10 Games In - Your Verdict

[Guest Kopfkino]

We’ve been dire. On the pitch, I don’t see too many positives really. 10 games in the league and 5 in cup/Europe and we’ve managed one decent, full game team performance in a game where the opposition were just too easy to play through.
 

We can’t defend, our goals against column going back to the end of last season is that of a team that would go down. Its the same crap every week. Start slow, play with very little authority, amble around, poor off the ball, even worse at defending balls into the box, basically playing with a handicap of 2. 15/16 we’d conceded the same amount of goals after 10 games but Claudio knew how to sort a defence and made it his priority, Brendan’s sat around hoping time will sort it out.
 

All the criticism that’s been levelled at Man Utd in the last few weeks applies to us in pretty equal measure. We don’t turn up looking well coached, we’re passive, our press is half-hearted, we can’t defend, lots of individual errors, no aggression. 
 

Things are going to ebb and flow, we’re not going to be up there every season but I have to say West Ham have taken up the mantle of the ‘lesser’ team to be envious of on the pitch. Everything we’re not at the moment. 

[Scotch]

For me, the worst part so far is that we are 10 games in and I still don't think he knows our best team/formation.

[TrentFox]

I’m going “D”. As in, ‘disappointing’ 😞

[Raj]

C. Must try better.

Lacking initiative and a leader.

Momentum from great FA and Charity shield victories has gone.

Players already look tired.

 

 

[iancognito]

6/10

This is the sort of season we'd have accepted in the previous couple of years with a more threadbare and inexperienced squad playing 3 games a week. But the fact is it's the deepest, most expensively-assembled squad we've had with the most quality in all positions and we're under-performing in everything but the league cup.

We still lack a leader. We still look shocking at set pieces (at both ends) there's too many times when the pace is Puel-esque and the first thought is to go backwards not forwards.

On the plus side, Daka and Soumare have shown enough to think they can step into bigger shoes eventually and the likes of Justin and maybe even Fofana aren't far away from giving the side a bit more quality at the back. The season ends in May not November and there's plenty of points still to go for yet.

[Grebfromgrebland]

Feels like we're in a battle for top 8. Can't really see us beating Leeds or Chelsea and Watford isn't going to be easy. 

 

I think Brendan has enough credit in the bank to have an off season. 

[whetstonefox]

I know we are not as bad as Spurs (probably blue tinted specs) but they played the ball around in unthreatening positions like we do nowadays, the amount of sideways passes is so noticeable this season. It great when you are winning as it’s ‘game management’ when you are losing its poor. Expectations for this season are make sure we avoid slipping into trouble and give the Europa our best shot. I’d give us 5/10 so far, just hope we click at sine point but not convinced. 

[tom27111]

The league is pretty fvcked up.

 

Put 5 wins together on the spin and you're in with a chance for 4th.

 

Realistically, top 3 are already sorted, despite some shock results today.

 

I'd be happy with 7th this season. But, unfortunately, that means losing Youri and not attracting top talent and earning big money.

 

Got to win the Europa for that.

 

But...imagine being in such a tough position just 10 years ago.

[fuchsntf]

Weak defense..Evans also off his best. Soyu/Tielemans Not recovered from Euros...

No question about Front 3-4,  still not yet clinical, when Really needed...

We Dont have  this season,  yet have a Player who can consistently, hold & turn a game...I

 

Our midfield wont tick, until they Feel confident with a sturdy Defence behind them...Not even our DMs have found anything like consistency..

Maddison, Barnes After injury, slowly getting there, But Way Off that higher pace, intensity, drive needed..

Thomas Too often Left in the shit, the First corners, Nobody helped by calling, he had Time to put for throw-in.

 

Defence Not knowing the time, when just to put it forward, in Space or direct to Nacho/Barnes/Vardy..

Evans this season is no longer Mr consistent...

We put ourselves under the press, & takes half the game to work it out..

we have become woefully, slow, lethargic , ist like watching a clockwork toy slowly wind down, without seeing any of the exciting First Spring movements..

