Tactics not going to plan

[Guest An Sionnach]

1 hour ago, Bossman Blessed It said:

 

And then he would have been lambasted for going to the Etihad 'to sit back'. When Kevin De Bruyne is in form like that he is literally unplayable - he was like a magician yesterday. The quality of his passing is second to none in world football in my opinion, particularly at the moment. It is good for our youngsters to see the level they should aspire to reach too. Again, if Barnes scores his chance and it's 2-2, nobody discusses an ineptitude in tactics - instead we celebrate a good result. Brendan will have something up his sleeve against Liverpool! 

Man City are not Wolves or Man Utd. Too defensive against them was a mistake but you pick your team to counteract the opposition. Yesterday Rodgers played right into their hands. No he won't make that mistake again at least he had better not or serious questions will be asked. Liverpool are an even bigger task so I am looking forward to his team selection on Thursday.

Edited 22 December 2019 by An Sionnach

[Livid]

I think he set us up yesterday to try and put them on the back foot and expose their defensive frailties. He sets us up defensively and we all moan about not going for it against another top side etc.

 

Unfortunately they were really on their game and we were pushed back. With the set up we had Chilwell was always going to be exposed. 

 

They were better than us, that's all.

[Nicolo Barella]

There were three problems:

 

Man City, on form are the best team in the league

 

Team selection (Tielemans and Maddison in the midfield three was naive)

 

Fatigue

 

 

[deep blue]

4 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

My worry is for the third time this season we’ve turned up at a big club away game and looked completely shitscared. Throw in an awful first half at Chelsea too. 

 

Its a concern because if we want be successful, we are playing for the right to be in these type of matches and then failing once there 

Agree with this. I don't like the attitude that Man C were just too good for us and we have to accept it. If our players think opposition players are better then they should see this as a challenge, an incentive to strive to improve, learn and match them.  If we have the attitude that we can't raise our game to their level then we never will.

[Footballwipe]

1 hour ago, Clever Fox said:

That's the point. it  is a travesty. But may I respectfully suggest that maybe you just don't have the passion like some on here. If a defeat doesn't hurt then maybe you're following the wrong game.

Hahahah yes that's it. I'm not irrational like everyone else so I don't care as much. That's definitely the answer. Just because I'm not hysterical doesn't mean I don't care. Jesus Christ what are you smoking??

[DerbyshireFox]

5 hours ago, An Sionnach said:

Every match poses different problems , it's a managers job to set his team up to cope with that. On balance Man. City have better players than us but not that much better. We made them look like peak Barcelona yesterday. Rodgers got it wrong period. Should have been a tough battle with Man. City probably just edging it.

You think Man City’s players aren’t a level above us! Our players are fantastic, but De Bruyne, Mahrez, Sterling, David & Bernardo are the finished article, our boys are rough diamonds. Even at our best yesterday, and set up differently, we would have struggled with them in that form yesterday. The thing that’s frustrating people is that we weren’t at our best yesterday. Play that game a few weeks back and it’s more competitive. We had Gray and Albrighton to bring on to try and make a difference. They had Aguero, Foden and Rodri. That’s the difference. We have done amazingly do split Liverpool and Man City at Christmas, but let’s not get carried away. These two sides do what we’ve been doing for two months every week for the past 18 months/two years. We want to be at that level, or close, we have to learn how to do it. We may do that, we may get close, we may suffer at times, but I’m bloody loving watching it!

[John12345]

19 hours ago, DerbyshireFox said:

When Rodgers came I remember reading the posts and some celtic fans were on the site saying in the Champions league he fails to adapt his tactics, even though the opposition is a far higher level than the Scottish league which they walk. I know city were that good but we played into hands matching up. You don't do that away at city. It will be interesting to see what he does against Liverpool and another high pressing team with World class players. 

 

[MC Prussian]

14 hours ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

One dimensional won us the Premier League.

That argument in itself is one-dimensional.

 

One could equally say that Eden Hazard won us the league.

Edited 23 December 2019 by MC Prussian

[Guest Cujek]

Man City would have beat anyone in the world yesterday if de bruyne plays like that. 

