One thing is I think we are all assuming players have ‘downed tools’ rather than there being a massive lack of confidence in the team right now, after repeated sucker punches. The VAR at Leicester, Serge getting sent off, the Bayern game, Lloris off and a goal down inside 3 mins today...it’s a constant barrage of brick and I have some sympathy for the players because they seem to rarely be able to compete on a game on its own merits. It must be draining.
Expectations are also different now, and this is as much about protecting young players by not putting them into this situation and stunting their own development while bombing out players that have been influential and will still have to be at the club. We are assuming these players have stopped trying, but I don’t see that. There was some effort today, but there was a serious lack of quality, confidence, of being ‘in the moment’ and sensing where the ball is gonna fall and being there. We were just wrong both with and without the ball almost every time, but we were running.
I’m trying to play this through in my head, but let’s say Eriksen is dropped, bombed. We’ve basically given up the opportunity to use him for squad depth in the last year of his contract, when we aren’t getting a fee for him. Everyone is assuming he’s downed tools and is causing an issue, but really he is who he always has been. A team playing well he looks great in, a team not playing well he looks the same. Poch is toeing this line between using him enough to be valuable, and bombing him out needlessly. We still may need him if injuries occur. Same with Toby. Same with Rose. Same with Aurier even.
If these players are going to be here, we need to be able to use them. Bombing is a drastic solution which means we definitely won’t be able to, and it assumes these players are trying less rather than seriously lacking confidence. Poch could do it in the first season because his success was only ever going to happen if he could implement his philosophy. Players that had no intention of applying themselves to it could be bombed because we didn’t need them anyway, and their continued presence around the team would stop that philosophy getting implemented.
It’s different now. It may not be optimal, but maybe this season was never going to be. The squad needed a refresh, Poch has done everything he can to inject some differences in to the team - formation, different strategies, less reliance on pressing - but he hasn’t been able to move players out and play his new ones. We should have sympathy for him, because he’s the one that saw this coming before anyone. And he clearly knows the value of bombing players out, so you’d have to think that if he isn’t doing it, it’s for good reason. Ultimately competing in the CL means we need a deeper squad, you can’t bomb players out too soon and give up the depth.
Having said all of this, I expect as we get towards January, we will see changes. Sanchez back in, Eriksen moving to pure back up. Once these players start being able to talk to other clubs, they will he relied upon a lot less I’m sure. It won’t be a pure bombing but I think that will happen. We just need to ride this period out - Poch playing the players this way round is likely as much to protect the ones that will be taking the load later in the season as anything. As I said, with a CL campaign, you need a deep squad.