We have had some Great movements & moments still, But even for a team wanting Top 10, they have been in the Minority of our Complete display..38-62%

 

We have just over 2/3s of the season to slowly turn it around, One can Call out Rodgers,  IMO whats been available, with our Bagatelle of Top Performers form,

and injury...He isnt presently my target...

We admit we have strengthened  our squad...What happened Today & a few other games, goes in the game day  selected players book...

Its their onouse & responsibility to turn it around...or they Really arent as  Good as we Value them...

 

Today it was for players who couldnt be bothered to get out of bed, & Kick start the season, and to be fair, all season they have looked weigh down,

by doune-feathers..I

 

fans go OTT, over our Real quality....Arsenal,WHam,Man.city,Brighton ,even CP, have this season, played shown far better Football than us...

the players/ squad if wanting to be in that recognised  & covetted for Top 6, have to show, they can Performa without....Ndidi,Fofana, Justin, and a Flying

Maddison....even Tielemans..!!

,

 

[Mickyblueeyes]

We’ve mostly been poor. Same habits each game with the odd sprinkling of good play. The players have shown a lack of intelligence at time and the manager has struggled to fix glaring shortcomings. It feels like the end of the season so here’s to a very strong new year.

[Deeg67]

5 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

How do you think we've been so far?

We look like a mid-table side, plain and simple.  Middling effort, middling performance.  We clearly have attacking weapons but the squad is badly constructed, with too many players that don't fit together and can't play together.  It's tiresome to blame injuries when every team has injuries - Evans being back hasn't fixed the defense, and neither will Fofana's eventual return.  We've been outclassed both in terms of tactics and effort in the majority of our matches, and that's not a good sign. 

[Lambert09]

We remind me of sides like Everton. Look good on their day, raise expectations but overall just not good enough. 
 

I still have faith consistency will return but we have too many weaknesses to compete at the level we want to

[Sampson]

Mainly it's a good attack and scoring plenty and an awful defence and conceding even more.

Vardy, Iheanacho and Daka have probably been our 3 stand out players so far, which kind of indicates how top heavy we've been.

[trabuch]

38 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

We look like a mid-table side, plain and simple.  Middling effort, middling performance.  We clearly have attacking weapons but the squad is badly constructed, with too many players that don't fit together and can't play together.  It's tiresome to blame injuries when every team has injuries - Evans being back hasn't fixed the defense, and neither will Fofana's eventual return.  We've been outclassed both in terms of tactics and effort in the majority of our matches, and that's not a good sign. 

To be honest I would settle for us being a mid table side. I've spent so much of my life with us being a yoyo side and then a third division side (absolutely gutting). To be the equivalent of Everton is really not bad. Plus we have recent wins of the League and the FA cup in the bank. I'm a happy fox.

[fox_up_north]

It's funny how circumstances alter your expectations. Let's go back 10 years and we'd say 10th in the table with some exciting young attacking options available - we'd have all snapped your hand off for that.

 

I think the entire league is starting to feel the effect of covid. This is definitely the comedown season for a lot of teams and I feel like the eventual winner will have the best run.  For every 2-3 game domination, Chelsea have a Watford or Man City a Palace.

 

Where we are 6/10. Not bad. Not great. Get to knockouts of Europa and I'm fairly happy if we finish 9th upwards. 

 

- sort out the defence

- start games with more energy

- admit when you've got it wrong and not just been beaten by a better team

 

 

 

[Deeg67]

3 minutes ago, trabuch said:

To be honest I would settle for us being a mid table side. I've spent so much of my life with us being a yoyo side and then a third division side (absolutely gutting). To be the equivalent of Everton is really not bad. Plus we have recent wins of the League and the FA cup in the bank. I'm a happy fox.

I'm not.  If you're a club with ambition, you should have higher goals than not getting relegated.

[trabuch]

18 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

I'm not.  If you're a club with ambition, you should have higher goals than not getting relegated.

I respect that. But European football will do for me.

[bridport007]

We miss Little Wes and JJ massively! If we had them at the start? we'd be up there competing.

