Playing counter attacking football comes naturally when you have Jamie Vardy in your team. I didn't pay much attention to Liverpool when he was there and I paid absolutely no attention to Celtic under Rodgers, is that how they played with Rodgers in charge?
I always believed Freddie should only be a caretaker but this match confirmed he should be a short one. What made him think to start a horrid lineup like today's? What was his lineup based on? This surely wasn't going to be Emery lineup. Was it. Mustafi, Xhaka, Chambers and Kolsanic are you kidding. Willock starts in creative position and Ozil out wide wth. Are these guys his favorites? No way he could think this was a winning team or formation. This search needs to be conducted and a real manager with success and a managerial style and philosophy needs to be brought in.
Hey, they sit in 2nd place, ahead of Man City. And they've won 6 straight games, their best run in the top-flight in >50 years? He's obviously doing something well. Plus, using a roughly similar strategy, Ranieri took them all the way to the title 4 years ago.
Today's XI really raised some doubts in my mind. But I still think he deserves at least 3-5 matches before we have a real clue about his ability to be a reliable caretaker.
I'll have to try find the article, but I read recently that LCFC actually possesses the ball more than the Ranieri team and isn't as counter-attack dependent.
The club is such a mess. There isn't a manager in the world who could impose a system on this squad because they won't fit together. There is no consensus starting lineup because of this. Can't play Ozil, Auba, Laca, and Pepe together. None of the midfield pairs work together because they're either not defensive enough or not creative enough.
Buying Laca is what originally got us into this mess, but buying Pepe is looking like the the kind of classic Coutinho-type deal that Raul was responsible for at Barca that could bankrupt a club without Barca's unshakeable position in their respective league. I still can't believe we spent it on Pepe rather than someone like Upamecano, who would instantly be our best CB and would be paired with Saliba starting next year. It seemed even more nonsensical during the summer considering the team seemed to have some genuine talent at the wing coming up from youth squads. As it stands we still need a 50m+ investment in our backline at some point, and our 70m winger isn't making the squad over an 18 year-old HG player
Regardless of squad issues arsenal should be able to beat lower table sides Management has to get the basics right
There isn't a style. Not one that makes use of all the best players in the squad. Wonder if we make any purchases come the next transfer window.
Can play all out attack and try to win every game 3-2, and can be a boring ball possession team. Have most of the pieces to make either work.
Agreed And just get fundamentals correct in terms of defensive pressure, spacing, compactness etc Even if we have no great style, there is no excuse for fundamental issues
OK we're not the fastest squad, but we do have a few guys that can get up the pitch quickly. And frankly, I'd be willing to give our squad a chance at a pressing and countering approach, and see how they do. (It's not like what we've been trying is working very well) Then if that were to be a long-term style/philosophy, tweak the squad in the next 1-2 windows to support that. But a lot depends on who's our coach for the rest of the season. If it's Freddie, I've heard he favors possession so IDK if he'd go for the above. But if it were Rafa (just throwin a random name out there... I doubt he would come) maybe he'd be more open to it. Also I think there's like 0.1% chance that Brendan jumps off the over-performing Leicester ship mid-season to takeover our mess. But next summer could be another story.