What about the wins against West Ham when they were bottom, Palace when they were in the bottom 3, Cardiff and Burnley, did you forget them or do you just focus on the negatives?
We did struggle against Palace. There wasn’t really anything between the two teams, we didn’t create much and neither did they. We just managed to put a little Move together and score a low percentage goal and then hold on because Palace had a woeful strike force. West Ham were bottom but weren’t remotely defensive. Cardiff we put pace in the team, Should have done the same yesterday. Burnley were just abject, zero effort, zero ability and just wide open.
The only objection I've made to that is the claim that we struggle against those sides BECAUSE they are in the bottom six, like we take the win for granted, under estimate them or that there is some hocus pocus at play because of an arbitrary league position. That was often said in the media particularly in the first half of the season.
We struggle against sides who defend deep and put 10 men behind the ball, I don't see how anybody could argue against that. If we were in the PL last year and played Burnley then we would have had the same issue the way they played getting 1-0's most weeks and finishing 7th. It just so happens that you have to go to Newcastle in 12th (who we got 4 points off) to find a team with a naturally defensive set up this year. Leicester would have had that mindset but Puel was clinging onto his job so came out to play. Nuno knows what the issue is, he needs to decide in the Summer whether the answer to it is a formation or personnel tweak.
Exactly this. It’s not the league position, it’s the mentality of the opposition. Just most bottom teams have a defensive mentality so the phrase is taken on face value rather than what it actually means.
I don't think we struggle to break teams down as the number of chances created in those games suggest we're creating plenty.
Having said that we haven't scored much when teams do this, but then we did the same to Chelsea and they struggled too. It will not be a high scoring game if teams do park the bus unless you have the talent of City or Liverpool.
I'm not sure what the answer is, maybe taking more shots from outside the area to test the keeper more, or put more crosses in, play faster in tighter pockets around the area or play a goal scoring 10 instead of a creative 10. I would hope Nuno plays with more offensive wingbacks in this situation as Vinagre was decent when he came on.
I'm sure a Nuno will address this.
I agree here.
We did have enough opportunities to score but at the same time it’s not like the keeper had a worldy and we were unlucky. We didn’t carve them open at will and work clear opportunities,was more half (or less) chances purely from having the ball in their box as they were so deep and negative allowing us to put it in there basically surrendering the other 2/3s of the pitch so “domination” was inevitable without doing anything particularly good.
You’re right about Chelsea, they struggled. But we are better than Brighton and Chelsea aren’t that good. “Sarri Ball” is slow and is perfect for us to defend against and keep shape making their only really option a long range shot.
It’s a problem this season but it’s one as you say Nuno will sort. Likewise, we don’t know what the answer is as we aren’t football managers, but I think not playing Vinagre was a mistake. Having more players better in attacking 1 v 1 situations helps get in behind these teams. That just isn’t Jonnys game.
We’ve come a long way quickly and currently we aren’t ready both individually and tactically (the latter may be a product of the former).
A years worth of experience and further recruitment and hopefully we will be fine. If a year down the line after aggressive recruitment we are still having the same issues and same discussions then it might be a more serious problem. I don’t expect that to be the case though.
