[justsomebloke]

It was just a ridiculous watch. West Brom didn't make it easy for us but I still think the creativity in this team is next to nil. Even though we have so many midfielders, none of them bar Bruno actually make a crucial contribution. I know all the numbers look in our favor but it doesn't actually show progress on the pitch. We definitely need some good summer signings or change a few things and bring people like Amad, Shole Shortire, Hannibal and the sort and give them a chance. I'm sure they're egging to have a go at the first team places and will actually get on that pitch and do more than the ones who are actually on. Martial has had so many chances to prove his worth but I think he's not a good fit for this team. He needs service to his feet and we're not that kind of a team now. The likes of Bruno, Cavani and Rashford moved up to collect the ball, albeit losing them going forward but they made efforts nonetheless. Dropping points to teams who are in the relegation battle is so poor. Soon the teams below us will catch up to us and we'll find it very hard to even be in the Top4. Ole has to address a lot of issues in this team, he's always said that United teams must run more than his opponents but it seems like we just stand still and pass it around like 600+ times without actually being dangerous and that's totally opposite to what he's looking for. I love that we're keep such high possession but it's not by any means meaningful possession. I worry about Sociedad game now because Spanish sides are generally very good technically and our off ball tactics are horrendous. I really hope things improve.

All the numbers aren't in our favor, actually. Our xG was a measly 0.42. WBA's was 0.95.

It's hard to avoid the conclusion we're in a bit of a funk currently. Which does happen, to pretty much everyone sooner or later. But this is when you need the squad depth we don't have.

Starting Diallo, Shoretire or Mejbri is no solution. You don't throw in unblooded players in situations like these, that's the last thing you do.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Sorry, but did Fred look like a defensive midfielder to you in this game? As soon as we had established ball control in the opposition third, he moved up to the edge of the opposition box. Starting McFred in the CM pairing doesn't automatically mean a defensive approach. "Played like they were City"? We had 73% possession.

Saying we had 73% is a bit vilifying tbh. We hardly created clear cut chances and really weren’t impressive in possession. I’d be reasonably happy if the ball was being passed around and the football was good on the eye but it was a tired performance and that’s what concerns me

 

[A-man]

West Brom’s defence have been leaking. Not a single clean sheet in the last 15 games and only three opponents have failed to score more than one goal.

Interestingly, those teams are
Manchester United 1-1
Manchester City 1-1
Liverpool 1-1

 

[Eric's-collar]

Cant get my head around why we play with 2 holding CM's when they playing with 1 up top, abysmal performance, no positives at all, 1 point v 2 championship teams n 2 pts thrown away v Everton, on a slippery slope atm

 

[DSG]

The opening goal was a clear foul. The referee was absolute shambles. In no way does he deserve to be a Prem official. That said, WBA probably deserved a goal, so I don’t think the outcome was necessarily affected by the poor officiating.

We don’t have the personnel to play that high of a line, and we are going to concede some counterattacking goals when we do.
I don’t really think there was a lack of desire or grit — which has plagued us in the past, we just didn’t put away our chances.

‘Message to Ole: Don’t feel obligated to play Martial. Furthermore, don’t compound his issue by playing Rashford on the right. We need his goals that he produces on the left. Yes, Rashford had some great balls into the box, but so did Mason. Look, we know Tony is a gifted footballer who can produce some sublime moments. But when he’s off form, he’s really awful. As far as Mason goes, his improvement in build up play this season is a credit to Mason and the staff. He’s been fantastic in that regard, and offers so much more than Martial does as a winger. If you are going to play one of those together them out of their goal scoring funk, play Mason.

 

[justsomebloke]

Saying we had 73% is a bit vilifying tbh. We hardly created clear cut chances and really weren’t impressive in possession. I’d be reasonably happy if the ball was being passed around and the football was good on the eye but it was a tired performance and that’s what concerns me

Sure. As evidenced by our ridiculous xG. My point is just that this was not anything remotely like we played against City.

