First early KO since being in NYC. Bloody early to be in a pub but thankfully got a place in Brooklyn - sadly it’s an Irish bar which means it’s full of Liverpool fans. I like Sissoko as captain. Bit puzzled by the rest of the line-up/shape. Imagine it’s designed to be compact and hit them on the break. Just hope Masina doesn’t have one of his ‘I’m gonna shirk every challenge’ games.
It’s like watching us under Flores all over again. 2 banks of 5, sat back while they play around our non committed players. No strikers on the pitch, wingers up front. No quality on the rare occasions we do get the ball. Not good enough all over the pitch.
Masina having one of those games where you find it hard to believe he is actually a professional footballer.
I’d normally say a free pass for the team and manager for games like this but that was a woeful first half. I couldn’t tell you our formation or system there.
OMG! So far, the lowest possession rate in Premier league history. You think we will survive in the Premier league? The Newcastle and Leeds games were a warning to just how poor/weak we are. Now, we are playing the big boys. RIP Watford.
The rule where we cant just forfeit and take a 3 nil defeat? We are going down. There's nowhere for us to turn.
Your right, what a dumb ass rule. The ball was played through to Salah so Cathcart was forced to play it, how would he know if he was offside or not when the player was behind him? Salah was effecting play
Anyone who avoids the ‘average’ teams and instead pay to go and watch us play the likes of Liverpool and Man City need their heads examined. Fair play to those of you who pay to go every week.
Here's something that Gino might consider. May be it's not the manager. May be our players are just not good enough, especially our defenders. Could that be it Gino?
I remember some years ago the now-defunct Evening Echo headlined its report on a match with 'RUBBISH, WATFORD'. That seems to sum up what I've seen today. No effort, no desire, no clue - if I were Ranieri I'd jump ship now. Cue 'I-told-you-so' smugness from all the pundits.
Here's a thing. Yep, the players aint good enough to compete with Liverpool. Nope, we're not going to buy better players in Jan. Get used to this. Its the plan. Hope we get enough points to stay up but we're operating a Norwich model and hoping we scrape by.
Don't know what's worse, this performance or having to listen to Jermaine Jenas bash us for 90 minutes. Ngakia did well, as did Sarr, Pedro and Hernandez, everyone else was no good. Rose will get battered on here, and he wasn't good but what support did he have? Next to none, against the likes of Salah.
It was clear to many before today (but not everyone on here) that any manager will struggle to keep this shower up, today was just another reminder. Most our players just aren't good enough, it's that simple. When one of our other CBs is back instead of Cathcart it would help a bit as he got skinned for three of the goals. Central midfield though is a nightmare, as with Etebo injured Sissoko is our only capable player there. Whoever at the club thought Kucka would still be up for the pace of the PL needs their head examined. Masina shouldn't play again this season, at least Ranieri seemed to learned that lesson quickly. The most baffling thing though is how Rose somehow looks even less fit after an additional 2 week break to improve his fitness than he did before! Cucho also showed again that he currently offers hardly anything at this level, he couldn't complete a pass. However you try and look at it, even with everyone fit we'd hardly have 11 players good enough for this level, and none of the players outside of the first choice are close to being good enough.
Sissoko was the only half decent player. Ngakia average. Liverpool get revenge for us stopping their invincible title 2 years ago. We're ****. If we are not bottom three by xmas it'll be a miracle. Seasons not done of course but we are in a pickle.
Really tough first game for Claudio and he'll learn a lot from today and take a lot of positives. Yes the scoreline wasn't ideal, but lots of things in there for us to get excited about. Seeing Masina in front of Rose gives us another way of playing. They won't be up against Salad every week. Ekong and cathcart got another 90 minutes together to gel as a unit. We should stick with them and give them a run of games to build a solid, premier league partnership at the back. Foster made some good saves. Kuka got another 90 minutes under his belt. Only a matter of time until the wonderful player everyone raves about from the villa game re-emerges. Sarr had their defence on toast. Liverpool will be mad not to splash out 80m on him in Jan. All round, lots to think about and lots to talk about on this week's pod. All the usual places.
Well that’s a very good question. If he’s our best or only option then he needs to sort it out. His job is playing football. Being fit enough to play football should be the absolute basic minimum. So until he does it he shouldn’t be allowed to play.
Awful game. No heart was the most disappointing, didn't even try. Now they're going to show that bloody goal over and over. Dreadful defending getting skinned like that. "Not fit and not committed" say the commentators. "One of the worst performances I've ever seen from a Premier League club" they add. I said last game that we're stinking out the prem and the awful stench is getting worse.
The result is as predicted but the manner of the defeat is what hurts the most. The Pozzo model is grinding on me badly, I'm sick of seeing the same problems game after game, year after year. Cathcart on his ass is a prime example. Areas that need improvement badly get looked over and instead we bring in a bargain player in a different position. I'm grateful for what they have done for the club but I'm bored of it now. I'm not saying spend millions on new players but how hard is it to replace Cathcart with a capable defender. The same goes for players all over the pitch and the manager is always the fall guy. We are passing a broken instrument around and it's now Ranieri's turn to try and get a tune out of it.