours ago, Reivax_Villa said: The two number 10’s are not working. We are playing to narrow, overly relying on our full backs that currently lacking quality. When the full backs push forward stretches our midfield that are covering the full back position, that leaves space in the middle and vulnerable at the back . Offensively we are not stretching teams because we play too narrow, so it’s very easy for teams to park the bus and catch us on the counter. Gerrard Ball has easily been sussed at this level. Have to agree with this. The lack of width in forward areas makes us too easy to defend against. It might work in games where we are on the back foot and can be compact in midfield, nicking a goal, but in games we should dominate we are simultaneously not creative enough and too open on the break. I'm not sure Gerrard really knows what he is doing but the next games will tell us. If we keep flogging this horse I will lose faith fairly quickly. We got rid of Deano far too soon IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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