Mount: ‘We have to be brutally honest with ourselves’

Another frustrating game, another double-take of a defeat on the road for the Blues, who seem lost and confused, weak and powerless, tilling our own grave to keep us level.

The weekend was supposed to start the season anew, but we just passed Go and went directly back to jail. One month into the season, the only thing we can say with any certainty is that nobody seems to have any solid idea what’s the problem, let alone how to fix it.

Tactics that were working before have stopped working. Players who were performing before have stopped performing. New players have dropped to our level instead of raising us up. Effort, quality, endeavor, confidence, ideas, execution are all lacking. Practically everyone’s underperforming and we need as many hands as Aladdin’s Genie to point all the fingers that need to be pointed.

The situation is just as clear for those on the ground as those watching, which is to say murky and fraught with danger. Here’s Mason Mount trying to put that into words, and not really being able to do so beyond generalities.

“We have to be brutally honest with ourselves, it’s not good enough. [...] It’s disappointing, it really is disappointing. [We] need to up our standards. Every single player needs to look at themselves.

“[We] started the game well, but we let it slip away and that’s happened a lot over the last couple games. So it’s something that we obviously need to look at.”

Photo by DENIS LOVROVIC/AFP via Getty Images

It’s a situation that offers seemingly no quick fixes because the problem hasn’t been clearly defined. If there is to be a turnaround, if we are to find some semblance of quality consistence, it will likely be a gradual process — a gradual (re-)building of confidence, mentality, approach, and focus. Gradual processes require patience, and patience is, as ever, in short supply.

“It’s difficult [to know what’s missing] I think. At the beginning of the game, we start well, and if we get that first goal, the game is totally different. I feel like we dominate and we’re just not getting it.

“[We’re] going through a difficult period [and] it’s natural that confidence isn’t the highest, but what we do know is that we need to keep working on it. If we work hard, we can get through it as a team, and that’s all we can focus on.”

Well worn cliches are well worn for a reason, and are never here to give us any specific insight. All we can hope is that we do find a solution, and soon, whatever that may solution may be.

“We need to come back in the next game with that fire and desire that we’ve shown for the last few years to win games, the performances that we know we can provide.

“[Tuchel] didn’t say too much after the game, obviously it’s very raw at the moment. We need to look at the game and analyze. [The fans] need to stick with us and we’ll keep going, keep trying our hardest to stick at it.”

-Mason Mount; source: BT Sport

Would love to see some evidence of that on Saturday.