The pressure is on Julen Lopetegui following yesterday’s debacle against Chelsea. Not a single fan who was at the London Stadium was in any doubt that this was a disorganised, shambolic performance by – arguably – ten of our best eleven starters. So whilst nobody can really call for massive changes to the side that was selected it is clear that the Head Coach has to take action.
Claret and Hugh’s associate editor Sean Whetstone contacted our highly placed source at the club – (who will no doubt have been as feeling as bruised and battered as we were watching that game yesterday), regarding Lopetegui’s response to the criticism.
The reply to Sean is pretty straightforward and doesn’t pull any punches.:
He [Lopetegui] knows things have to improve and he assures [the club] they will .
Sadly not a single player played to their true potential yesterday’.
The assurance is an admission that there needs to be urgent change. The reason not a single player played to their true potential is largely because they either didn’t understand or couldn’t work with the ‘three at the back, two wing backs all high up the pitch system’ against a fast- paced mobile Chelsea front line.
I don’t expect Lopetegui or the ‘highly placed source’ to come out and admit that the tactic was just the ‘wrong’ solution to Chelsea’s threat: It was like watching electronic chess between a state of the art 2024 Apple Mac and some Atari system out of the 1980’s.
I’d actually take issue with the ‘not a single player’ part: The front three were not really at fault in the first half and in fact, looked fast and full of running until Lopetegui took Summerville off.
Some would no doubt frame it as ‘Lopetegui tries to shift some of the blame onto the players’.
‘Things’ have to improve – starting with ‘that’ Carabao Cup fixture away on Wednesday. Another mountain to climb.
All the comments above are well reasoned , and impressive contributions.
It was not individual players at fault, we were repeatedly caught too advanced left defenders exposed.
That was either the fault of the system if the system was being played correctly, or the fault of all the players if the system was being played incorrectly. Lopetegui looked extremely frustrated as if he thought it was the latter.
We need to consolidate, go back to basics for a while until all the changes have a chance to bed in.
Three at the back is fine when attacking if it becomes five at the back while defending. Our system was more like one at the back
I am not sure if it is blind obedience or that the players are not very smart, but I do know that the fault sits squarely on the shoulders of the coach. He has been given what he asked for and the focus is now on his ability to turn a group of players into a team, explain what he wants them to do and how. That is what is not happening and that is down to him. At least he should now know that if he keeps the starting front line, the defense is his number one priority. Confidence in the back line is undermined when one player is worth a goal a game to the opposition.
I agree about the next 3 games Mottinghammer – especially Ipswich at home seems to be a “must win” –
It’s not the forward areas where the issue really is, taking Jimmy Summerville off for Michel was really pathetic and limited us in the second half. The issue is the defence and holding midfield. We do not have the pace to play with wing backs high up the pitch. Edson and Rodrigues were awful and Dino has got to make way for Todibo this week. Max Kilman must wishing he was back with Devo at Maidenhead!! Disgraceful performance but a huge part of it is on the coach. Next three games he has got to get a tune out of this lot or he may well be gone before Halloween 🎃