Well done to Southampton on their victory against Manchester City. 2 good goals, excellent setup, aggressive pressing and a clear game plan saw us create very little and our form is patchy, not helped by injuries and the World Cup, but patchy nevertheless, with a loss to Brentford, a draw with Everton, and a loss to Southampton as the evidence in recent results. So what is the problem compared to usual: the full-back position, central defensive injuries, as well as the integration of Haaland.
In an attempt to control transitions, Pep has introduced inverted full-backs to completely dominate the midfield, and it has seen the emergence of Rico Lewis on the right, who seems blessed for the role. When the ball is turned over, which isn't often, there is space wide behind the full-back position. Last night, Pep experimented with Cancelo as right full-back, and Walker as centre-back and it failed. Now, it failed because Southampton played a blinder, but Walker, especially, was all at sea; he is not a centre-back. On the left, Sergio Gomez had a poor game, which is a shame because he is talented and played well against Chelsea - he is learning the role and had a poor one. Phillips had his first start after a long time out and it showed. He continually moved in the line of the opposition player, effectively ruling himself out of receiving the pass, something that is the opposite of Rodri's play. By really pressing high, and stopping the ball to Philips, the central defenders (without John Stones) were not able to beat the press as effectively as usual and we looked vulnerable. When the press was beaten, Southampton retreated, en-masse, into two banks of five, quite rightly, and the forward line looked incapable of creating. He has to put it right against United at the weekend, or we will drop points.
