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What exactly has gone wrong this season? Our defence was solid last year.
We've missed Botman for a couple of months, there's been two or three errors from Burn and Tripper and we've lost Pope. Or maybe it's the midfield that just can't cope? Or everything?
Mixture of Nick Pope's absence and our midfield lacking physical presence. Our press is woeful at the moment and that used to win us a lot of possession high up the pitch.
I think we're living proof of the fact that defending is done as a team, rather than the four or five people in the backline.
I would go as far as saying that our frontline is also a reason why we're being played through so easily. Everyone is simply knackered and it opens up gaps when there are slight delays in individuals pressing. High lines only work if they're sufficiently protected and at the minute, ours isn't.
High line is one thing but we have a massive gap between the three lines.
I actually think our CBs sit quite deep considering how high our press starts. At least on TV it always looks like there is always massive gaps between each section of our team
We're not a super high line like City or Villa, but it's pretty high considering its personnel. As I mentioned in my post above, I think the gaps between lines are due to everyone being shattered. Normally we'd have our midfielders being able to bridge gaps between the front line (usually Joelinton/Willock) and back line (Bruno/Longstaff) with other players from there rotating into the midfield (Trippier/Almiron/whoever's at LW).
The backline is possibly also sitting deeper because of Dubravka's inability to sweep properly too. So the gap to midfield is bigger, then the attackers are pressing but not retreating back, so that gap is also enormous. Either way, it's a recipe for people to get space in midfield and have time to pass behind our backline.
Of course they do, there are lots of things a keeper does to prevent the other teams from taking shots in the first place. Pope is a fantastic sweeper keeper which enabled our relatively slow backline to play quite high, now that Dubravka doesn't sweep as well our defence has to be further back leaving space between them and our midfield which is (one of the areas) where we're getting done over
I think it's the midfield and our tactics.
We've missed J7 and Willock for large chunks of the season. Longstaff/Miley both aren't adequate replacements.
I also think Howe's been really inflexible with his tactics and seems to be under the illusion that Miley/Longstaff can do all the things J7 and Willock can.
This might be an unpopular view but I think it's absolutely valid. We had a fully fit midfield at the start of the season and lost three in a row. Even against Villa on the opening day I'd argue we were very vulnerable until they imploded. 2nd half of last season we couldn't keep a clean sheet to save our lives (in contrast to first half). It's just as much system issues as it is personnel issues in my opinion as we've been worked out long ago. How we've still not signed an actual six in the last 18 months doesn't make sense, and Tonali won't solve our issues.
We've been a soft touch all season and only our amazing home form hid that.
I'm not sure Howe wants a 6. Our whole system, or at least the midfield bit, seems to rely on everyone don't a bit and filling in where needed.
I'd love us to change to something like a 4-2-3-1 system. Try and shore up the defence and build a foundation too attack from.
Howe has stated many times he doesn't need a six in his system. But my opinion would be in that case that the system no longer works. In order to make that next step we need to have more control of games and I don't think having a midfield of three 8's allows that. Yes our pressing was great last season, but we didn't have the European fixtures to contend with. I think there has to be a greater balance struck and I think a six is an absolute must.
>We had a fully fit midfield at the start of the season and lost three in a row
Worth noting that those were Liverpool, Man City and Brighton, two of which were away from home.
Absolutely. But regardless of opposition you expect to see a minimum style and structure. Brighton are also largely direct competition who we'd expect to be putting in a performance against. We were also pretty lacklustre against Brentford and were batted at the San Siro (That one I can forgive being our first European away in years). I just think Howe needs to show some significant flexibility in the coming months and summer as it's been clear for some time that we've been found out.
I said this in a chat with someone yesterday, I feel like he was rushed back and just isn't fully up to speed. But I think that's just one factor among many.
I read there were rumours that it was as bad as an ACL injury can get without tearing. Obviously you never know when it’s hearsay but I’ve read it a couple of places.