 

Marhez the **** was given space and time because of how well de bruyne set up, he is a one trick pony, you could see him him cutting in from right to shoot with his left foot all day long, just couldn't do anyhring about it. 

 

Stirling should have been booked for diving not gifted a pen, ref had a nightmare and should be banned really. 

 

My point is we weren't going to beat them yesterday no matter what tactics we went with. 

 

Norwich was slightly different as we had a few off players, we didn't really get at them like we should have. 

 

I have a feeling we are going to beat Liverpool they have rode their luck massively this season and none more so than against us at anfield, we certainly souldnt fear them, take out Salah early on and they will suffer. 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

Rodgers out! 🤣🤣🤣 

Loving this thread, hope Brendan reads it.

[sylofox]

Some doom and gloom in here

[Guest An Sionnach]

2 hours ago, Cujek said:

Man City would have beat anyone in the world yesterday if de bruyne plays like that. 

 

Marhez the **** was given space and time because of how well de bruyne set up, he is a one trick pony, you could see him him cutting in from right to shoot with his left foot all day long, just couldn't do anyhring about it. 

 

Stirling should have been booked for diving not gifted a pen, ref had a nightmare and should be banned really. 

 

My point is we weren't going to beat them yesterday no matter what tactics we went with. 

 

Norwich was slightly different as we had a few off players, we didn't really get at them like we should have. 

 

I have a feeling we are going to beat Liverpool they have rode their luck massively this season and none more so than against us at anfield, we certainly souldnt fear them, take out Salah early on and they will suffer. 

You can't keep De Brunye in his box all match long but other teams have done a much better job than we did. I'll say it again Rodgers got it wrong, against the high press Kasper should have booted it down the pitch into the corners.Mahrez knows all about Chilwell's weak right foot of course, bound to exploit it.

Edited 23 December 2019 by An Sionnach

[willie-bell-in-rothley]

Second in the league, cup semi finals, top scorer in the league, superb defensive goals against record, so whats going wrong?

[Guest Cujek]

11 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

You can't keep De Brunye in his box all match long but other teams have done a much better job than we did. I'll say it again Rodgers got it wrong, against the high press Kasper should have booted it down the pitch into the corners.Mahrez knows all about Chilwell's weak right foot of course, bound to exploit it.

that's a little harsh to be honest, De Bruyne is one of if not the nest midfielders in the world and on his day, like Saturday he is totally unplayable he would have destroyed anyone on that showing, but Man City's problem is consistency, they are the best side in this league and one of the best in the world.

 

what was the alternative to what we did?

 

play 5 at the back with Fuchs instead of Chilly?

 

the thing is, i think we needed that, we needed to be given a lesson, we dont improve by winning every week (although that is nice) we learn from defeats and learn how to improve, i think it will do us well against Liverpool on boxing day.

[Bossman Blessed It]

7 minutes ago, Cujek said:

that's a little harsh to be honest, De Bruyne is one of if not the nest midfielders in the world and on his day, like Saturday he is totally unplayable he would have destroyed anyone on that showing, but Man City's problem is consistency, they are the best side in this league and one of the best in the world.

 

what was the alternative to what we did?

 

play 5 at the back with Fuchs instead of Chilly?

 

the thing is, i think we needed that, we needed to be given a lesson, we dont improve by winning every week (although that is nice) we learn from defeats and learn how to improve, i think it will do us well against Liverpool on boxing day.

 

Agree - there's nothing defeatist about being outplayed by Man City and in terms of tactics, why anyone thinks that because of our strong league position, Guardiola won't have an answer to our threat is unbelievable. Rodgers plays a brand of football that seems to have been influenced quite a lot by Pep. Moreover, I think nerves got to our young squad a little which is bound to happen. Great lesson for them to learn and will make us a stronger team in the future. 

