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Ryan Mason

I don’t think it’s fair to blame Mason for Porro, Dier and Romero all doing what they have always been prone to doing - individual defensive fudgeups. But I think it’s fair to give Mason credit for making the overall squad mood/attitude/belief much better than it has been recently.
Those first 15 minutes isn't just individual mistakes. It's a collective issue. We were poor all over the pitch, with some pressing, and some falling back/not following up the press. This made it very easy for Liverpool to play through us. They had so much space and time it was unbelievable! That is a collective issue, and it needs to be sorted out immediately!
 
Those first 15 minutes isn't just individual mistakes. It's a collective issue. We were poor all over the pitch, with some pressing, and some falling back/not following up the press. This made it very easy for Liverpool to play through us. They had so much space and time it was unbelievable! That is a collective issue, and it needs to be sorted out immediately!
No doubt that Dier needs replacing, Romero is not the top class player some were so keen to portray and that Porro needs to learn to do the basics of defending better.

But, there are definitely issues with the way we defend as a team. For 90 per cent or more of goals we concede, you will find the match threads full of people blaming Dier, others Porro and others Romero which is an obvious sign that as a team they are not doing their jobs, it's not just an individual making the mistake most of the time but a load of them.

Of course having better defenders will help, but we need to be better organised as a team defensively aswell....
 
Those first 15 minutes isn't just individual mistakes. It's a collective issue. We were poor all over the pitch, with some pressing, and some falling back/not following up the press. This made it very easy for Liverpool to play through us. They had so much space and time it was unbelievable! That is a collective issue, and it needs to be sorted out immediately!

How do you? (immediately), what I see is

- The team holds it's lines, sits deep (this invites pressure from opposition)
- We don't know how to press
- Players don't know how to react to the moment

All of those are from 3 years of static managers playing robotic over drilled tactics

It's going to take a combination of a full pre-season and some new personnel to change that.
 
No doubt that Dier needs replacing, Romero is not the top class player some were so keen to portray and that Porro needs to learn to do the basics of defending better.

But, there are definitely issues with the way we defend as a team. For 90 per cent or more of goals we concede, you will find the match threads full of people blaming Dier, others Porro and others Romero which is an obvious sign that as a team they are not doing their jobs, it's not just an individual making the mistake most of the time but a load of them.

Of course having better defenders will help, but we need to be better organised as a team defensively aswell....

Vertonghen, Walker and Rose were the same in c.2012-4, until someone coached the defence and made us more of a possession side. Then they became three of the best defenders in our history.
 
Come on mate, reality is Conte came into a season, left the brick that was working (Son & Kane) pretty much alone and worked on the rest of team and got 4th. The minute he really started putting his mark on the team we got worse.

Son has said he was told not to shoot, not to go wide, not to follow in at the far post (that's Son words, not my speculation), want to take a look at see all the goals he's scored since Conte has left and see where/when they happened? hint .. it's exactly the things he was told not to do. Perisic was the best defender on the pitch today (admittedly not high bar), he was also pretty good against United, and his attacking game looks a lot better. This isn't about Mason teaching them anything, he's just not fudging up their game

Mason switched to 4 for a bit in the United game, switched back later, Switched to 5-3-2 today with Sarr, then switch later to throw on the extra attackers, his subs are probably 10-20 minutes earlier than Conte.

Players under no pressure? that 6-1 has put huge pressure on mate, if we had ambled through the back end of season with the odd win, lose against the top sides, no one would have cared (that's no pressure), the 6 changed things. But the last part is correct, we haven't solved anything, we need a new manager, we need a new system, we need to get rid of Dier, Lloris, Lucas plus the loan army.

But I do find it interesting that under Conte we whimpered out of so many games, no fight at all. Fans were like I'd rather see us go for it, lose 4-3, we do, and people's response is "oh, well, your still brick?"

No bullets, just for you ...

Your posts recently, particularly in this thread, have been excellent. Good on you mate, cool and collected.
 
