[Albion] Were the tactics naive or were two individual errors to blame?

[The Wizard]

In answer to the thread title, it’s clearly 2 individual mistakes that are CAUSED in by the tactics we play in every game. So it’s very difficult to answer isn’t it? Is it naive to play the same way against Liverpool as against a bottom side? Not in my opinion, to get better we have to continue playing this way against the big teams. So it’s individual errors, but they happen and against top teams you get punished.

 

[Javeaseagull]

Probably the best game I have seen this season. Shame about the result but hugely encouraged by the performance.

 

[jamie (not that one)]

I feel the same people who would complain we are tactically naive for committing ourselves forward too often would be the same people last season complaining we were too defensive.

We played excellently last night and had it not been for a couple of silly mistakes and a glaring miss, things could have been different.

Personally, I'm very happy we set up like we did and went for it against the world, European and league champions. Much prefer to go for it and lose than park the bus and hope Murray sticks his head on it from a corner.

 

[Stat Brother]

Some threads on here this morning deserve to be on palacestandchat.

2 weeks ago they were having to come to terms with this:-



Feck knows what the xG was.



Boo-hoo we had to make do with:-

44% possession.
12 shots.
2 on target
&
6 corners.

 

[Marshy]

I need the both option

But damn I enjoyed how we played

 

[Taybha]

Swings and roundabouts , Webster got caught bringing the ball out they score , Webster didn't get caught bringing the ball out , he plays a slide rule pass to Lamptey who then crosses for our goal , brilliant , with risk comes reward , i'm not going to slate a player for doing exactly what he's told to do by the manager , Liverpool are the best in the world at the high press , we will learn .

 

[nicko31]

Just mistakes, the first goal especially was nothing new we've been here before

 

[maltaseagull]

I don't often agree with Andy Gray but he made the point that Liverpool always start with very high tempo pressing and if we had not played out from the back via centre backs rather than full backs we would have been less exposed.. However, two individual errors didn't help. We recovered well and was proud of the performance overall.

 

[highflyer]

I liked Potter's reflection after the game, along the lines of 'I make them play like that, so it's my fault when it goes wrong'

I don't think it's necessarily the wrong way to play, even against Liverpool, but we'll just have to be better than we currently are, or lucky, to get a result.

 

[Bakero]

If we'd been desperate for a point we may have played different but, being practically safe, Potter decided to go toe to toe. Of course it's risky but we were likely to lose anyway and when it works, like in that sequence before their first, it's a thing of beauty.

 

[NooBHA]

Neither

I think it was a ''Learning Curve'' in a match where you could afford to take a chance. No harm was done really and it made for a good match to watch and to entertain the fans.

 

[Normal Rob]

We were asleep at the wheel for the first 8 minutes, and that led to two individual errors resulting in 2 goals. For the remainder of the match we more than matched them.

We need to be at full tilt from kick off. Simple.

 

[Stat Brother]

We were asleep at the wheel for the first 8 minutes, and that led to two individual errors resulting in 2 goals. For the remainder of the match we more than matched them.

We need to be at full tilt from kick off. Simple.

Again, we nearly scored from the kick off!

 

[GT49er]

I need the both option

But damn I enjoyed how we played

Agree, we needed a 'both. option. When playing a against a high (and lightning quick) press, it is better to get the ball behind the first press (in the same way as when attacking it's good to get in behind the defence). This is not a binary thing - it isn't a choice between 5 or 10 yard passes and hoofing it 75 yards and chasing it (though there are times when that works very well!) but a twenty or thirty yard pass through the front line of the press is perfectly compatible with playing 'good' football.

And if you must pass short, to a player in a tight possession, don't do it right in front of the centre of the goal!

 

[Swansman]

Individual mistakes + Pool brillance.

Oldest trick in the book as a DMC when playing in a team that plays out from the back is that if you are facing high pressure with opponents rushing against you when you recieve the ball, just play it back to the CB:s or GK the first 2-3 times and no one is going to bother pressuring you like that again and you can start being more creative with the ball.

Obviously the team was instructed to play it in spaces down the right wing and that's what Pröpper is thinking of when the pass from Ryan comes. But just as the ball comes he sees in the corner of his eyes a Liverpool player entering the space where he was going to put in and he hesitates about what to do, and when you hesitate like that there's always a chance you get a poor touch.

It happens but its still a fairly big mistake, playing in his position you need to be able to make very quick decisions when your surroundings change. The goal is 90% his fault and 10% the fault of Ryan, Dunk and Webster as none of them (seemigly) communicates what is going on behind his back.

The second goal is pretty flukey. Its great to have defenders that can carry the ball past the first line of pressure and Webster is one of very few British central defenders that I see doing this in a generally convincing way. This time he moves up, finds that all of his teammates are in passing shadows (Keita reads the game in an excellent way and steals the Macallister option). He panics and get a bit of a heavy touch, which is usually not a huge issue in that position of the field, but Henderson does absolutely brilliant to close him down and win the ball.

Unlike "Pröpper's goal", the second goal is sheer excellence from the Liverpool midfield. Yes it is a small technical mistake from Webster and Dunk is arguably a wee bit too slow to move up to the rest of the defensive line, fcking up the offside line, but I find it hard to put much blame on any of them: its a brilliant break from Liverpool.

My verdict is: one huge fat (albeit perhaps understandable) mistake from Pröpper and one small mistake from Webster abused in a way that almost no team in the world is able to do. Shit happens and I'm sure they will take analyse the goals and hopefully/probably learn from them.

 

[Giraffe]

Pleasantly surprised by the results of this poll so far.

Yes me too. I wonder if it might have been different if we were level on points with Bournemouth

But we are not and that seems to be the bit Souness forgot.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Does Dan Burns' pathetically lame fluff in front of goal count as an Individual Error? Certainly hope so

 

[pb21]

Liverpool were relentlessly pressing in those first few minutes. They were individual errors, but IMO they were forced errors.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

It was a combination of both. Souness's point was that no team, not even Man City, try to play out from the back against Liverpool's high press in the first ten minutes when Firmino, Salah and company are fresh and out for blood. And we are not Man City.

If you're going to play out from your own 6-yard box at that stage against top opposition who press high, you'd better have a perfect first touch, and while Propper's is good, he's prone to carelessness. Webster always has that sort of mistake in him. And your best bet is to go wide, not through a congested middle.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Liverpool were relentlessly pressing in those first few minutes. They were individual errors, but IMO they were forced errors.

And the third goal was a class finish from a class finisher