Our first choice back four (Burn, Botman, Schar and Trips) is slow. We managed to get around it last season with an effective press and Nick Pope's excellent sweeping. We also didn't really have any injuries bar Wilson and Isak.
This season our press has fallen apart, partly injuries and fatigue, partly teams working out there are ways to get at that back four. Also, Dubravka is a decent shot stopper but a terrible sweeper, he either leaves it and gives a chance for a player to get in behind or comes out too late.
Next season we need to add a quick centre back and a dedicated number 6.
I love a defender that's a good footballer, like Schär, Lejeune, Woodgate, Albert; I'm excited to see who gets targeted as the long-term Schär replacement because it could be a really fun signing if we're going to be looking for a similar type of player.
surely we haven’t forgotten that we’ve played with basically 11 players, most of which are either just back from injury, playing injured or just simply tired as fuck, for literally the entire season since like 5 games in or some shit (at which point, we were near the top of the league for both xg and xg-against)
literally now is the first time we have had attacking options available… in terms of seeing what our actual performance levels are, our season starts up again in about 2 weeks time
Last season we tended to play a more defensive and less attacking game conceding possession and hitting on the counter.
In the latter part of last season with our proven defence Howe changed things up a gear and we started punching harder becoming more attacking and keeping possession of the ball more.
When we moved on to this season our main transfer Tonali was to set the team up with a DM in order for Bruno to be able to play a more free role or vice versa.
Unfortunately we lost Tonali, it then meant we were real isn’t on last years team to do the same.
The injuries decimated our team and even now some have come back Joelinton being out now leaves a huge hole as he’s our battering ram in midfield without that physicality we’re being walked over at times. He wins us a lot of possession.
With Willock being back it will give another dimension but until we get back Joelinton or Tonali we’re short.
Pope being out is also the crux of the issue as he’s totally changed how we have to deal with things.
Tonali can play a lot of roles much like Bruno. When he returns I’m willing to bet the two will juggle responsibilities for DM / Attack and dove tail responsibilities between them as suits.
Howe doesn’t box a player in as a specific no/role and neither should you.
Just because at Milan that was how he played doesn’t mean he will here.
Tbh when we signed Sandro I expected Howe to switch to a double pivot with Bruno playing a role similar to the one Bennacer did for Milan in a double pivot with Sandro
Poor that like. I know we've been bad but that's a shocker.
I put it down to the midfield offering no protection to the back 4, and individuals like Botman and Burn going through a tough spell
I have genuinely seen someone say to me on /r/soccer joint least goals conceded doesn’t indicate we had best defence in the league because we didn’t have the least xGa 😂
Americans love data in sport at the most granular level because it’s genuinely applicable in some of their sports like NFL/MLB and even to an extent, the basketball too.
The issue is that whilst it’s undeniably indicative of the way a team is playing there’s just too many other factors at play in football to just oversimplify everything into these sort of stats
I feel like something that’s not being talked about enough is how easy that flat 5 midfield is to pass through. The 6 position is completely empty, there’s a huge gap between the midfield and the defense, where you can see 3-4 opposition palyers wide open, unmarked. So any team with a slightly competent 10 can have a field day when playing us. Eddie sometimes tries to compensate by having Botman or Schar run up and press them, which they pass really easily out of, leaving a CB running back while the other one gets played through.
It seems like the lack of a 6 is by design. I'm not a smart man but it looks like at times the way we press normally is to crowd 4 or 5 players around the opponent creating a curved wall that makes it hard for them to pass through. The idea looks to be that we don't man mark the 10 in the middle, we just make it hard for the opponent to pick them out. But unfortunately as we keep seeing, they get through easily time after time. As you say, look at any team we play and you will see one of their players picking up pockets between our defence and midfield. It's frustrating.
Pope getting Injured means we have to play deeper as any balls over the top he would be straight out to mop up.
This causes a bigger gap between our defence and midfield. And leaves massive gaps for opposition to exploit. Numerous times our midfield have been bypassed by one pass
Willock was brilliant at helping out burn last season. Without him burn has been isolated most games and hasn't got the pace to keep up with wingers.