 

[justsomebloke]

Cant get my head around why we play with 2 holding CM's when they playing with 1 up top, abysmal performance, no positives at all, 1 point v 2 championship teams n 2 pts thrown away v Everton, on a slippery slope atm

WE DON'T PLAY WITH TWO HOLDING CMs. Seriously, why does people have trouble getting their heads around the simple point that just because we line up in 4231, that doesn't necessarily mean we're playing with two holding midfielders. In fact, we rarely play with two holding midfielders. And if you paid attention to what Fred was actually doing yesterday, you'd notice that he was deeply and consistently involved in the attack.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Slow and zero movement off the ball or on it tbh. We stand around and expect a miracle to occur.

Barring Bruno, our forward players are in shocking form.

I think Bruno has been shocking for weeks now. He has had a few moments here and there, and they have been huge and have saved us multiple times, I don't dispute that, but for the most part he has been terrible. He can't keep the ball to save his life, and recently he has been dispossessed very easily and is oftentimes coming out second-best when someone puts even a little bit of pressure on him.

 

[Rampant Red Rodriguez]

The big question for me is why did WBA get 12 days off to prepare for our game and we didn't?.

 

[Sea-Cow]

We rely too much on individual brilliance without actually having consistently brilliant players.
The likes of Rashford and Martial can be unplayable on their day but aren't consistent enough, we have no genuine game-changers on the bench. Rashford specifically, gets away with way too much.
The defence somehow plays a high-line but don't know how to play the offside trap. We actually get cut through a lot but usually get away with it due to poor finishing.
Ole has done very well, he came in and brought that energy back but unless we get a world class tactician in to help him, we won't achieve anything.
In an Ideal world, he becomes DOF and we get a new Head coach in.

Disagree mate. Ideally we would hire an actual DOF, who has the experience and has a record of success in that specific role!

 

[DomesticTadpole]

The big question for me is why did WBA get 12 days off to prepare for our game and we didn't?.

Presume because we were in the F.A. Cup and whoever they should have played was also in the F.A. Cup.

 

[::sonny::]

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[Widow]

I think Bruno has been shocking for weeks now.

He has 4 goals and 3 assist in 9 Premier League this calendar year. His longest stretch without any goal involvement (Goal or Assist) is two games.

True, he may not have the best of games at times but to call him shocking is going too far. He cant carry the whole team every match! They need to help him out. Fact is, we look to him too often so when he isn't on top form, it shows!

He can't keep the ball to save his life

This kind of statement really grinds my gears. He is a player that tries things others don't so yeah, he miss-places passes but we have moaned for years about people playing 'the safe pass'.

If people get on his back about these 'miss-placed passes' he'll revert to the shite we've had to watch for the last several years.

He is one of the few players that can have a 'shite game' for 85 minutes then change the outcome in a second. Leave him be.

We should focus on players like our false messiah Rashford!

 

[VidaRed]

I only started watching from the 89th min! Even then there was not much urgency and maguire hitting the post was a bit unlucky.

I didn't watch the game so cant comment but i assume we must have been shite and lazy seeing that we fecking dropped points against big sam's west brom and they're bottom of the table. Then again we lost to sheffield too. Piss poor results and we have bottled the chance to win the title, now we'd be lucky to get top 4 if the current form continues.

 

[croadyman]

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Yeah those words are like Moyes aspring for us to play like City

 

[lex talionis]

Gotta love the reference to the “false messiah Rashford”.

It’s a fair take insofar as Rashford has underperformed and deserves to be put under pressure to get his starts.

 

[::sonny::]

Lindelof and martial are the main problem

 

[croadyman]

Lindelof and martial are the main problem

We also should give Donny a proper chance and split up McFred

 

[redmanx]

The big question for me is why did WBA get 12 days off to prepare for our game and we didn't?.

Perhaps Klopp knows, he seems to be well informed about everything else including how match officials operate, how VAR should be used etc so I assume he's in on how the FA plan the football season too.

 

[redmanx]

He has 4 goals and 3 assist in 9 Premier League this calendar year. His longest stretch without any goal involvement (Goal or Assist) is two games.

