Outlets

[ILD]

I was originally going to post this in the United thread but started a new one for the hell of it.

I felt that we had no outlet in the team on Saturday. I'm not talking about Benteke btw. Yeah the ball will be pumped up to him and he will win his fair share in an effort to recycle the ball but I'm talking about ball carriers like Coutinho and Lallana. Players who can take the ball in difficult environments and positions, hold onto it for us and help move the team up the field. We had no outlet, we just had players who didn't seem to want the ball. Some cowardly hide when it suited them, others didn't feel comfortable taking it in an unfamiliar position and some were guilty of both. I cannot wait till Coutinho and Lallana come back. We really missed Coutinho and his ability to get on the ball. I'd much rather Coutinho finding space on the ball while at the same time attracting players to him than watching the Canwagon trying to move us up the field with a steam rolling run.

 

[Frogfish]

Amen to that. Though had Firmino been played at #10 that is something that he did well at Hoffenheim.

 

[ILD]

On a side note, how meek of a game was that? You'd easily know Gerrard, Carragher, Neville etc are all gone. No one to tell the new lads in the dressing room what this game means. Milner cracked into a hefty tackle on the hour mark but that was about it. I posted in the pre match thread that a Milner anytime booking was printing money. It was 2/1. Sadly I didn't get a chance to back it.