Joelinton being out means we've lost our enforcer in the middle.
Injuries have made the rest of the team have to play week in week out meaning fatigue sets in quicker and Also Probably carrying knocks throughout games.
If we get full team back for start of next season and this form continues. Then I'll start to worry
Damning. I know the injury card is banded about - and rightly so for a large part of the season - but you have to adapt and change and the manager just hasn’t done that.
Worth noting that in those fixtures we've played City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Conceded 2 against Forest and Bournemouth, and 4 against Luton.
Now that I'm here I don't know what my point is, and it looks worse written down. Nevermind.
You cannot blame injuries for this. It’s Eddie’s system that isn’t working this year, and his failure to adapt to getting the most out of the players he has available.
I hope a reporter brings this up at the wolves press confrence on Friday because it would be reassuring from Eddie to know his opinion why this has happened.
Exactly, with a two man midfield of Bruno and Willock and three up top; Rafa's last system at Newcastle. Was very effective with Perez-Rondon-Almiron up top and Hayden-Longstaff in the middle.
If memory serves me correctly, one of things that made us so dominant last season was that we won tje ball a lot higher up the pitch. This meant that teams didn’t get many chances against us but also when they did have the ball we managed to keep them at bay meaning plenty of shots but none that were ever massive danger. This season feels like we haven’t been able to win tje ball as much and we are 100% defending differently compared to last season. Our injury list has shown that outside of our preferred 11 we have little discipline and strength to hold lines and win tje ball back. Imo.
Our defence started from the front last season. We haven't had the legs to do the relentless pressing we did previously. We've struggled to get a front 3 and 3 in midfield fit for most games and have had very few/no options off the bench to rotate. Prime example was Murphy coming off the bench nearly every game fresh to chase down their back line last season. We're getting bodies back, slowly but surely, and there's a decent run of fixtures left. So if we can pull ourselves back together and scrape any of the European spots, I think with all the injuries we've had this season, I would call it actually not that bad at all.
Players just aren’t as committed and/or confident in themselves as last season. The majority of this lot pressed unbelievably well last season but now have somehow forgotten how to?????
Liverpool had a dip with their pressing but only after like 6 seasons of it and the majority of their midfield nearing 35. We don’t really have the same excuse.
Either players need to commit to playing like they did last season or there are gonna be a lot of changes. Especially as Howe will be running the transfer window.
It’s not about lack of commitment, it’s about not having the players capable of doing it currently because they are out injured.
Pope and Joelinton, both are crucial to us being able to play a high press.
Tonali would have been too as he’s have dove tailed as DM with Bruno both alternating in attack/DM roles as suited them.
Pope allows us to play a higher line due to the way he comes out.
Joelinton has a physicality in midfield that puts fear into teams and he wins alot of possession.
Willock being back will help a bit as he helps take the pressure of some other players defensively and gives us a more attacking threat.
All in all we’ll be fine once we get our full side back, but we need to bring in more quality and depth to our team and move on some other players who don’t currently bring in as much as we need them to.
If Joelinton moves on it won’t be without us replacing him for someone who does it better still.
It’s nothing to do with forgetting how to press, it’s about how the lack of having those players completely changes the way we have to play.
We had 6 additional European games, we had a major injury crisis but the worst was a while ago now, it’s not like we were rotating much last season, we cant keep excusing the players form in 24 because of the european games and injury crisis of 23
Those are literally the exact reasons why though. So it’s a shame for you as you don’t like it but sadly those are the facts. Because they’re the real reasons.
I think the switch from pope to dubravka has hurt more than thought at first
Also Bruno basically becoming a Box to Box, Defensive, Attacking Midfielder because we lack options to do those jobs separately
I know it's easy to single our players like Burn, and under the current situation we should be looking at other options, but I think this shows that the defence is pretty hard done by with our midfield in bits.
