Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [1st - 3rd January 2019]

Tombstone

Tombstone

Tombstone

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The next few matches for City and Liverpool will be interesting now. Will City go on a big run now, will Liverpool have a confidence/belief hit and wobble now, going to be an interesting January !
 

fez

fez

fez

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robfosters said:
like they did against the champs united?
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They had literally one other team in the league that was a proper powerhouse at the time and United of 2003/4 would get battered by the current City side too. The strength of the top 6 teams now vs then is night and day.

It was a good achievement at the time but Arsenal fans are a little rose tinted with their recollection of that season.
 

Pigeon_Killer

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BaZ87 said:
Didn't the 2nd goal show you what? How many times did City play through us when we had that 3 in midfield? I genuinely can't think of any clear openings. It was a midfield set-up to stop City doing what they do best and that's playing through sides, getting overloads in wide areas and generally tearing teams to bits. They could and should have done more once we got on the ball but the main job was to stop City. You only have to look at the amount of times City played through us after we switched to a 4-2-3-1 to see that.
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Didn't we try that against Napoli and PSG away from home? Trying not to lose doesn't seem to suit the way Klopp wants us to play and that midfield three offer absolutely nothing going forward which essentially makes our three attackers easy to defend against.

I've got nothing against any of them as individuals, I've always supported Henderson, Gini's been immense the last few weeks playing a deeper role and Milner's been an absolute sensation since he joined but together they don't work imo.

Edit: I'll never support Lovren though, worst defender we've had since the days of Babb and Scales and clearly not good enough for the first team or as a reserve.
 

fez

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fez

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This game might have taken a bit of a toll on both teams. Fingers crossed for a bit of a lapse and a three way title race with Tottenham that goes down to the wire.
 

BaZ87

BaZ87

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Mark1989 said:
There is a difference between playing open expansive football to just doing a basic tackle or press.

None of the midfield tonight did that, it only improved once fabinho came on he managed to get our full backs into the game which helped massively.

Sane was doing well from the get go. Lovren couldn't clear a basic ball, half the time he had time to do so. That has nothing to do with city having an amazing team which they do

I said it before the game, the midfield was too similiar as expected Henderson did nothing, didn't press them, didn't do anything going forward.

Wnjaldum has played as defence midfielder better than him in past few weeks.
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I'm seriously sturggling to see how it improved once Fabinho came on. How many chances didn't City create from playing through us prior to Fabinho coming on? I'm not criticising Fabinho btw but the change in formation. When you're playing against lesser sides then fair enough, play the 2 man midfield and back yourself to out play the opposition but you're going away to City! Again, look at the amount of space City had to attack us after with switched to a 4-2-3-1. We were chasing the game and had to make the change but you only have to see what happened after to understand why we didn't start that way.

And if your response is going to be to play 4-3-3 with Fabinho instead of Henderson, if and when Fabinho shows he can play in that system then fair enough. IINM the only time he's played in a 3 man midfield was away to Arsenal where he had he worst game to date and Klopp has previous said that he's not comfortable playing there.
Tombstone said:
The next few matches for City and Liverpool will be interesting now. Will City go on a big run now, will Liverpool have a confidence/belief hit and wobble now, going to be an interesting January !
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This is the key. Had we been a point ahead going into this game and won to move 4 points clear the psychology would have been so much different than having a 7 point lead cut to 4. It's hugely important that the side aren't as hysterical as some of our fans and recognise that we're 4 points clear and put this game behind us now.
 
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