shiv

Our problem against Wolves wasn’t attacking intent. It was our defensive mistakes. Vardy got in behind multiple times. We struggled in the second half which is expected when you’re 3-0 down.

We showed attacking intent with our fast breaks. Unfortunately we have a side that can’t keep the ball which is really impacting our ability to counter attack successfully. It would have been suicide if we tried to press Liverpool’s back 4. The set up was right, we just lacked quality in too many areas.

Thought we played alright given the opponent. We kept Salah and Nuñez quiet but Liverpool targeted our weak link in Justin. Positives: -We are much better on the ball with Winks back in the side. -Mavididi was far more direct which was a good threat. -Ayew and Bilal were solid. -Jacub is 10x better than Ward. -VK did well to keep Salah quiet for most the game. Negatives: -Soumare was really poor. -Justin keeps getting targeted - we need to sign a new RB in Jan. -Daka with his usual garbage finishing. Overall I think it’s a step in the right direction, but the Wolves loss and the leaky defence has really put us in trouble in the table. Really hope we have a good window in January as I think that’s Ruud’s only hope.

There seems to be a common perception that the midfield is supposed to stop opposition teams from breaking through. In what universe can 2 players cover the entirety of the midfield along with covering wingers when they don’t track back? That’s a shape issue not a personnel issue. No midfielder except Kante can cover that much ground. Soumare was excellent last night. His biggest issue for us has always been his work ethic, but he put an absolute shift in. Anyone that thinks otherwise is deluded.

Ruud does sometimes favour a full back that tucks in, similar to what Enzo did with Doyle. For me, Justin or VK can’t do that role so I can understand people suggesting Hamza. Means you can play VK or Justin on the left and it gives them a bit more freedom. Attacking with both full backs is leaving us far too exposed at the moment.

We’ve seen some bad performances this year, largely driven by lapses in concentration, poor tactics and woeful substitutions. However, today is the first time in a long time I’ve seen us lose a game because of a sheer lack of effort. People like to scapegoat Thomas and Coady, but I didn’t think they were anywhere near the worst players today and they actually gave 100% IMO. I’d even argue N’Didi and Soumare did too, even though our midfield was a total disaster. Vardy and Buenanotte probably the only standout players but both were far too isolated with our dreadful formation set up. Faes was a disgrace today. Showed zero desire in chasing back, let Brentford’s forwards glide past him and left Coady exposed far too often. Justin wasn’t much better either, for someone who’s supposed to be one of our fastest players he showed no desire to keep up with their attackers either. I can forgive the players for having low confidence, being poorly coached and being given bad tactics. But the second you stop giving 100% is the second you don’t deserve to wear the shirt.

The difference is, Amartey always gave 100%. Whilst he was limited in ability you couldn’t ever fault his effort or call him lazy. Faes and Justin put on absolutely disgraceful performances today. Nothing more infuriating than seeing a lack of effort.

Whilst I sympathise with the structure Cooper forced him into, there’s a very basic level of effort required. You can’t just give 100% effort when you’re bursting forward but then stroll about when you’re defending. As a RB, your primary job is to defend which is something Justin did not even attempt to do today in parts.

We pretty much already play a 9-0-1 formation. The negativity around our set up is astounding.

We were dreadful. The second half was a repeat of Arsenal, we were just lucky Bournemouth were wasteful. A win is a win but another very underwhelming performance and woeful in game management by Cooper yet again.

People need to understand that being more positive doesn’t mean going gung ho. Every time Cooper has tried to firm up defensively with substitutions or tactical changes it’s invited pressure and led to us not being able to see out games. Allowing teams to attack us is not prioritising defensive organisation. Not many defenders in the league could handle 36 shots without conceding. Playing Ayew instead of Fatawu is not prioritising defensive organisation either. It hinders us defensively and offensively.