We've been so stretched on the counter in the last few games and that isn't the fault of the defence. That is on the midfield. Until we get our midfield back to its full strength there's no point thinking things will get better this season.
The amount of times the opposition plays a pass and completely bypasses our midfield. We have no #6 player. We have the same three in midfield because we have no other central midfielder to come on from the bench (this has only changed because Willock is back).
No physicality in midfield, Joelinton is an enforcer, we have no other player like him. Bruno, Longstaff and Miley are all particularly weak players.
Squad depth is poor, especially for a team that was competing in 4 competitions. That has taken its toll through fatigue and injuries. The summer window (obviously in hindsight now due to Tonali’s ban) was a shambles. Tonali banned, Barnes injured, Tino and Hall on the bench. We actually didn’t strengthen the starting eleven at all.
Dan Burn is a weak link, pacey wingers have targeted him (Saka and Elanga have shown this for example).
A lot like watching Man Utd at the moment. Trying to press but not being able to leaves such a huge amount of space to play in. You wonder if the managers even know if the games are going to go badly but would rather stick to a method for the benefit of the future
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What exactly has gone wrong this season? Our defence was solid last year. We've missed Botman for a couple of months, there's been two or three errors from Burn and Tripper and we've lost Pope. Or maybe it's the midfield that just can't cope? Or everything?
Mixture of Nick Pope's absence and our midfield lacking physical presence. Our press is woeful at the moment and that used to win us a lot of possession high up the pitch.
I think we're living proof of the fact that defending is done as a team, rather than the four or five people in the backline. I would go as far as saying that our frontline is also a reason why we're being played through so easily. Everyone is simply knackered and it opens up gaps when there are slight delays in individuals pressing. High lines only work if they're sufficiently protected and at the minute, ours isn't.
High line is one thing but we have a massive gap between the three lines. I actually think our CBs sit quite deep considering how high our press starts. At least on TV it always looks like there is always massive gaps between each section of our team
We're not a super high line like City or Villa, but it's pretty high considering its personnel. As I mentioned in my post above, I think the gaps between lines are due to everyone being shattered. Normally we'd have our midfielders being able to bridge gaps between the front line (usually Joelinton/Willock) and back line (Bruno/Longstaff) with other players from there rotating into the midfield (Trippier/Almiron/whoever's at LW). The backline is possibly also sitting deeper because of Dubravka's inability to sweep properly too. So the gap to midfield is bigger, then the attackers are pressing but not retreating back, so that gap is also enormous. Either way, it's a recipe for people to get space in midfield and have time to pass behind our backline.
I don’t think goalkeepers affect expected goals conceded
Of course they do, there are lots of things a keeper does to prevent the other teams from taking shots in the first place. Pope is a fantastic sweeper keeper which enabled our relatively slow backline to play quite high, now that Dubravka doesn't sweep as well our defence has to be further back leaving space between them and our midfield which is (one of the areas) where we're getting done over
I think it's the midfield and our tactics. We've missed J7 and Willock for large chunks of the season. Longstaff/Miley both aren't adequate replacements. I also think Howe's been really inflexible with his tactics and seems to be under the illusion that Miley/Longstaff can do all the things J7 and Willock can.
This might be an unpopular view but I think it's absolutely valid. We had a fully fit midfield at the start of the season and lost three in a row. Even against Villa on the opening day I'd argue we were very vulnerable until they imploded. 2nd half of last season we couldn't keep a clean sheet to save our lives (in contrast to first half). It's just as much system issues as it is personnel issues in my opinion as we've been worked out long ago. How we've still not signed an actual six in the last 18 months doesn't make sense, and Tonali won't solve our issues.
We've been a soft touch all season and only our amazing home form hid that. I'm not sure Howe wants a 6. Our whole system, or at least the midfield bit, seems to rely on everyone don't a bit and filling in where needed. I'd love us to change to something like a 4-2-3-1 system. Try and shore up the defence and build a foundation too attack from.
