You're assuming I was talking about Eriksen. I was not. I was talking about the pairing that Ndombele was introduced to replace; Winks & Sissoko. The problem I was talking about wasn't that Eriksen was stationed on the right hand side in a role he is unsuited for but that we stupidly started yet another match with the gruesome twosome. We had no control in the match principally because the midfield pair are not capable of playing a passing game through the press.
It was a literal night and day difference with the introduction of Ndombele. The Eriksen/Dele ineptitude was just a side show in comparison.
If the heart of the midfield is broken (ours was) then the rest of the body will not function. Hence the 80 minutes of attack Vs defence.
Did you think at any point in that game that A. Liverpool would not score? B. Once they had scored we would keep it to just the one? The tactics and approach were a guaranteed failure, having a playing that could actually hit good players in space would have helped the counter attack immensely instead we had Winks and Sissoko. [emoji58]
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Apologies on that, yes, I was assuming you were talking about Eriksen.
I don't think anybody with a pair of eyes would disagree that Ndombele had a great impact. I do think that the time and situation in which he entered the game is a very important detail to note.
I would agree that right now, on paper, Ndombele and Sissoko are a fine pair. Again I return to my previous comments/assumptions as to why Ndombele didn't start (I can write them again if you haven't seen them/copy and paste them, whatever works).
As for your questions.
a) No. I was disappointed we played Rose over Davies, and Aurier is just a liability. As I walked out of the Munich match, I told my mate I never wanted to see him in our shirt again (I never say that sort of thing). That he is still playing is further illustration of how bricky our options are at RB right now.
b) I actually did feel we could, yes. In fact, I felt that had the game gone into the final 10-15 at 1-1, we'd have been able to exploit the space behind their FBs as they pushed on. Lovren was there for the taking all day, and had envisioned Ndombele coming on and finding joy with his surges and passing. Aurier (for him) looked to be pretty solid, and the winner came after we were denied a blatant free-kick and Mane was "clever"/Aurier farted. I suppose if I am honest, when I see Aurier on the sheet I expect a fart per game. But my feeling at the time was that we could win 2-1. I have to say, one of the biggest issues is the lack of smart running off the ball right now.
