Aceface wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 9:27 am
Bottom line is not a single member of the back six players last night is first choice – and a few of them aren't even second choice. They're going to concede goals. You can lessen that effect when you're slotting them in with a few of the first choice players, but combined it's not going to regularly get you clean sheets away at half-decent teams. I don't think a deep inquest will probably unearth anything that can counter the fundamentals there. Need a few injuries to heal and a recruit or two.
Far more concerned about the attack tbh.
We need a left sided CB really bad. Diop can have the occasional decent game but is generally a liability. We were lucky Son messed up when Diop failed to control an easy ball. His combination with Arthur was often putting us under pressure.
Part of the reason we struggled going forward against a packed defence second half is that neither he nor Dawson are comfortable bringing the ball out of Defence thus the continual sideways passing until Rice drops in to carry it forward.
Time on the ball is also Soucek’s biggest weakness, he is a player who needs others to supply him. As for taking Ashby off by then we had pretty much reverted to a 4 and he was being asked to play as a winger. He did well but his final attacking ball needs work. Yarmo offers a far more natural attacker out there ahead of Johnson.
Do not start me on Arthur, moments of genius surrounded by hours of dross. He will never learn to read a game well enough to make a PL defender. Lanzini had to go with his runner for the first but an alive LWB would have also read the danger and stepped across when Diop first vacated the space. It was a catalogue of errors. Going forward a couple of decent balls in but generally most were woeful, simply not good enough at this level.