Are we giving opponents too much respect?

[Turnip]

All teams in the PL deserve some amount of respect for sure, but we seem genuinely scared of all of them. Our squad is not at the strength of Chelsea, Man City or probably even Liverpool right now, but it's better than the bottom half of the table, yet we treat them teams like they're better every week. I get that we're a good counter attacking team (or were until recently at least), but I refuse to believe that the coaching staff think that's a suitable plan against all of the low block teams in the league, no one in football is that naive. We keep seeing Maguire and Ole in pressers saying how no one creates many chances against these teams or controls matches against them which is absolutle BS. Do we not scout oppositions? Do we have that little faith in our players that we're scared of every game? Is our squad that thin at the moment that we're scared to run and get players tired? Why has Ole stopped trying different formations when this one is clearly not quite right?

 

[Jericholyte2]

100%

It’s the mentality of being a counter-attacking team. With this mentality you naturally go on the defensive foot, waiting for the opposition to make a mistake and then punishing it, rather than going out, dominating and making the team make a mistake. We will forever be stuck under a proverbial glass ceiling whilst we have this mentality.

 

[Eugenius]

Maybe you could have said that against Liverpool away. But in general no.

It's not that we aren't getting enough numbers forward, it's that our attackers are woefully short on form and generally inconsistent (or sloppy in the case of Bruno).

 

[Lentwood]

I think maybe we are.

We seem to have gotten obsessed with the idea that avoiding defeat is paramount but it seems to be preventing us from really kicking on and beating teams. This also perhaps explains why we are better when we go a goal behind - we take a more aggressive but focused “nothing to lose” mentality

 

[Judas]

I don't know, I think teams just know exactly how to play against us and stop us.

You could say our midfield choice is often far too feeble and negative, but is that showing too much respect for our opponents or simply how Ole likes to operate.

 

[11101]

100%

It’s the mentality of being a counter-attacking team. With this mentality you naturally go on the defensive foot, fainting for the opposition to make a mistake and then punishing it, rather than going out, dominating and making the team make a mistake. We will forever be stuck under a proverbial glass ceiling whilst we have this mentality.

This.

We need to draw the opponent out and hit them quickly whilst they still have gaps left open. It's all we have ever done and right now teams have it comfortably figured out, it's why there is such a gap between our forwards and the two sitting midfielders. In a counter attack our forwards start from a deeper position and are close enough to receive the ball. When teams sit back it stretches us out and the forwards are miles away.

I see no progress towards doing anything else and i dont think Ole/our coaches are capable of doing it.

 

[Sylar]

Were picking teams trying to counter opponents rather than picking teams to impose ourselves on the games

It happened under Jose and lvg too. I understand it for the odd big game here and there where you have one or two players who you know will do well in the game

I'm certain I can almost predict the lineup for the city game (barring injuries)