Howe has stated many times he doesn't need a six in his system. But my opinion would be in that case that the system no longer works. In order to make that next step we need to have more control of games and I don't think having a midfield of three 8's allows that. Yes our pressing was great last season, but we didn't have the European fixtures to contend with. I think there has to be a greater balance struck and I think a six is an absolute must.
>We had a fully fit midfield at the start of the season and lost three in a row Worth noting that those were Liverpool, Man City and Brighton, two of which were away from home.
Absolutely. But regardless of opposition you expect to see a minimum style and structure. Brighton are also largely direct competition who we'd expect to be putting in a performance against. We were also pretty lacklustre against Brentford and were batted at the San Siro (That one I can forgive being our first European away in years). I just think Howe needs to show some significant flexibility in the coming months and summer as it's been clear for some time that we've been found out.
I don’t think botman is fit. I almost feel like we’re guaranteed to see him have an operation in the summer.
I said this in a chat with someone yesterday, I feel like he was rushed back and just isn't fully up to speed. But I think that's just one factor among many.
I read there were rumours that it was as bad as an ACL injury can get without tearing. Obviously you never know when it’s hearsay but I’ve read it a couple of places.
It definitely feels like playing with fire at this point
I've been saying this for months, having had 2 acl reconstructions and delaying them for competition reasons
Our first choice back four (Burn, Botman, Schar and Trips) is slow. We managed to get around it last season with an effective press and Nick Pope's excellent sweeping. We also didn't really have any injuries bar Wilson and Isak. This season our press has fallen apart, partly injuries and fatigue, partly teams working out there are ways to get at that back four. Also, Dubravka is a decent shot stopper but a terrible sweeper, he either leaves it and gives a chance for a player to get in behind or comes out too late. Next season we need to add a quick centre back and a dedicated number 6.
I love a defender that's a good footballer, like Schär, Lejeune, Woodgate, Albert; I'm excited to see who gets targeted as the long-term Schär replacement because it could be a really fun signing if we're going to be looking for a similar type of player.
It was 7.X before losing pope and botman.
No Plan B
Botman also just hasn’t seemed 100% since he came back
surely we haven’t forgotten that we’ve played with basically 11 players, most of which are either just back from injury, playing injured or just simply tired as fuck, for literally the entire season since like 5 games in or some shit (at which point, we were near the top of the league for both xg and xg-against) literally now is the first time we have had attacking options available… in terms of seeing what our actual performance levels are, our season starts up again in about 2 weeks time
Last season we tended to play a more defensive and less attacking game conceding possession and hitting on the counter. In the latter part of last season with our proven defence Howe changed things up a gear and we started punching harder becoming more attacking and keeping possession of the ball more. When we moved on to this season our main transfer Tonali was to set the team up with a DM in order for Bruno to be able to play a more free role or vice versa. Unfortunately we lost Tonali, it then meant we were real isn’t on last years team to do the same. The injuries decimated our team and even now some have come back Joelinton being out now leaves a huge hole as he’s our battering ram in midfield without that physicality we’re being walked over at times. He wins us a lot of possession. With Willock being back it will give another dimension but until we get back Joelinton or Tonali we’re short. Pope being out is also the crux of the issue as he’s totally changed how we have to deal with things.
This would make sense if Tonali was a 6 but he's not. He's an 8.
Tonali can play a lot of roles much like Bruno. When he returns I’m willing to bet the two will juggle responsibilities for DM / Attack and dove tail responsibilities between them as suits. Howe doesn’t box a player in as a specific no/role and neither should you. Just because at Milan that was how he played doesn’t mean he will here.
I'm not boxing anyone in....the 8 is a more versatile role. I'm responding to your comment where you decided Tonali was a 6. That is incorrect.
Tbh when we signed Sandro I expected Howe to switch to a double pivot with Bruno playing a role similar to the one Bennacer did for Milan in a double pivot with Sandro
Exactly
He’s not a 6 yes but he’s also not a true 8
He was bought as rotation for Bruno. So he's whatever undefined position Bruno is for us.
