Funny that people are blaming the management. Danny Mills' comments are spot on. Square pegs, round holes, plagues every manager of this bloody football club. Almiron, right midfield? When he only has a left foot? Literally, his right leg might as well be prosthetic. ASM, isn't a LM. Joelinton/Wilson isn't working. WIllock/Shelvey isn't working.
Nope. I blame Ashley then Ashley then Ashley. The players are what they are. ****. Eddie is making mistakes which is natural given he’s only had a couple of games. But at the same time he is learning about the players.
The day I listen to Danny Mills is the day I will remove my balls and feed them to someone's dog. I just can't keep doing this endless blaming of managers mate.. Its been 14 years of crap squads, but thankfully we've only got a few more good hidings to go before that starts to change.
What foot does Salah play with in a 4-3-3 ? What foot does Sterling play with in a 4-3-3 ? What foot does Mane play with in a 4-3-3 ?
In my mind, we play just 1 x DM (433) against "beatable teams", even letting Shelvey play that 'quarterback' bollocks against the likes of Norwich. Then against mid-table - Villa, Wolves - we put 2 more defensive minded midfielders in, and - yes - the player in the hole (10) has to drop deeper. Maybe it's not even really 4-2-3-1, maybe it's just a deeper 4-3-3, where you either have a midfield triangle with one holding, or one attacking. It should never be a player like ASM, but someone like Willock or Almiron who can work back and carry forward. Then against top teams maybe you go 5 at the back, but keep 3 in midfield. There's this myth that width = crosses = goals. Those days are gone, unless you're playing attacking full backs who are swinging them in like TAA at Liverpool. But this notion of a wide player getting to the byline is from the ****ing 90's. Hence why 4-4-2 just doesn't work, mainly because there's just no point to it. I said after Leicester, what was the plan? As Mills said, if you go with attackers, then why aren't they pressing high up the pitch? Why is Howe expecting the defence to play tiki-taka football? Of course we'd moan if they hoofed it, but there's a balance - which is defend as a unit, win it, give it. But with 2 in CM, there's often nobody to give it to - it's far too easy to defend wide players because Leicester dropped into a shape and pressed the full backs up onto our wide midfielders, so there's no way out. I'm not saying this team should be 8th, but they shouldn't be bottom either. That blame lay with Bruce, and now it lies with Howe after a series of pretty gutless and actually quite stupid (Brentford, Norwich) performances. I can't remember a side ever having such an absence of new manager bounce.
WE'RE NOT PLAYING A BLOODY 4-3-3, AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM!!!!! We're playing a flat four, and he's asked to be a right midfielder.
I think Roland is right mind. It isn’t working. I actually honestly don’t know what position ASM and Miggy is best at. I don’t even know what Miggy really does apart from work rate. That’s not negative or it’s not meant to be but he doesn’t have an end product he doesn’t score he can’t tackle. That’s what we have a lot very bad players and the ones that have potential are either nullified in our teams or just don’t seem to have a natural position.
I can conclude whatever I want. It’s an opinion. And I think 4-4-2 is a mistake: I think picking Lascelles is a mistake. I think Shelvey and willock in a cm pairing is a mistake. I could go on.
I don't see the big issue.. Ok we got well beaten by arsenal and Leicester who simply have much better sides, but the other 3 games we dominated, were unbeaten in and played with 10 men vs one of the sides.
Of course you can, but you can't just make the assertion anything was a mistake. To do that you'd have to demonstrate all the other options and that one of them worked better.
We actually had more shots and more possession that Leicester did. They just had the quality. Our players are duffers. I don’t think Eddie is learning on the job. Simples.
I say it as I see it. 4-4-2 doesn’t work in modern football. Or at least I’ve not seen it work for a while.
We won playing 4 4 2 a few times.. They all work its just not currently popular. Somewhere down the line a big club with good players will have success with it and it'll be back in fashion
Can’t have been this season. We only won one. But I accept the formation on its own isnt the issue but when you factor in the players it is. Our wingers can’t cross. And strikers don’t score headers that often. Our CM is ****. That may all change in January. For the record I’m reserving all judgement until the end of the season when Howe had had is own input on players and we see how the team performs. I’m not saying relegation either. To avoid that would be amazing. But if we see positive improvements on a big scale and an identity with Eddies influence on players then I accept a relegation positively. I think people misunderstand me. I don’t have any agendas. I have only the hope that we improve in terms of the whole football club.
At this point in time my hopes are simple. Lets just not go down with the all time record low points tally. 1 Step at a time lads, I realise my ambitions may seem overly expectant.
That’s exactly my point with the 4-4-2. With the current set of players it doesn’t work: because even though we had more possession and created chances the only work that kasper had to do was from his own player. Our players are terrible. Let’s see where we are once January happens. We could sign 3 cm and totally dominate matches and the players around them may actually improve.
