Both Arsenal and United pressed us from the off. We pass the ball around the back. We struggle to get good angles and space. When we do, we pass it into midfield, who are tightly marked, and they lose the ball, and we're on the backfoot again. Rodgers applauds the effort, because he wants them to learn how to play out. At the start of a season, or a managerial reign, this is fine. At youth level, it's absolutely imperative. You want to encourage players to develop.
But at the business end of a season, with vital games in progress, and a must-win 6-pointer? That ball goes long, right behind the opposition fullback, let them turn and drop off to get it back, put THEM under the pressure, and see how THEY deal with it. Two games in a row, when we needed to change it up and drop our principles for the sake of the result, we were found wanting. We played a total of 28 long balls today. We played a total of 382 passes. So we had the ball at least 382 times. And yet we failed to turn the tables on the pressing team by doing the one thing pressing teams who play possession hate - having to go back, collect the ball, and start again. Chelsea are masters at it. But they play like that all of the time. We don't. We try to build the play. And 80% of the time, that's the right call. If you're coaching a development team, 100% of the time that's the right call, probably. But for a top professional team, in a vital game, near the end of the season? For 90 minutes, principles go out of the window, you stop thinking like a coach, and you start thinking like a manager who needs a win. Rodgers hasn't got that right yet. Rafa had the balance from the beginning. Teaches the players how to play in training, but adjusts and readjusts constantly during the game, in pursuit of the result.