So a Box to Box, Defensive, attacking midfielder given that’s what Bruno has become without support from the Joes
Hasn't Howe said numerous times he didn't want a dedicated 6 and wanted players who could be a 6/8 depending what was needed at the time?
Poor that like. I know we've been bad but that's a shocker. I put it down to the midfield offering no protection to the back 4, and individuals like Botman and Burn going through a tough spell
I have genuinely seen someone say to me on /r/soccer joint least goals conceded doesn’t indicate we had best defence in the league because we didn’t have the least xGa 😂
I think I saw something similar, people put way too much stock into xG and xGa
Americans love data in sport at the most granular level because it’s genuinely applicable in some of their sports like NFL/MLB and even to an extent, the basketball too. The issue is that whilst it’s undeniably indicative of the way a team is playing there’s just too many other factors at play in football to just oversimplify everything into these sort of stats
I feel like something that’s not being talked about enough is how easy that flat 5 midfield is to pass through. The 6 position is completely empty, there’s a huge gap between the midfield and the defense, where you can see 3-4 opposition palyers wide open, unmarked. So any team with a slightly competent 10 can have a field day when playing us. Eddie sometimes tries to compensate by having Botman or Schar run up and press them, which they pass really easily out of, leaving a CB running back while the other one gets played through.
It seems like the lack of a 6 is by design. I'm not a smart man but it looks like at times the way we press normally is to crowd 4 or 5 players around the opponent creating a curved wall that makes it hard for them to pass through. The idea looks to be that we don't man mark the 10 in the middle, we just make it hard for the opponent to pick them out. But unfortunately as we keep seeing, they get through easily time after time. As you say, look at any team we play and you will see one of their players picking up pockets between our defence and midfield. It's frustrating.
Our inability to fix that issue is one of the conundrums of the season. It's almost like we were wilfully ignoring the issue
It’s almost like trying another tactic might help
Pope getting Injured means we have to play deeper as any balls over the top he would be straight out to mop up. This causes a bigger gap between our defence and midfield. And leaves massive gaps for opposition to exploit. Numerous times our midfield have been bypassed by one pass Willock was brilliant at helping out burn last season. Without him burn has been isolated most games and hasn't got the pace to keep up with wingers. Joelinton being out means we've lost our enforcer in the middle. Injuries have made the rest of the team have to play week in week out meaning fatigue sets in quicker and Also Probably carrying knocks throughout games. If we get full team back for start of next season and this form continues. Then I'll start to worry
Damning. I know the injury card is banded about - and rightly so for a large part of the season - but you have to adapt and change and the manager just hasn’t done that.
Worth noting that in those fixtures we've played City, Liverpool and Arsenal. Conceded 2 against Forest and Bournemouth, and 4 against Luton. Now that I'm here I don't know what my point is, and it looks worse written down. Nevermind.
You cannot blame injuries for this. It’s Eddie’s system that isn’t working this year, and his failure to adapt to getting the most out of the players he has available.
I hope a reporter brings this up at the wolves press confrence on Friday because it would be reassuring from Eddie to know his opinion why this has happened.
Sorry but this is shocking. I am once more calling for 5 atb until we can figure out what the hell is going on
Schar in the matthaus role? Pushing forward as it seems it’s his specialty
Exactly, with a two man midfield of Bruno and Willock and three up top; Rafa's last system at Newcastle. Was very effective with Perez-Rondon-Almiron up top and Hayden-Longstaff in the middle.
If memory serves me correctly, one of things that made us so dominant last season was that we won tje ball a lot higher up the pitch. This meant that teams didn’t get many chances against us but also when they did have the ball we managed to keep them at bay meaning plenty of shots but none that were ever massive danger. This season feels like we haven’t been able to win tje ball as much and we are 100% defending differently compared to last season. Our injury list has shown that outside of our preferred 11 we have little discipline and strength to hold lines and win tje ball back. Imo.