[UniFox21]

Rodgers seems a fan of shifting to a 3back, would make some sense if he was in for another CB to play that system. Would give us more variety and allow us to utilise Ricardo and Chilwell more

[st albans fox]

32 minutes ago, Cujek said:

that's a little harsh to be honest, De Bruyne is one of if not the nest midfielders in the world and on his day, like Saturday he is totally unplayable he would have destroyed anyone on that showing, but Man City's problem is consistency, they are the best side in this league and one of the best in the world.

 

what was the alternative to what we did?

 

play 5 at the back with Fuchs instead of Chilly?

 

the thing is, i think we needed that, we needed to be given a lesson, we dont improve by winning every week (although that is nice) we learn from defeats and learn how to improve, i think it will do us well against Liverpool on boxing day.

There were a few but it seemed that none were deemed worthy of trying during the game .... that’s the conundrum....

Edited 23 December 2019 by st albans fox

[DerbyshireFox]

4 hours ago, John12345 said:

 

I’m sure you must have quoted one of my posts but deleted the text, because I didn’t write that!! However going off that, that may be the case, but to be fair he has shown a plan B so far, all be it against Everton and Villa. A young squad not used to these big games certainly plays a part. It’s great experience, hopefully they and Brendan learn together 

[Muzzy_Larsson]

@DerbyshireFox already touched on it it but when I watched the match the other night there was a slight sense of deja vu.

 

The one sort of constant criticism levelled at Rodgers during his time at Celtic was his stubborrness in terms of deviating from his principles, it cost us a couple of bloody noses in getting thumpings off PSG and Barcelona.  We naively tried to play them at their own game and there was obviously only going to be one winner. I sensed this the other night when watching the match against Man City, albeit it was far less apparent as the gap between the two sides wasn't as vast as say Celtic v Barcelona and essentially you guys have better players.  That said it's still naive in my opinion, you set up and play City at their own game and nine times out ten they will win as they are much the better side.

 

I think in these games a coach needs to find a different way to win to stand more of a chance of taking points off such sides with any regularity but this for me is still one of Rodgers' weak points, he's too rigid in sticking to his style and philosophy at all costs.  It's a large part of the reason his record in Europe is poor across the board (at Liverpool and Celtic) as it becomes even more prevalent in Europe that you need to alter your approach game by game sometmes according to the opposition and he doesn't seem to want to do that, as yet.

[January47]

Back in the day we played Middlesbrough at home in the league and were torn apart by Juninho. Shortly after we played them in the League Final and changed tactics with Pontus man-marking. If we do both get through to the final this time then hamza will play and who knows?

 

Their quality players were allowed all the room in the world to play although not saying its easy to stop them. Although as demonstrated get the ball to Vardy and he will destroy their defence.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

30 minutes ago, January47 said:

Back in the day we played Middlesbrough at home in the league and were torn apart by Juninho. Shortly after we played them in the League Final and changed tactics with Pontus man-marking. If we do both get through to the final this time then hamza will play and who knows?

 

Their quality players were allowed all the room in the world to play although not saying its easy to stop them. Although as demonstrated get the ball to Vardy and he will destroy their defence.

Now there's a blast from the past!  Tore Rangers apart on his debut for us and then O'Neill decided to play him on the wing the rest of the time where he was as to be expected, honking!

[Toddybad]

Unbelievable to find this thread at the top of the page.

2nd in the league.

We lost to man city playing world class football 45 hours after we had won a cup game on penalties with many of the same players on the pitch.

[Guest An Sionnach]

After we won the premiership , nobody would criticize Ranieri , saying we are the champions, in football management you are only as good as your last half a dozen matches and he was failing badly. We need a performance against Liverpool and a win against West  Ham and this thread will be redundant.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

28 minutes ago, An Sionnach said:

After we won the premiership , nobody would criticize Ranieri , saying we are the champions, in football management you are only as good as your last half a dozen matches and he was failing badly. We need a performance against Liverpool and a win against West  Ham and this thread will be redundant.

Until the next time we don’t win a couple of league games. 😊👍🏼🦊

[ithuriel]

Actually I quite enjoy FT nowadays for this sorta stuff, have my pitchfork n torch ready for the Liverpool match