flobaba Well said. There is also such a thing as too much control. Other managers aren't stupid. They have studied the way we (and Citeh) play. So they've become increasingly resilient. Defense is easier than offense - you don't need the same quality of personnel - just good organisation, focus and work rate. And that's Everton, Fulham, Inter and others have done all game. Even Untited.
We need to draw them out by letting them attack so their defense isn't constantly perfectly constructed, and we can play a bit more in transition. All these games have the same pattern. If a team tries to play us, we rack up shots very easily. If they just sit in, we really struggle and depend on set pieces.
That said, even in this context, there is a real lack of tiki taka on the wings, partly because the fullbacks aren't getting involved, and partly because of the turmoil at L8 and the LW. We aren't getting fast 1-2s that put us into space and allow us to do cutbacks. The Arsenal cutback is dead