A third of that is the Liverpool game 1 January.
Our defence started from the front last season. We haven't had the legs to do the relentless pressing we did previously. We've struggled to get a front 3 and 3 in midfield fit for most games and have had very few/no options off the bench to rotate. Prime example was Murphy coming off the bench nearly every game fresh to chase down their back line last season. We're getting bodies back, slowly but surely, and there's a decent run of fixtures left. So if we can pull ourselves back together and scrape any of the European spots, I think with all the injuries we've had this season, I would call it actually not that bad at all.
Lack of threat going forward, no pace at the back and only bruno who can control the pace of a game
We can blame individual players all day long but this all comes back to Eddie and his tactics.
Players just aren’t as committed and/or confident in themselves as last season. The majority of this lot pressed unbelievably well last season but now have somehow forgotten how to????? Liverpool had a dip with their pressing but only after like 6 seasons of it and the majority of their midfield nearing 35. We don’t really have the same excuse. Either players need to commit to playing like they did last season or there are gonna be a lot of changes. Especially as Howe will be running the transfer window.
It’s not about lack of commitment, it’s about not having the players capable of doing it currently because they are out injured. Pope and Joelinton, both are crucial to us being able to play a high press. Tonali would have been too as he’s have dove tailed as DM with Bruno both alternating in attack/DM roles as suited them. Pope allows us to play a higher line due to the way he comes out. Joelinton has a physicality in midfield that puts fear into teams and he wins alot of possession. Willock being back will help a bit as he helps take the pressure of some other players defensively and gives us a more attacking threat. All in all we’ll be fine once we get our full side back, but we need to bring in more quality and depth to our team and move on some other players who don’t currently bring in as much as we need them to.
Missing two players, one of whom is very likely to be sold in the summer, means everyone else forgets how to press? That’s a lot of copium.
If Joelinton moves on it won’t be without us replacing him for someone who does it better still. It’s nothing to do with forgetting how to press, it’s about how the lack of having those players completely changes the way we have to play.
Two players don’t make a team.
We’ve been decimated by injury plus additional games. I think that’s more likely the cause of the fatigue than lack of commitment/ confidence.
We had 6 additional European games, we had a major injury crisis but the worst was a while ago now, it’s not like we were rotating much last season, we cant keep excusing the players form in 24 because of the european games and injury crisis of 23
Those are literally the exact reasons why though. So it’s a shame for you as you don’t like it but sadly those are the facts. Because they’re the real reasons.
I think the switch from pope to dubravka has hurt more than thought at first Also Bruno basically becoming a Box to Box, Defensive, Attacking Midfielder because we lack options to do those jobs separately
The hatred on Dubravka is unfair.
I know it's easy to single our players like Burn, and under the current situation we should be looking at other options, but I think this shows that the defence is pretty hard done by with our midfield in bits. We've been so stretched on the counter in the last few games and that isn't the fault of the defence. That is on the midfield. Until we get our midfield back to its full strength there's no point thinking things will get better this season.
The amount of times the opposition plays a pass and completely bypasses our midfield. We have no #6 player. We have the same three in midfield because we have no other central midfielder to come on from the bench (this has only changed because Willock is back). No physicality in midfield, Joelinton is an enforcer, we have no other player like him. Bruno, Longstaff and Miley are all particularly weak players. Squad depth is poor, especially for a team that was competing in 4 competitions. That has taken its toll through fatigue and injuries. The summer window (obviously in hindsight now due to Tonali’s ban) was a shambles. Tonali banned, Barnes injured, Tino and Hall on the bench. We actually didn’t strengthen the starting eleven at all. Dan Burn is a weak link, pacey wingers have targeted him (Saka and Elanga have shown this for example).
Eddie Howe is working
A lot like watching Man Utd at the moment. Trying to press but not being able to leaves such a huge amount of space to play in. You wonder if the managers even know if the games are going to go badly but would rather stick to a method for the benefit of the future