Little Wes will be one of the best in the world...he's class!!!!

[Deeg67]

Sucks being the only team in the league to have injuries.

[Chrysalis]

Season seems to be shaping up to be a mid table season, whether thats us under performing, or been at where we should be, will depend on the point of view, but Rodgers himself has gave us a high expectation level.

 

I feel its a mixture of things.

 

The manager has to take some blame, there is games where the wrong approach has been made, defending corners is a coaching thing, and we played many games earlier in the season with a a very out of form player and our best performing player out.

 

The players are they as motivated as the past two seasons?  Missed out on CL twice on last week and a few first teamers approaching contract renewal or leave time.

 

One has to ask how can we raise our game against the likes of Manchester City and Manchester united, then play so badly against other teams.  Lots of questions, no answers.  Granted I do agree with the Manchester United game, they didnt press and Ronaldo was a shadow we were basically playing 10 men, but we still made some good moves in that game.

Edited 31 October 2021 by Chrysalis

[Aus Fox]

Not bad, not particularly good either. Some great moments, great goals and great play equally there have also been some horrendous passages of play, calamitous defending and moments we’d all rather forget.

Having said that, we’re in the quarterfinals of the league cup, still have a great chance of winning our Europa League group and only 3 points from 4th.

As disappointing as we have been in phases this season, so have Man Utd, Everton, West Ham, Arsenal etc.

This year there is nothing between 3rd and 12th based on what we have seen so far. Sometimes it’s about picking up points when you’re not playing well.

I would give us a C+ so far, not bad but with huge room for improvement.

Whats gone well: Vardy’s form infringement of goal, the emergence of the Vardy/Iheanacho partnership. Amartey, had been better despite a poor half yesterday. 
Area for Improvement: Soyuncu needs to find some form and get back to his best. We need Barnes and Maddison to start racking up the numbers in terms of goals and assists - they both looked much better the last couple of weeks.

 

[Aus Fox]

35 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

Sucks being the only team in the league to have injuries.

It’s not necessarily being the only team with injuries. It’s that they have occurred to key personnel - see Liverpool last season without Van Dijk - key positions affect the whole team and it’s balance.

[volpeazzurro]

6 hours ago, Scotch said:

For me, the worst part so far is that we are 10 games in and I still don't think he knows our best team/formation.

Probably needs another 3 years.

[Guest Danny Clender]

8 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

When Evans is missing this is 100% the case.

 

Today though we had him and still lost. He was doing a good job; he was trying to spur us on and sort out the defence, but by the time we got going the game was already over. I think we deserved to score at least one goal today, but did not deserve to take anything from the match.

 

The wider point of not having a player to grab players by the scruff of the neck and sort things out I totally agree with though. Jordan Henderson in terms of technique is nothing special, but he's a brilliant captain. I wished we had someone with that sort of personality in the team.

Schmeichel is a great captain and certainly has every personality trait that you desire from Hendo, but as most will always come back to, does his position allow us to benefit from where a captain can influence the game like Henderson can? I’d question how many games Henderson plays, but I know what you mean. 
The pitch is small enough for Schmeichel to be the pitch boss, but he can never take the game by the scruff of the neck and do what we want a captain to do.

Essentially, we as fans like to think of ourselves as the captain and I guess we don’t see Schmeichel doing those duties as we’d like to see.

[Guest Danny Clender]

It’s “Be here now” isn’t it, technically excellent, but somehow doesn’t deliver consistency.

I don’t think there are any conspiracy theories, it’s just we can’t reach the required levels of consistency.

From a solution pov, I’d say there needs to be some brave calls from the club to make things work consistently.

 

We may have to spend big on a defender in January, we may have to start Daka, we may have to buy an experienced midfielder and leader, we may have to adjust the style of play just to gain points, short term, we may have to change players roles, we may have to trust the system and live with it until it clicks, it will, but games like yesterday against Arsenal have to stop.

 

There are only a few “resets” we trust and believe in.

 

We are 10th, the average, we are not an average team.
 

Edited 31 October 2021 by Danny Clender