Fairly sure he’s been to every home game this season

Tactically, I don’t think I have ever seen such a poor manager. We could not even string one pass together in the first half and got boxed in by the Arsenal press. We dropped far too deep and left a big gap between midfield and attack once again. We needed to be much more fluid in our movement, but Cooper has the team regimented in their positioning in a low block. You also need more technical ability in the double pivot midfield. Winks & Ricardo were brilliant together last season but he’s opting for Skipp who clearly does not have the technical ability to play this role, and is not playing to Winks’ strengths. Winks is by far our best midfielder and it’s criminal to see him being utilised ineffectively. Our first goal was a stroke of luck through Vardy’s clever play to win the free kick. If you look at our play before he goes down, once again there is nobody within 20 yards of Vardy. He is isolated again but thankfully wins a free kick where we get a lucky deflection. I would say our second goal was a much better show of intent, as we had N’Didi overlapping Mavididi, JJ pushing forward on the overlap and Buonanotte coming inside. We seemed to push higher up the pitch and led Arsenal to drop deep. Unfortunately that lasted no more than 10 minutes, as we very quickly reverted to Cooper’s defensive tactics and dropped far too deep. We let Arsenal come at us and had no counter attacking threat up top. This was a game that was crying out for some pace, and the obvious substitutions were to bring on Edouard & Fatawu at 65-70 minutes. Unfortunately it’s clear that Cooper is not learning anything. He is making the same mistakes every week, allowing his poor decisions during the match impact the result and not playing our best attacking players. I don’t believe for a second he’s watched all of our games from last season like he’s claimed, because if he has and then concluded that Ricardo, Fatawu and Mavididi shouldn’t play together then he’s absolutely lost the plot.

Agree with everything except your Winks point. He’s made the most breaking line passes in the league. Always looking to be positive which is refreshing.

Just not good enough I’m afraid. I was more than willing I give him a chance but my patience has worn after just 5 games. Tactically, he is inept. In the first half he had our front 4 pressing but our back line super deep which meant Everton were able to glide through our midfield with just a few passes. He claims to have watched all our games last season, so surely on that basis it’s logical to start Ricardo, Fatawu and Mavididi - our 3 best players. His in game management is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. I could list so many examples but just focusing on Everton, he should’ve subbed Bilal at HT, 30k fans knew Ayew should’ve come off for Fatawu at 75 mins and you have to give Ricardo some minutes. Unfortunately he is not learning from his long list of mistakes. His post match interview was alarming. His justification for subbing Mavididi was bizarre - you’re telling me he couldn’t last another 6 minutes he also said he’s aware that 4-5 of our goals have come from our right hand side yet continues with Justin at RB. I was willing to give him a chance after Palace but that’s done it for me. Sadly we all know our inept board won’t do anything until it’s too late.

Great book, would encourage anyone here to read it.

Brendan Rodgers played a part in KDH’s development, doesn’t mean he’s not a terrorist.

All of which played for some of the best academies in the country? He did well with England youth but let’s not pretend he’s the one that gave Sterling & Trent their Liverpool debut

If we are going for someone out of work I would much rather we took a gamble on someone like RvN.

I couldn’t care less that Cooper managed Forest. In the Championship he played pretty direct football, but let’s not forget with Forest he had a very good squad with some great loan players. I understand why he just focused on getting results in the PL, but he played absolute turgid football and barely scraped them over the line. In the last 5 years or so, the gap between the bottom 2-3 teams and the rest of the league has been staggering. It’s only taking ~36 points to stay up these days and you’re consistently having at least one team finish on sub 30 points. In 2022/23 Forest finished on 38, which to be honest with the squad they had I would say was definitely the bare minimum. Yes they had a lot of signings but they had the likes of Felipe, Lodi, Aurier, Mangala, Navas who were all playing Champions League football not long ago. So for me, that’s why I am absolutely not keen on Cooper. The England youth set up success is not a reason to appoint someone (as we saw with Peter Taylor).

I can see why people think he’d be solid. But, aside from 2 out of his 4.5 years at West Ham which he got them to 6th & 7th, they were largely an average team. Yes he won them the Conference League but they had a much easier run in than our year and had Paqueta, Rice & Bowen who are arguably top 4 players. In the PL they were very bang average, they finished 14th in 22/23 and although they finished 9th last year the points totals for the league were turgid (Fulham finished 13th in 48 points). I’d say on the whole he’s been pretty crap since leaving Everton. 2 good years in 11 doesn’t fill me with confidence tbh.

I know there were reports of a player revolt but the main reason he left is because the PSV board sold Gakpo & Madueke when they were challenging for the title. His work with the academy was brilliant and he got Xavi Simons banging goals in for fun at just 19. He also played a good style of football and was more similar to Bielsa’s Leeds in terms of intensity. Players complained because they thought he trained them too hard, but frankly I don’t see that as a real issue and we’ve seen what happens when players have too much control.

As I said - was always going to get a club competing in Europe.

I agree about not wanting him here, but his last 4 clubs have been Chelsea, Man Utd, Spurs and Roma. To think he will suddenly not get a single offer from a club competing in Europe is a little naive. There’s absolutely no way he considers a club like us at this stage of his career. Why would he come to a club with FFP issues, a potentially huge points deduction and a clown of a DoF? His stock hasn’t fallen that much just yet. Maybe in 5 years we’ll see him managing mid-table teams but can’t see that happening any time soon tbh.