saintant

RM is quoted as saying if you have the ball the opposition can't score. Correct but, in our case, they can easily nick it off you or pick up a sloppy pass around our penalty area and score as we've already found out to our cost for all goals conceded this season.

All our centre backs are struggling so far. Joel Matip is available as a free agent so might he be worth a look? Ok, he's just turned 33 but good centre backs can play on past that age. He always looked calm and assured, reads the game extremely well, is a unit so useful in the air, passes well and is not afraid to carry the ball out of defence at the right time. I reckon he'd bring some experience and a calming influence to our haphazard defending. Trouble is West Ham are currently showing interest so we'd have to move fast. Also we're probably overloaded in this position but he'd certainly add something plus Adam Lallana knows his qualities.

Our possession stats to goals ratio tells you RM's tactics are not working at this level. We all realise our possession stats are only so high because we play lots of sideways and backward passes particularly at the back - nobody is fooled into thinking the stats make us a good side. He has to find a way of moving the ball upfield much more economically and cut out the passes for passes sake. We'd all sacrifice less possession for more chances and goals I'm sure.

Can't see where anyone has compared the two. I made a reference to Mane but not a comparison.

This quote was before his time with us but I don't believe he's changed his principles.

Well, by the time of the next game Ross-he's-two-weeks-away-Stewart must be fit and chomping at the bit so presumably he'll be included on the bench and given some minutes 🙂

Well I'm afraid that's all there is so you'd better get used to it 🙂

The following quote made by RM might concern you - it does me. 'But we didn’t have anyone that big to play it up to, and unless you have someone who really specialises in that role, and the team buys into that story, then for me there’s more risk in doing that. We really believe in something, and our job is to make Plan A better. Because if you’ve got Plan A, and then the next plan, Plan B, is to do the complete opposite, then you don’t really believe in Plan A, do you?' It's from coachesvoice.com

It's a real shame because Kamaldeen has the raw materials to be a top player. Maybe he just can't or won't learn the finer parts of the game so he's simply a speed merchant with nothing else in his locker. Mane was raw when we signed him but he was a quick learner and clearly hungry to succeed - I don't see that in Kamaldeen but maybe one day he'll prove most of us wrong and turn up playing scintillating football for a top side but I wouldn't bet on it.

Agree. ABK has bags of potential and is a beast. I've no clue of the truth or otherwise about him being difficult to manage but if he doesn't leave in this window RM needs to sit him down and try to find a way to get him onside so we can benefit from his undoubted talents - not least because our current 3 centre backs haven't started the season particularly well.

You make a good point but it doesn't have to result in presenting the ball on a plate to the opposition. Plenty of teams have no problem with it and many seem to have more than one way of progressing up the pitch from a goal kick. They never look overly rushed or hard pressed by the opposition. It's the likes of us who haven't developed a way of playing out from a goal kick who end up in a blind panic being pressed harder because the opposition know it's a weakness and smell blood so it's self perpetuating.

Exactly how I saw it. I wonder if RM watched it and will learn anything from it 🙂 Liverpool were absolutely superb and it could have been even more embarrassing for Utd.

Two of you have opted for 433 but I think we'd suit 4231 better and it's what most teams play these days including the elite ones. I'm assuming our players would be familiar with it and could adopt to it quite quickly but it won't happen with the current manager. I watch us and we are a mess with no shape or obvious purpose and I'm not even sure what formation we play apart from something concocted by RM that he thinks will conquer football.

Makes you wonder why we were paying Ralph so long after he left doesn't it. You can add Nathan Jones to that too.

Not heard anything. Where are you getting this from?

Spot on.

Haven't come across anyone who has said otherwise. But it doesn't mean fans can't offer their opinions of what went wrong in matches or whether different tactics would work better which is mostly what I'm reading on here.

Eventually they'll feel that his system is hanging them out to dry as they are better players than it makes them look.

Yeah, Charlie Taylor has played centre half so could probably do the job you describe.

I watched Liverpool yesterday and I particularly took note of how they play out from the back. It's usually a low driven pass from the keeper at pace to a full back who is well out towards his flank. He then controls the ball and feeds a midfielder who has dropped to receive the pass and gets on the half turn - again the pass is crisp and covers some distance. It is low risk and retains possession. If avenues blocked off they were quite happy to go long from the goalkeeper. We aren't Liverpool but what they are doing doesn't require some incredible amount of talent just the ability to hit a crisp pass to your man and rely on him controlling it along with a little movement from further upfield. It's not rocket science and they are not reinventing football like our Russ seems to want to do.

From what I've observed of THB he is far happier in a back 4 with two centre backs. As soon as we play a five with an added centre back he seems to be less sure of his responsibilities.

Seems the owners are not learning when it comes to dishing out long contracts to those who have not demonstrated that they deserve them.

I think the one thing I've noticed is that we keep hearing this is the Premier League and we'll get punished - come on, let's get real, the errors we've made would likely get punished at most levels because they are so horrendously amateurish and are being made around our goal. Let's not claim we've conceded those goals because we're playing Premier League opposition - that's nonsense.

Like most of our players I'm convinced he is suffering due to the RM play book.

Most of the passing at the back is far too short and fiddly and results in panic. Watch the pass out from the back style played properly and generally the passes are much longer and hit with pace which opens up space. There is no reason why our players shouldn't be skilled enough to do that. You can't and won't successfully play out from the back with fiddly short passes and the coaches should be putting this right.