Players wanted a pressing game but Claudio said no

[polarbear]

so did he release the shackles in the man city game? as they were clearly pressing from the front

 

or did the players do that themselves and that set the tone for the rest of the game

[Captain...]

14 minutes ago, polarbear said:

so did he release the shackles in the man city game? as they were clearly pressing from the front

 

or did the players do that themselves and that set the tone for the rest of the game

Man City left massive gaps for us to exploit. It was truly awful defending.

 

I don't know if they were told to not press, or hold back on the pressing, it will be interesting to see what happens on Monday. What has been clear in the last few seasons is that we had a group of players that were tireless, hard working and would never give up. We have seen all of these players chase lost causes and put in massive shifts when needed.

 

We have also seen that they are limited players not the most technically gifted nor have the footballing intelligence to manage a game. We found a way of playing that suited every one of them. If CR changed that and simultaneously helped to destroy the other key factor in our success, team spirit, then he has to take responsibility. If he refused to go back to the methods that brought us success, ignored advice from Shakey, the players and the sports science team then the owners had a real tough decision to make. Watch all our hard work disappear or shoot bambi.

[Goober]

50 minutes ago, Wookie said:

I cba to do loads of comparisons but ball recoveries against Man U 2015/16 and 2016/17

 

 

 

*season (obviously)

 

We weren't exactly at our best in the United game. I'm thinking City away, Sunderland opening day, Swansea away where just ran all over them. We actually put tackles in last year too, this year it's all half hearted, slow closing down

[STUHILL]

1 hour ago, old koppite said:

Last season we started most games with 100% energy and pressing. I don't mean high pressing, just pressing all over the pitch as if we always had 3/ 4 players swarming around the opp players. I often thought we can't keep this up for 90 minutes, but we nearly always did, even with some of our players looked knackered around 60 minutes. 

So, I agree with those who speculate that it was a coaching change this season that has not worked.

Certainly seems to be the most logically explanation and also ties in with why the players could be so unhappy with tactics. Be interesting to see if we see a big change on monday in this regard.