Originally Posted by
miller0863
To say our best chance of playing Champions League football next season, is to finish third in our group and win the Europa?
Premier League looks too fast and furious for our Dad’s army.
What a fall from grace, 6 goals conceded in our last two and we have already spent more time losing in matches than the whole of last season.
Not entirely accurate, but not that far off either.
We've lost twice in the league this season - same as we lost in the league in the entire season last year.
We've also lost once in the Champions League - again, compared to twice in total (including group stages and the final itself) last season in the same competition.
People tend to forget that we were freakishly good last season and but for a nicked in goal against Spurs at home and perhaps not conceding on the only chance on target that Real had in the final, we might truly have won that quadruple.
So the fall from grace is sharp and hard.
Having said all that, we have drawn 4 games - most of which we should have won, and already conceded 12 goals - which is the truly telling statistic from last season as we're simply not as good defensively as we were last season.
A lot of teams have worked out the way to beat us which is the same way in most cases and which basically just involves pressing us high and early.
And we've had no response to this.
When we used to be in our stride, we'd just play through their press and find and exploit the holes that those presses exposed at their back (typically on the wings), but for whatever reason or any number of reasons (Mane's exit; Mo's slow start; Nunez not clicking yet; midfield issues....) we simply haven't been able to do the same this season.
Plus we're just generally more sloppy all over the field.
From the defense to the midfield all the way to not always clicking upfront.
Ironically, despite the goals conceded, the goalkeeping positions is the one position where we're still getting steady performance as without Allisson's standout performances in some games this season we'd shockingly be even farther behind.
'I got told there's an English phrase, 'You don't win trophies with kids'. I didn't know that' ... - Jurgen Klopp
Stone-Cold Savage!
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