True, he may not have the best of games at times but to call him shocking is going too far. He cant carry the whole team every match! They need to help him out. Fact is, we look to him too often so when he isn't on top form, it shows!




This kind of statement really grinds my gears. He is a player that tries things others don't so yeah, he miss-places passes but we have moaned for years about people playing 'the safe pass'.

If people get on his back about these 'miss-placed passes' he'll revert to the shite we've had to watch for the last several years.

He is one of the few players that can have a 'shite game' for 85 minutes then change the outcome in a second. Leave him be.

We should focus on players like our false messiah Rashford!

Bruno Fernandes is the only player we have who would walk into any other top, top side like City, Liverpool, Real, Barcelona, PSG or Juventus. Bruno never stops trying to create but also never ignores the defensive side of his game. All the opposition realise he is THE danger man and do their utmost to stifle him, but Brunos game is further stimied by the fact that his team mates so often fail to spot his runs into space, fail to benefit from his awareness, fail to find him with a decent pass and fail in general to support him and appear to be prepared to leave everything to him. My biggest fear is that one day Bruno will tire of playing with players who cannot think and have little or no sense of awareness and little or no football brain and the prospect of playing for City, Liverpool, Real or one of those teams whos players can offer him the sort of support and play he deserves will be too much for him to turn down. Bruno is a thoroughbred who needs to be allowed free rein and support to display the full scope of his skills, not a donkey expected to drag the other donkeys behind him. Our other players have the skills but seem to lack the wit and intelligence of top top players like Bruno.

 

[hobbers]

I think Bruno has been shocking for weeks now. He has had a few moments here and there, and they have been huge and have saved us multiple times, I don't dispute that, but for the most part he has been terrible. He can't keep the ball to save his life, and recently he has been dispossessed very easily and is oftentimes coming out second-best when someone puts even a little bit of pressure on him.

He can play as badly as he wants to be fair.

What else can he do with Rashford and Martial up there for company? One hides from the ball and the other has no interest in giving it back to you in favour of running down any and every blind alley that presents itself.

And to top that all off when Bruno does drag us kicking and screaming into the game he then is reminded that he's team mates with the leagues' softest centrebacks and keeper who can't go 5 minutes into a half without gifting a goal through rank cowardice, weakness or idiocy.

 

[nainaisson]

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Feels like striking out with the loosest woman in town. A real ego damager, like believing you're a hot stud for so long but then finding out you're the Elephant Man.

 

[Tapori]

Agree With this. Also want to add the first time ball was on a number of times, but it's never played and the opposition get back into shape which then forces us to play the ball backwards and start again. It's so fustrating to watch.

This too.
You can't always play it, but spotting when it is on or attempting it a couple of times per half isn't asking for much, it should be standard.

 

[NicolaSacco]

Bruno Fernandes is the only player we have who would walk into any other top, top side like City, Liverpool, Real, Barcelona, PSG or Juventus. Bruno never stops trying to create but also never ignores the defensive side of his game. All the opposition realise he is THE danger man and do their utmost to stifle him, but Brunos game is further stimied by the fact that his team mates so often fail to spot his runs into space, fail to benefit from his awareness, fail to find him with a decent pass and fail in general to support him and appear to be prepared to leave everything to him. My biggest fear is that one day Bruno will tire of playing with players who cannot think and have little or no sense of awareness and little or no football brain and the prospect of playing for City, Liverpool, Real or one of those teams whos players can offer him the sort of support and play he deserves will be too much for him to turn down. Bruno is a thoroughbred who needs to be allowed free rein and support to display the full scope of his skills, not a donkey expected to drag the other donkeys behind him. Our other players have the skills but seem to lack the wit and intelligence of top top players like Bruno.

Football is a game of opinions of course, but Fernandes absolutely would not walk into the teams you’ve just mentioned I don’t think.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

City drew with them at home.


Post comes across like you are 12.

Manchester City have beaten Sheffield at home and now?

No answer therefore go back in the bed to your mummy