Otamendi can play RB (he has for Argentina) if Maicon or Mangala are brought in to make up for the lost of a defender.
Souza on for James Rodriguez. I don't agree with taking off James but I guess he can't take off Varela who just came on and taking off Hulk or a MF isn't an option. Not sure how they'll line up though. Does Otamendi move to RB and maybe Fernando at CB while Souza takes over at DM? Or maybe nobody goes to RB and Fernando & Souza play DM together to close down the midfield more...
This is overt giving away of possession and favour Hulk and Varela on the counter. And as I type this, they hit the post.
Yep. We seem too loose and passive in defense. They accelerate a bit and create immediate danger. Scary.
It's not his fault Fucile and Helton had brain freezes, to be fair. And it was bad luck with Kleber getting injured, too. It messed up our game plan.
Don't get me wrong, I love Moutinho but he's been off a tad including the SLb game. Not his best today. Burnout? We just got lucky as Zenit's goal wasn't offside in my opinion
FFS, Hulk can't play in the middle. Lobbed balls for him between the CBs is not going to get us anywhere. Put him and Varela wide, when we get the ball. Lucky with that offside, VERY lucky.
I agree, but we haven't been playing that well before this game. All I'm saying is who would you bring in to replace VP if he gets the axe? Jardim anyone?? Zenit just scored!!!!!!!!! FCP 1 Zenit 2
Goal. It's going to be real tough getting back to this one. Zenit has played some fast and effective football too, kudos to them.
The wheels have completely fallen off in the first 20 minutes of this second half. Zenit have scored to take a 2-1 lead, had another what looked to be wrongly called offside, hit the bar post and had a plethora of other chances. Truthfully, this could be 3 or 4-1 right now. Fernando looks absolutely lost at RB. I guess VP didn't want to tinker too much, but I think it would have been better to put Fernando at CB, Otamendi at RB and Souza at DM. This is just brutal
Varela should have been taken off and not JaMES! wHO CARES IF HE JUST CAME IN!! pOOR TACTICS vp, POOR TACTICS VP
tHIS LOSS FALLS HEAVILY ON vp SHOULDERS. wE COULD HAVE WALKED OUT OF sT. pETES WITH A TIE. lIKE i SAID WHO WOULD YOU REPLACE vp WITH???
Bad luck, but terrible by Otamendi to begin with. He should have closed the player down early but he gave him acres of space to run at him. We are a mess today, almost all players. What are the odds they went partying in Moscow last night?