Lord Friendzone Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said: That's some heavy irony from a bus-parking Utd fan. Your team was the worst offender until former-manager Moyes rolled into town. Well done by Chelsea today. Not great in the first half but handled Spurs blunt attack throughout, improved a lot in the second half and, crucially, created and scored chances against a badly disrupted defense. That was Chelsea's first real challenging PL game since losing back-to-back against 'Pool and Arsenal. Next up they have City and then another run of very winnable games. They look very consistent and efficient at the moment. Son positioning gave Chelsea problems in the first half. Thanks to him Moses who is the more attacking minded wing back had to defend. Spurs were fabolous in the first half but that goal from Pedro killed them. Chelsea stepped up their game and protected the lead. I always write someone could take points off them but look at them. Man City are bound to be their best challenge. Their record at Etihad is not good, they have players like Son who can neutralize Moses and Alonso threat, Hazard seems off the form and Aguero is on the form. Also, Guardiola is known for being able to explore their tactics and he'll try something on them. 6 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said: Clean sheet.3 points,top of the table. Love how Klopp bullied the crowd into action .Match turned right there. Hope this is true. : Hopefully Couts is good. Klopp and Conte are bullying crowd into action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Heh, watching Match of the Day this morning I only just realised Palace have signed Cabaye. That totally passed me by. They really should be better than they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 18 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: I understand why teams feel like they need to park the bus against Liverpool (and some others), but as a fan I'll quickly lose interest in watching games like that every week. It's much worse this year because a few teams have started strongly and there's a big gap atm, but it looks like the next 2-3 months will have a lot of grim games. This is hardly something new and I don't see it as being worse this season than any other season. Perhaps your perception is skewed because Liverpool is involved and, apart from three 2nd place finishes, the club has generally not been title contenders on a regular basis during the premier league era. Teams at the top have always had to deal with many games during the course of a season where the opposition defended with numbers behind the ball and hoped to nick something on the counter. United had to regularly find ways to break down defensive walls during Fergie's reign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Rein it in a bit lads. Liverpool have been in the top 3 or 4 sides at this stage of the season, which is all they are at the moment, plenty of times in the Premier League era. I don't really agree United faced teams parking the bus that often in the Fergie era at United either. Obviously teams would be more defensively minded, but for a lot of the Ferguson era there was still a bit of an old school English football mindset of you play 4-4-2 and give it a bit of a go. On top of that Ferguson's sides often had a bit more of a plan B than the current Liverpool team and they weren't as geared to pressing to win the ball back. I think that's probably the reason Liverpool have faced a fair amount of teams really parking the bus like Sunderland did yesterday, teams are worried about having the ball because they think they're going to turn it over in key areas and get punished and Liverpool look significantly less effective against a well set defense. Which is fair enough really, for the sides with less potent attacks it seems like a reasonable tactic to try and get something out of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Without really having paid much attention to it, I think ljkeane is right: Liverpool excel at pressing high and countering with pace and numbers. Playing the possession game against them looks risky. If they don't get the chance of countering, the team doesn't look all that good. So, given that you manage a lower half-team, it seems like the best approach is to give Liverpool plenty of the ball, but let them play from the back and defend in numbers. That way, they don't look all that good. Yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 50 minutes ago, ljkeane said: Rein it in a bit lads. Liverpool have been in the top 3 or 4 sides at this stage of the season, which is all they are at the moment, plenty of times in the Premier League era. While this is true, there was quite a gulf between the top two and everyone else back then with the league being a two horse race. So while Liverpool did have numerous 3rd/4th place finishes, they were not genuine title contenders and there was a not insignificant gap in quality. Currently, there is very little difference in terms of quality between the top six sides. Quote I don't really agree United faced teams parking the bus that often in the Fergie era at United either. Obviously teams would be more defensively minded, but for a lot of the Ferguson era there was still a bit of an old school English football mindset of you play 4-4-2 and give it a bit of a go. I never mentioned anything about "parking the bus". Defensive tactics does not necessarily equal "parking the bus". I recall both United and Arsenal coming up against teams playing with numbers behind the ball on a regular basis back then. Quote On top of that Ferguson's sides often had a bit more of a plan B than the current Liverpool team and they weren't as geared to pressing to win the ball back. I think that's probably the reason Liverpool have faced a fair amount of teams really parking the bus like Sunderland did yesterday, teams are worried about having the ball because they think they're going to turn it over in key areas and get punished and Liverpool look significantly less effective against a well set defense. Which is fair enough really, for the sides with less potent attacks it seems like a reasonable tactic to try and get something out of the game. We're in agreement here. ETA. my primary contention was regarding the statement that parking the bus is much worse this year. I don't agree with that. I don't see it as being significantly worse this season than in any other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Alexis was brilliant today. Far and away the best player on the pitch. Bournemouth are fun to watch, they don't park the bus like a lot of teams would against the big clubs away. They played some nice attacking football throughout. What a start for West Ham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas! Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Maybe what I hate about Ander Herrera is that he literally complains about everything. He could kick an opposing player's head clean off and he'd still shrug his shoulders and bitch to the ref afterwards. I hope we get to see Mark Noble carry him off the pitch again today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 10 minutes ago, Mark Antony said: Alexis was brilliant today. Far and away the best player on the pitch. Bournemouth are fun to watch, they don't park the bus like a lot of teams would against the big clubs away. They played some nice attacking football throughout. What a start for West Ham He was really good in the 2nd half, as was the rest of the team. The first half he was dispossessed around 8 times which was frustrating. Good result for us and as you said, Bournemouth are fun to watch. Would have liked to seen Wilshere play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Silly thing for Mourinho to do (kicking a water bottle) but I feel that it was quite harsh sending him to the stands for that. A warning would have sufficed. Decent first half. We need to be more clinical up front although lately (maybe this is just my bias talking) it feels like opposition goalkeepers raise their game a couple of levels against us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 4 hours ago, Consigliere said: ETA. my primary contention was regarding the statement that parking the bus is much worse this year. I don't agree with that. I don't see it as being significantly worse this season than in any other. I think LJKeane already responded pretty well. Liverpool have seen plenty of defensive opponents over the years. But I do think it's worse this year. Liverpool have had 80% possession in a few games already -- that's like peak Barcelona under Pep, except we're not even trying to retain possession. Strong teams have always faced defensive, deep-lying opponents. I've lamented for years Liverpool's struggles to score against predictable tactics. But now our counter-pressing style makes teams terrified to hold the ball at all. They just punt it clear and sit back even deeper. The games this year are so one-sided that they're approaching parody. It actually looks like a training field exercise of attack v defense. Burnley managed to beat us despite conceding 80% possession and being outshot something like 32-2. But that was a fluke and WBA, Sunderland, Hull, Palace, Leicester, Chelsea, Southampton and United similarly set out just to weather a storm and not even try to play, without ever looking like they could sneak a win like Burnley. That's their prerogative but all fans will get turned off quickly by 9-0-1 formations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 So four home games on the trot where we should have won but didn't. Eight points dropped. I think that any of the current top 4 would have ended up winning those games but it just isn't happening for us. It might be a bit early to write us off completely but being eight points behind Arsenal now, I'd say that our chances of a top 4 finish are effectively over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 At least Utd saw Everton and Watford lose, or else they'd had overtaken you today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Friendzone Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Mourinho in the stands. Well, Man Utd didn't played that bad. What's the opinion on Jose, as he's been criticized on twitter from many journalists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 Still nobody has won a Premier League game in Manchester since September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mme Erzulie Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Just from watching the MotD highlights, ManU looks to have found some attacking fluidity, and it looked like they should have put away West Ham. Don't know how much of that is due to West Ham's shoddy defending, though. Payet is such a joy to watch. City were the better team, but Burnley gifted them both goals and looked dangerous going forward. It feels like Dyche learned a lot from his last PL stint and is putting that knowledge to good use this season. Good to see a club putting some trust in a manager and having a long-term perspective. City - Chelsea should be an interesting match, and if we can overcome Bournemouth (not a given), we'd gain ground on at least one rival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 On 11/27/2016 at 0:55 PM, ljkeane said: Heh, watching Match of the Day this morning I only just realised Palace have signed Cabaye. Lol, that was years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Coutinho expected to miss 5-6 weeks. Major blow obviously but I think we will be fine as long as Lallana and Sturridge aren't out for much longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 14 minutes ago, Mark Antony said: Coutinho expected to miss 5-6 weeks. Major blow obviously but I think we will be fine as long as Lallana and Sturridge aren't out for much longer. It is a huge blow, and it covers a period when a lot of PL points are at stake. Thankfully our squad is deeper this season. Coutinho, Lallana, Sturridge and Firmino are all currently injured, but hopefully only short term for the latter three. Even so, it will be a big struggle and we need to see if Sturridge and Origi can step up. We may even see Ojo and Grujic come into contention as the games pile up. City-Chelsea next week will be an important match, but Utd-Everton might be too. Everton's form has turned wretched, even after Gueye's return, and they need to stop the rot soon. But Utd also look desperate for a win and have been playing better in recent weeks without finishing their chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 3 hours ago, Raja said: Lol, that was years ago! Ha, you're right. Summer 2015 apparently. I probably did see that at some point but he's clearly not been very memorable. 5-6 weeks out for Coutinho is a big blow for Liverpool, it's better than out for the season with a broken ankle though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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