The Blame Game

[The Bear]

Neves for giving away the free kick. Which he did too much of today.

Boly for backing off when the cross came in, and collectively the back line for letting Laporte get a free run at them (no doubt it will be Doc's fault somehow).

 

[Premier Quality]

I didn’t think neves did a lot wrong there - Sterling was looking for it and went down very easily

 

[machin05]

I didn’t think neves did a lot wrong there - Sterling was looking for it and went down very easily

Looked like a sloppy tackle and a clear foul to me.

 

[BillyDee]

I'm more inclined to go with PQ's assessment there, so chalk one up against Boly. But Boly scored the goal. Not entirely convinced there is a need for this thread, just keep it to the matchday/verdict thread.

 

[YoungWolf]

Looked like a sloppy tackle and a clear foul to me.

I thought it was a dive!

Boly at fault really there and no one blocked off the run of Laporte.

 

[White Wolf]

I was sitting in the NB so didn't have a very good view but it did look like a foul to me - no idea who is at fault for the goal so will watch on MOTD later. We made a number of silly challenges around the area, Neves and Jota being most guilty of it so I think we can count ourselves a little lucky we were only punished once.

 

[machin05]

I thought it was a dive!

Boly at fault really there and no one blocked off the run of Laporte.

Only seen it live, not seen a replay but I didn't doubt that it was a foul at all.

 

[Dire Wolf]

It was a dive. But what do you expect from Sterling

 

[MARKakaJIM]

He didn't definitely went down easily, might not have been any contact at all. Have to defend those situations better though no matter how they come about.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Neves for niggly fouls around the box including the foul for the goal. Boly was flat footed in the header, his only blemish of the day.

Doherty should be burying the header, lucky that his flick goes on to Boly to score.

Patricio showed himself to be a top keeper with his performance. Just what I wanted to see .

 

[Dinowolf]

Boly at fault really there and no one blocked off the run of Laporte.

This was how Everton scored their first goal, when Keane was allowed to run at the defensive line unhindered.
It's the job of the CMs to block those runs and they failed again, so I blame Neves/Moutino.

It's an important aspect of zonal marking, to stop those runs. Nuno needs to remind players of their responsibilities and kick ass when they don't as it's costing us goals.

 

[leedswolf]

I didn’t think neves did a lot wrong there - Sterling was looking for it and went down very easily

Was there any real 'contact'?

 

[Carrotdude]

Sterling just flicked his legs up and dropped to the ground, there was no contact but he was expecting it, shouldn’t have been a free kick

 

[Dire Wolf]

Was there any real 'contact'?

None, he wasn't touched. Total dive.

 

[leedswolf]

That's what I reckoned.

 

[Tony Towner]

Today's is on Nuno and persevering with zonal marking when we just aren't very good at it. Results in Laporte running onto a ball that Boly is stood underneath. In layman's terms I understand the benefits of zonal, but I much prefer man to man.

 

[darlowolf64]

I blame zonal marking for today's goal...

 

[Premier Quality]

We conceded one with zonal marking, but city had a lot of free kicks and corners today - whos to say we wouldn’t have conceded two with man to man marking?

 

[Alan]

Zonal marking wasn't the issue, bad zonal marking was.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Today's is on Nuno and persevering with zonal marking when we just aren't very good at it. Results in Laporte running onto a ball that Boly is stood underneath. In layman's terms I understand the benefits of zonal, but I much prefer man to man.

A combination is usually the best solution. Cover the key areas with zonal and have a couple of guys who go man to man on the opponents biggest threats.

Would've been easy to do against City today as they only really had Laporte and Kompany who were ever going to be an aerial threat so you only need say Boly and Bennett to mark those two and you've still got decent headers of the ball in Coady and Jimenez to cover the key areas zonally with the others picking up less threatening areas.