On the ball Gem.
Well played.

Losing Boly for weeks is a massive blow. Certainly don’t believe we can field a back four that would be solid enough now. So I would be surprised if we went that way again for a while.

Great to have Jonny back, I thought he played really well in the first half against Leicester, and certainly the best of our many options (when fit) for the left. Although I thought Hoever looked as good as any of the others we have tried there.

We certainly looked as good as Leicester and we would be a lot closer to them in the league but for the injuries we’ve suffered.

Now for the cup and I hope we field as strong a team as we can. Beat Southampton and it’s quarter finals, might as well go for it

Good to see you've got your abductor and adductor injuries correctly sorted Gem.

Don't know how far off Southampton's injured players are but it's a good time to be playing them, hopefully we can make progress in the cup and the league over the next week. I'd have the lads on shooting practice for the next four days. Wouldn't let them go home until they'd hit the target a hundred times in succession, miss one and you go back to the beginning and start again like snakes and ladders.

One thing we won’t solve by different formations and tactics is that there just aren’t enough goals in our squad. I know Fabio will get slated for missing that one chance, but I’d be more critical of our other attackers who just rarely get into scoring positions. Willian never looked like scoring yesterday. I suspect we will move to a 4231 set up next season but if we do that then the three players behind the striker need to be scoring much more often than they do at the moment. We need to find a Son or a Maddison or a Sterling who doesn’t play as the main striker but gets their share of goals

We need to find a Son or a Maddison or a Sterling who doesn’t play as the main striker but gets their share of goals.
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We had one of those, his name was Jota.

No main striker will score unless they get the ball in the box, that is our failing. No good criticising Jose when all the crosses are crap.

We rely too heavily on the dribbling skills of Traore and Neto and are still not putting enough balls into the box. Neves, Moutinho, Semedo, Dendoncker and Jonny are capable of knocking crosses in but we spend so much time re-cycling the ball sideways and backwards we always give the opposition defenders time to get back into shape and the opportunity to catch them out is lost.

comment by bostonwolf (U17353)
posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
No main striker will score unless they get the ball in the box, that is our failing. No good criticising Jose when all the crosses are crap.
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I don’t think the crosses that Neto and Traore put in are crap. We tend to have one player only in the danger area and they are trying to find space against three or four defenders. You could have the best supply in the world but how often is a lone attacker in the opposing area going to be unmarked. That’s what’s made Raul so special that he can make things happen against those odds

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by bostonwolf (U17353)
posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
No main striker will score unless they get the ball in the box, that is our failing. No good criticising Jose when all the crosses are crap.
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I don’t think the crosses that Neto and Traore put in are crap. We tend to have one player only in the danger area and they are trying to find space against three or four defenders. You could have the best supply in the world but how often is a lone attacker in the opposing area going to be unmarked. That’s what’s made Raul so special that he can make things happen against those odds
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You are correct to say there is only one striker in the box, however In general, the build up is so slow that the opposition has time to regroup and get organised.
Troare's crosses are in general wild , too high or blasted too hard.
Neto has provided some great cut backs with usually no one there, but he mainly is looking for a shot.
The counter attacks we used to make were quick and decisive but of late we all know that they are too slow.

with diogo we had someone who aimed to get in the penalty area at speed which gives defenders and goalie less time to ready themselves, because , believe it or not,
goals don't only come from the wings !!

I think one of the problems is that we don't move forward as a unit when we have quick breaks. Until our midfield try and keep up with them and get closer to the box, we're never going to have enough players on the end of crosses. When was the last time you saw Coady in the opponents half, apart from the odd corner? Even when w are on the attack at a slower pace, our back three don't venture into the opponents half.

We don't get enough bodies forward, it's that simple. Watching other teams, even bloody Brighton you see upwards of four players in the box at times. Other than from corners have we ever had more than three in the box from open play and even that is a rarity.

But again it all stems from a safety first approach, first and foremost we always maintain our rigidity so we must be the easiest side to defend against in English footy right now. And as mentioned above, it is frustrating we have to have one of Neto or Traore or Podence beat a man twice before passing the ball is killing us.

The club has given some update on the expected return date of some of the injured players;
Marcal - late Feb
Boly - early March
Podence - late March

comment by Cinciwolf in the desert (U11551)
posted 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
We don't get enough bodies forward, it's that simple. Watching other teams, even bloody Brighton you see upwards of four players in the box at times. Other than from corners have we ever had more than three in the box from open play and even that is a rarity.

But again it all stems from a safety first approach, first and foremost we always maintain our rigidity so we must be the easiest side to defend against in English footy right now. And as mentioned above, it is frustrating we have to have one of Neto or Traore or Podence beat a man twice before passing the ball is killing us.
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which is only going to end in a jota type situation of a top coming in for neto and him going out of frustration

https://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/1358428940906487809

self styled city scout and well known gobsh!te gives pep transfer advice

https://www.rousingthekop.com/2021/02/08/please-some-liverpool-fans-beg-club-to-pedro-neto/

Inevitable we lose Pedro soon and unfortunately given the way we play you wouldn't blame anyone that wants out.

The fear now is though that normally at least we would have 80 million to spend afterwards but I am not sure I trust us to spend that well these days.

Neto is going to the very very top isn't he, Lazio must be kicking themselves with that move, it's good to know we got that one right.

Can’t get too concerned about Man City coming in for Neto. They already have Sterling, Foden and Mahrez as wide players so that won’t be there priority. With Aguerro coming to the end and Jesus not impressing I am sure a new centre forward will be their main signing in the summer

The scouse numpties seem to have forgotten that they already signed Jota who is close to returning from injury.

I don't see it as inevitable that Neto will go in the summer. The same voices were saying that Neves would leave for the last 2 seasons but he's still here and enjoying his football.

I think if we get one more season out of Neto we should be pleased. As for Neves, we had incentives Gem, First it was a first Prem season, then it was a Euro campaign and then Covid disrupted the market.
Now we are battling it out with Brighton, Burnley and Palace.

^^^^^ gotta be a wind up !

Has Herbert hacked your account Cinci love ?

What part of what I said is wrong Halfy?