Major problems all over the field. Earlier in the season it was easy to pin all our pains on the midfield, but with each game that passes its clear that the midfield is a problem, but not the reason why we are so poor.
First of all, we have bursts of energy in between long periods of sleep walking around the field. The 11 players seemed to be switched off mentally and for some others also physically. Yesterday, it was Alisson who ended up making the costly mistake in his own box, but before that Konate, Matip, Thiago and Fabinho (those I can remember) all gave away the ball very easily around or inside the box at least once each. This continued to happen in the second half and it ultimately led to Wolve's second. Konate gave the ball in the most silly fashion at the edge of the box (left side) which allowed Wolve's to keep the pressure, switch the play and score.
Defending is just not up to par and it starts with the forwards displaying a pretty bad if not heartless press. Not sustained and very inconsistent (I think the manager spoke about it after last game. With that said, going through our midfield is like going around a cone. The 3 midfielders are either static or they run around the ball holder without ever making a challenge and let him freely move around and dispatch the wanted pass. Yes Fabinho is bad, but I think the work rate and especially the defending of the two players around him completely sink him. He's constantly lost between running towards the carrier because none of the other two midfielders and wingers pressed them and they are running in acres of space or try to cover potential receivers. Before he knows it he is pinned against his CBs with little to no space between the ball carrier and the box which ultimately means he has to risk conceding a dangerous free-kick or a penalty, one after the other. Go back and take a look the first half yesterday and you'll see what I mean. I gave the lad a ton of sh*t for months now, but its becoming clearer every game that he can't do his job of sweeping up if he is left to do everything ''denfence'' in the midfield all alone in that much space around so many opposition players.
This is related to my first point, nobody in the team is press resistant. Not just the midfielder, but everyone from the GK to the striker. Nobody can keep the ball at his feet once pressed. The best we can do is make a back pass or a very safe sideways pass. Nobody can carry it through a press line or pass it through it. This issue is the main one related to the lack of midfield acquisitions. Hendo and Fabinho have never been press resistant midfielders. The only two midfielders we have on paper that possess this attribute is Thiago (mainly through a good first touch and good passing) and Keita (through the ability to carry it through lines). Gini was also very good at that. Now Keita, like we all know, plays an average of one or two games a month which leaves us with Thiago. Most of the time he is good at that, but its expected that he'll have off days like yesterday and when this happens we are 100% helpless in that area of the field. We need, at the very least, two very press resistant midfielders with box to box attributes to be added. Wether this can happen this window, I doubt it, but if it doesn't happen this summer then we are seriously gambling with our short term success chances and in turn our medium and long term chances at success too.
I could also talk about the frontline, but its always hard to blame the forwards, offensively speaking, when you cannot keep the ball, you cannot create and you spend most of the game punting it towards with about 40 yards of space between them and the nearest supporting midfielder (if not player). However, like I said above their press is also pretty bad, not sustained and very inconsistent.
Edit: Also, offensively speaking, its hard to give sh*t to our forwards when they managed two goals. Scoring two goals, in football, should always be enough to secure a win for you if you play decent football. Only we don't play decent football.
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