Newcastle was definitely down to tactics

Losing at home to WBA was also poor, while Neil's tactics really played into Leicester's hands earlier this season. Hindsight suggests that most teams have struggled with them, though.

With the Liverpool game there's the Martin at CB selection as an issue, but otherwise I don't think you can blame the manager too much. The second Liverpool goal came too quickly for him to be able to react to. He also lacked the personnel to shut up shop in a tactical sense. The players also made some horrendous individual errors where they have to take full responsibility. Those errors for goals 4 and 5 have nothing to do with tactical naivety.

Goal 3 is maybe the one where you could question the manager, because the high defensive line was ridiculous. Having said that, we don't usually play that high, so it might have been because the CB's were trying to fill the space that the CDM's usually would. Martin should still track Firmino, regardless.

Agree on Klopp being a bit overrated btw. Once teams learn how to deal with the high pressing, he doesn't have a plan B, hence Dortmund last season. Liverpool have had some really poor results against mediocre teams that are happy to just sit back, because Klopp struggles to set up a team to keep possession and attack.

Posted By: Common Sense Police, Jan 25, 21:11:25