Starting games negatively and lack of energy

Idxomer

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Another 1st half goes at home with the team not getting out of the 1st gear, there's no intensity from the players or the manager at all.
 

thesheriffjw

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Does not help when the team has to carry players like martial and matic

Martial does sbsolute nothing other that shrug his shoulders and look miserable.

Matic is mr sideways and runs slower than tortoise
 

hobbers

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They're not being coached, prepared or motivated for games.
 

Ludens the Red

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Moaned about this in the match day thread. It basically happens every game without question. You know it’s coming, you see it coming and then it comes. I don’t even know what to say to it.
 

MadDogg

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I actually thought we started fairly well, especially considering we were basically playing with 10 men as Mata wasn't getting involved at all. Strangely as Mata started getting move involved the team as a whole dropped off and struggled to get anywhere (which is the opposite of what often happens where Mata playing well is normally a sign the team is playing well).
 

Idxomer

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I actually thought we started fairly well, especially considering we were basically playing with 10 men as Mata wasn't getting involved at all. Strangely as Mata started getting move involved the team as a whole dropped off and struggled to get anywhere (which is the opposite of what often happens where Mata playing well is normally a sign the team is playing well).
Last game against Everton I thought we started well despite their early goal but not tonight.

WBA left a lot of space behind and wasn't exactly defending well. There was nothing coming from the team except the Martial chance which was the only time in the 1st half we took advantage of the WBA's obvious lack of quality and organization.
 

1nil

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Has Ole lost it?! Why does he not rely on VDB to add energy to this team. He scores one week and gets benched the following one. What a brilliant way to boost someone’s confidence.
 

jem

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It's the one thing I can't forgive to be honest - how this team can possibly feel it's entitled to just show and play without the required intensity, I'll never understand. It's why I love players like Bruno and McTominay, who despite his obvious faults, can never be accused of lacking intensity.
 

el3mel

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This feels like a problem present since LVG first season and we never managed to solve it since then. As I said in another thread, today's game I feel I have seen it 100 times already by now.
 

RedRonaldo

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No matter how many managers and players we've changed, its same old shite.
 

elmo

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Has Ole lost it?! Why does he not rely on VDB to add energy to this team. He scores one week and gets benched the following one. What a brilliant way to boost someone’s confidence.
He clearly doesn't rate VDB since he's started Mata and an unfit Pogba over him continuously.
 

MadDogg

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He clearly doesn't rate VDB since he's started Mata and an unfit Pogba over him continuously.
He doesn't seem to rate him as a central midfielder or a winger. That's different than not rating him at all. Ole just seems to only really see him as a #10 atm, which of course puts him in direct competition with Bruno which is only going to go one way. Even today when he had both on the field Bruno moved out to the right so that VDB could play centrally.

Personally I'd like to see VDB get a chance out on the right to see how he does, but Ole sees him in training so perhaps there's a reason it's not happening. He never played there for Ajax after all.
 

Idxomer

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It's like every game now we are trying to outdo the previous one in how badly we're gonna play in the 1st half.
 

Web of Bissaka

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It's like every game now we are trying to outdo the previous one in how badly we're gonna play in the 1st half.
It's intentional, by design.

Play bad at the start, then play well finishing the game with wins ;) to show the idea of "improvements" so solidifying the idea that we are good and improving, no need to change anything, not the management nor the players. There is an army of fans who believe and shall defend that anyway, after every game with words "Is winning not enough for you?!" Go support other teams, gloryhunters!"

People remember more what happened latter than earlier.
 

Idxomer

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I count exactly 4 games in the CL and PL this season where we started well, three of them we went behind.