Ahh yes - it is Conte's fault that these players are not performing well - Where have I heard this before?
 
How do you? (immediately), what I see is

- The team holds it's lines, sits deep (this invites pressure from opposition)
- We don't know how to press
- Players don't know how to react to the moment

All of those are from 3 years of static managers playing robotic over drilled tactics

It's going to take a combination of a full pre-season and some new personnel to change that.

Pochettino, Mourinho, Nuno, Conte - static managers?
 
Pochettino, Mourinho, Nuno, Conte - static managers?

Mourinho and Nuno well known for being low block and sit, Jose famously saying its about defending the draw

Conte abit less but you would hardly say three of those 4 you mention are well known for being fluid
 
Ahh yes - it is Conte's fault that these players are not performing well - Where have I heard this before?

When we got fourth under him it was apparently a lucky run of ten results towards the end (because we couldn't possibly consider that the league table is populated by the results from the full season where he salvaged the relegation form of Nuno). He just let Kane and Son be brilliant and everything else was total luck.

Now this season, Conte's gone when we were in contention for 4th and the team have picked up the habit of collapsing, conceding 5 in 20 minutes, 3 in 15 minutes in the space off what, four games and dropping down the league, that's Conte's fault as well. Things are great now Conte's gone, there's such a good vibe that comes with slipping down the league table with no vision for the club. At least we don't have Moura coming on as a sub anymore like Conte always did (apart from the last two times where he's wrecked two results).

If it starts raining or I step in dogbrick, it's great to now know that I can blame Conte :D
 
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Mourinho and Nuno well known for being low block and sit, Jose famously saying its about defending the draw

Conte abit less but you would hardly say three of those 4 you mention are well known for being fluid

What does fluid mean for you? Changing formations during the game? Smoothly moving from offence to defence?
 
What does fluid mean for you? Changing formations during the game? Smoothly moving from offence to defence?

Having more up your sleeve if plan A goes out the window for sure, yeh the latter of what you say, moving from the defence to attack with more transitions than Jose who was simply - give it to Kane and Son and hope, for example.

The old 4-2-3-1 was a great example of it, the two DMs filling in at FB if the FBs bombed in, the ability for the 4 to be a 5 if needed but then ability for the front 1 to be a 4 in attack....thats fluid.

Nuno and Jose, the polar opposite, Conte was alot better last season in the transition from defence to attack in fairness, this year for whatever reason, that all went out the window
 
Having more up your sleeve if plan A goes out the window for sure, yeh the latter of what you say, moving from the defence to attack with more transitions than Jose who was simply - give it to Kane and Son and hope, for example.

The old 4-2-3-1 was a great example of it, the two DMs filling in at FB if the FBs bombed in, the ability for the 4 to be a 5 if needed but then ability for the front 1 to be a 4 in attack....thats fluid.

Nuno and Jose, the polar opposite, Conte was alot better last season in the transition from defence to attack in fairness, this year for whatever reason, that all went out the window

Just to be sure - you are suggesting fluidity is making tactical changes during matches?
 
When we got fourth under him it was apparently a lucky run of ten results towards the end (because we couldn't possibly consider that the league table is populated by the results from the full season where he salvaged the relegation form of Nuno). He just let Kane and Son be brilliant and everything else was total luck.

Now this season, Conte's gone when we were in contention for 4th and the team have picked up the habit of collapsing, conceding 5 in 20 minutes, 3 in 15 minutes in the space off what, four games and dropping down the league, that's Conte's fault as well. Things are great now Conte's gone, there's such a good vibe that comes with slipping down the league table with no vision for the club. At least we don't have Moura coming on as a sub anymore like Conte always did (apart from the last two times where he's wrecked two results).

If it starts raining or I step in dogbrick, it's great to now know that I can blame Conte :D
And don't forget half the players in the team are playing so much better now Conte has gone - yet we are slipping further down the league table and won once in six games since he's left.Go figure.....
 
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