Community shield: Just one of those days?
I’m a little strapped for time this week so just a quick summary of yesterday’s game, rather than a full ratings thread. A lacklustre performance from the team but was it just one of those days or is it indicative of a more worrying trend starting to set in?
We’ve seen our tactics evolve during Klopp’s reign, from flying out the blocks and playing blood and thunder football, to a more measured, controlled approach. A worrying trend for me however, is how poor we often are in the first half of games. This isn’t something new, it happened frequently last season and we pulled it out the bag in the second half but how long can we keep taking the first half off in games?
We’ve also gone from being incredibly defensively solid, to seemingly extremely vulnerable to counter attacks and we seem worryingly easy to play through at the moment. I don’t want to be too harsh on young Neco but his positioning for their goal was poor and then to show Aubameyang towards goal on his stronger foot was a ridiculous decision. He should have received more support from midfield but he should also have been able to contain that situation for the few seconds it would take for hep to arrive. Learning curve for the lad.
Our midfield has bothered me for a while. When Hendo isn’t playing, there is no tempo to our game and our passing is nothing short of woeful. I’m not sure how anyone could have watched that yesterday and not thought that we could badly do with a midfielder in Thiago’s mould. Someone who can control a game, set the tempo and actually complete passes to his team mates. Things marginally improved in that area with Keita’s introduction although he was caught in possession on a number of occasions. By the time young Curtis came on, god only knows what formation we were supposed to be playing.
On a brighter note, Minamino looked lively and getting his first goal for the club will be a huge confidence boost going into the new season but our regular front three were poor. Salah barely got a touch, Bobby continued his theme from last season of struggling to have any influence on games and Mane was wasteful, having twice found himself clean through on goal. If only we could have picked up a free scoring, international froward for a knock down fee this summer. Oh wait…
Ultimately, I thought yesterday’s game showed what some of us have feared for a while. The squad is short in certain areas and becoming stale in others. If Thiago comes in, that would solve one issue but I really do feel we could do with another forward capable of putting some semblance of pressure on our regular front three.
Perhaps I’m being too harsh and the players just need to blow the preseason cobwebs off but there were worrying signs after lockdown last season and they continued yesterday. Time will tell whether my fears are misguided but I would really like to see the club loosen the purse strings just a bit. Minor tweaks to the squad would make all the difference for me.
Anyway, Leeds up first and what a travesty that a game like that won’t have any fans at it. A historic fixture and even though Leeds have been out of the top flight for 16 years, it still feels like a big game to whet the appetite for the season ahead. Let’s just hope our champions are feeling a bit more like themselves once the real thing kicks off. Walk on.
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