It was good of him to stand on the touchline and keep telling Forss and Smith to not get within 20 yards of Mitoma, then to try keep playing it out down our right flank whilst Mitoma and Estupiñán closed us down and either dispossessed us or panicked us into slashing the ball away.
To be fair it's probably the first game Carrick has come up against significantly stronger opposition, you can't adopt the same tactics, and there's no point in doing it if the competition is ultimately worthless (which it is to us).
It's called not overexerting yourself into a full press, against probably the best player on the pitch that day, in a top 8 prem side, who would have then passed it back to a player where Smith or Forss had just came from, or skipped passed them and created a 2 v 1 further up the pitch. Same as defending narrow rather than trying to cover the full width of the pitch, it's often safer, albeit still not safe, but there is no safe option.
Forss is a development player, isn't a right-sided attacker of a three like that, and has little chance of defending that, and Smith was a free transfer, hardly the end of the world.
Diving in at players that good just leaves you completely out of position and with a much worse structure than if you sat off and congested it.
It's why teams don't go full press or attack Man City, they want you do that so they can work it around you and create gaps through the lines and in behind.
It's like the equivalent of telling players to go and dive in on Messi, it won't end well, just let them have the ball and standoff, ideally in between the player and your goal, and hope they give it to someone else who you have a chance of tackling. Same as when you play 5 a side, you don't dive in on quick/ skilful players or they just make a mug of you, and then have a free run at speed against the next unlucky suspect.
If you're a weaker side your best chance of getting anything is to go half-court and just make the spaces in your half tighter. It still doesn't have a high chance of success, as you're playing against a much better side, and you still need to stop them, and outscore them.
Going full pelt, when you're already behind, in a competition which ultimately won't matter just seems like an additional pointless risk to me.
Leeds tried the full press thing in the prem, against similar sides, and they had better and fitter players than us, and it burnt the players out and they got loads of injuries, and they were doing that only in the competition they cared about which is 8 less games. They went out FA Cup R3, and LD R2. It might work short term, but hurts long term, it got Biesla the sack.
When we're in the play-offs, looking back and thinking about getting beat by a top 8 prem side won't be happening.
