Half time.
First real test of Nuno's dedication to the 3-4-3 this season, I think. Reshuffling on the fly during the game clearly hasn't worked, the players don't really seem to be in the right places for the passing triangles we need and there's nobody up front to get the ball to stick to with Bonatini and Jota having to do so much defensively. Dropping Douglas and Doherty back into the full-back slots also means that we're playing incredibly narrow now, and we look very very vulnerable both to crosses and to set pieces from out wide (especially corners).
Not sure what to do to fix it, although just getting a breather for a few minutes now until the second half will be a big help. I think we can only really play some ultra-defensive counter stuff for the rest of the match. Get everyone very deep, two solid lines of four, and have our fastest attacker - Jota - tasked with being ready to break downfield as fast as possible either with the ball or onto long clearances. Then either hold the ball up until the others can catch up, or try and buy a foul, and make something from the set piece. The issue there though is that Jota's the only thing close to a winger left on the pitch and so playing that way leaves us with somebody in the middle having to shift out wide to try and offer some defensive help to the full-backs.
It's a bit of a mess, basically. A lot will depend on a) our stamina levels being better than theirs (Enobakhare will be perfect to bring on in the last 20 minutes, I think), and b) general resolve and determination. Both of those have been in good supply this season, we just need a little more.
