I'll take the clean sheet, defense looks completely different with Silva and Mendy. Still not clinical enough on the final ball tho and it's clear we still need to gel
yeah, youth shows, and lack of time together shows, but I feel really confident that when these guys click, they'll have some moments of pure brilliance
seems like a young, ungelled team held with a very experienced side that played their game to a T. I don’t hate it.
At least according to 538, Rennes and Krasnador are quite bad so I don’t see a huge threat of not advancing. Always nice to win the group though and that’s still achievable. Clean sheet, point earned, moving on to United.
rennes are tied for second in Ligue 1 but I believe they had Mendy for the first 2 games which they won and no idea on the new keeper. Krasnador is not good.
Krasnodar is 7th in the Russian Premier League (6 points back of Zenit and Spartak in 1st/2nd). We should handle them but midweek trips to the old Soviet bloc are never fun.
Rennes are obviously the third best in the Group (and Camavinga is incredible for his age) but the stats say they’re quite a bit worse than Lille were last season which bodes well for qualification.
Had some time (and bourbon) to digest the game so bear with me for some rambling thoughts: 1) Sevilla is obviously a good team with a good (great?) track record in Europe, so I’m OK with the 0-0 score line (especially the clean sheet aspect). That being said, it felt like they were playing defensively on the road and are the happier side with the result. 2) Can’t reiterate this enough, but why the hell is Pulisic not penciled in as the LW in every game he plays? He is by far more effective and dynamic going forward than any other option we have there. 3) By extension, given the midfield issues, why is Mount not being played more (at all?) there?
Should we be trying a 4-3-3 with Jorginho-kante-kovacic again? That 3 man midfield was a failure in my estimation under sarri. We didn’t get enough going forward. How much do Liverpool get going forward though from the midfield? Liverpool have a false 9 who doesn’t score and a midfield that doesn’t score a lot. I think it’s worth trying those 3 with a front 3 of pulisic, havertz and Werner. You have 3 players who can score. When we tried that midfield 3 under sarri, only hazard was a scorer. We also didn’t have the fullback talent that we have now with chilwell and Reece James when he plays. I think it’s at least worth a shot in a bigger game. Didn’t we do 4-3-3 with that midfield in the super cup against Liverpool last season and we played well?
He doesn’t look like himself at all. Maybe he isn’t happy. Maybe the tactics aren’t working for him. I’d like to see us bench mount next game and give the Jorginho-kante-Kovacic trio another chance. I think we have to try and defend deep and hit United on the counter. No reason to take unnecessary chances. Pulisic-Werner-havertz front 3. Let them interchange positions and use their speed. kante and Kovacic just seem to be unable to play in a pivot unless the other player in the pivot is powerful, athletic and disciplined. Basically need a matic or a declan rice which allows them to wonder around. Jorginho is not athletic enough or powerful enough to do that. It has kante and Kovacic playing poorly with him in a pivot. Need to try that 4-3-3. That trio didn’t work in the midfield because they didn’t score goals but we now have forward players that can score. Lets see if that midfield can work with the current front 3. I also wouldn’t be opposed to a 4-4-2 diamond with Jorginho at the base, kante and kova on the sides and pulisic at the tip with havertz and Werner as strikers. That probably wouldn’t look that different from the 4-3-3 I described.
RLC and ola aina vs batshuayi coming up. Makes this game a bit more interesting. I concur with the rest of you. Definitely nervous for this game. Just doesn’t seem like we are fully clicking and lampard still doesn’t seem to have found the balance between defensive structure and scoring with this squad We should play a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 diamond. We looked so good against United last season in the FA cup with 3 at the back though that I have a feeling he goes back to that. A 3-4-2-1 would squeeze pulisic or mount out of the lineup and I’m afraid of which one frank would choose but part of me does want to see what havertz can do as that right inside forward/right number 10.
This feels like a game where the lineup change works and then fails miserably when we do the same thing for the next two games.
We really need a goal. Defense hasn’t been as awful as usual but you can just feel that big mistake coming
Are you fucking kidding me? That’s what they are looking at!? Not the absolute tackle on the other end? This is fucking ridiculous
Maguire looked like he was brawling on Mykonos back there. Why the fuck is this getting a look on VAR and not that foul?
I just don’t understand how that doesn’t get a VAR look. It’s a stonewall penalty. We always get screwed against United by VAR. we have controlled the game but not much of anything. The game is missing creativity from midfield. I think Kovacic for Jorginho would give us the ability to get some ball carrying from the back. Or move to a 3-5-2 and bring on giroud who gives us more of a presence in the middle.
Pulisic has been inches away from three goals today. He seems like the only one who turns to goal when he has the ball. Everyone else is looking to pass (besides Werner, who has been pretty invisible today)
Why is frank so afraid to make a substitution? He waited too late midweek and is waiting too late here as well.