I know Jürgen is playing this diamond in the middle (Fab, Thiago, Harvey and Bobby at the top) because of the absentees - no Mane, Diaz or Jota means no left sided mids of forwards (Thiago was more central than left) while we have Trent, Harvey and Mo attacking on the right. Clearly its an unbalanced formation and Robbo did well I thought despite being so isolated on the left. Thiago, Bobby or Nunez having to go over there meant gaps in the middle, and too much for Fab to do. He was on a hiding to nothing. However, all the threat to us was on our overloaded right flank! Looked like Mo wasn't pressing much, and Harvey was being bypassed so its all on Trent and Joe to defend without cover. Add to that the ease with which we gave the bloody ball away when attacking, and nobody is where they should be in order to defend the quick pass-and-run counters Leeds kept hitting us with. We were constantly reacting, never quite set when they got the ball into our half.
Its alright saying this player is 'finished' or 'out of form' or whatever, but look how many times they were arguing and trying to sort each other out on the pitch. They know the system isn't working and the CM and defence clearly feel they are isolated and having far too much to do due to others going missing from their positions (because they had to, basically), which means they're out of position when we defend. That feeling will be familiar to anyone who's played the game - it leads to frustration, anger at your team mates (players will blame anyone but themselves) and a loss of confidence and concentration in what you're doing. It also leads to players trying too hard to make things happen on their own. Thus we look terrible when on the back foot.
Then the players get slaughtered individually by fans and media and lose more confidence.
Not bringing in a quick central midfielder who can control tempo and keep possession (Gini style) is one key to what's wrong. Then there's the lack of intensity in the middle (Hendo, Thiago and Fab aging and flagging after hard seasons, injuries etc, maybe). Losing Mane to Bayern and the other left sided attackers to injury is another, in my opinion.
Jürgen looks like a man haunted by his rotten luck. He's going to have to lift his mood somehow, because it's infectious.
YNWA
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