eTowards the end of last season we was in good form and we played a style which was nice to watch and very effective. Kenny re-introduced the 'pass-and-move' style of play, a style which has seemed to lost it's way as the season has gone. So what is the difference between the tail-end of last season and this season? 1. Have our purchases this summer actually improved our first eleven? Downing, Henderson, Adam, Bellamy, Enrique, and Coates have all come in and arguably 2 players have improved our first eleven (Bellamy and Enrique) with Aqualani and Mieriles leaving and a load of other cack players leaving. 2. Change of formation/Personnel? Two big losses in terms of players for me has been the exit of Mieriles and the none-inclusion of Maxi. Mieriles does something that Adam nor Henderson does at the moment and that's run beyond the strikers. Miereles wasn't actually a big loss because apart from his 5 goals in 5 matches at the start of Kennys reign he didn't score for the rest of the season. Maxi was in excellent form scoring back to back hatricks and regularly finding the net, he and Suarez seemed to have a good understanding but seems to be out of favour with Kenny at the moment, Why? 3. The loss of Lucas? Has the loss of Lucas been even bigger than we thought? I'm not saying we're playing terrible, we proved against Arsenal that we are still playing good football, it just seems to me that the style we developed last season which was so effective and successful has slowly gone missing during the course of the season. Feel free to add any other points.
Enrique...? IMO, he is our signing of the season and, at just £6m, he will be up there for the league signing of the season too! Add to that that we didn't have a recognised left back towards the end of last season too. Nothing against Coates but he has not done anything, he has only played three league games and seven in total. Can't be classed as an improvement to the first team, the squad maybe but not first team. Not for me, I expected it to have this big an impact. I said at the start of the season that Lucas was our most important player, we simply do not have anyone else for that role. Spearing is a good squad player but he is not at the same level.
One week we can play that way and the next we can't, I can't really put my finger on it to be honest. I said a minute ago on another thread that the midfield needs to be more consistent, I also think that KK should identify something not working a lot earlier than waiting until we go 1-0 down. If we are playing **** then change things.
So says the man sitting in front of a keyboard. Neither you nor I know why changes aren't made. We don't know who si carrying a knock or just doesn't fit with what the manager is trying to do in a particular game. It just too easy for us to knock. Our midfield hasn't been settled all year due to injury (Lucas and Gerrard) and loss of form (Downing and Adam). Perhaps then we should give them some faint praise for the football that they have generated thei season.
Oh I can't have an opinion because i'm typing? I'm not saying I know the answers, look at the first line of my post. And I stand by my last comment, if you are not playing well and can't string two passes together or create a single chance to score then you have to change things and not wait until we are losing to start making the changes - do it before hand.
Apologies for the first comment - perhaps I'm suffering battle fatigue from the knee-jerk reaction over the weekend. Do you remember Newcastle away last season with Voy in charge? We were 1-0 down at half time, poxed a goal (Kuyt) and the whole flow of the game changed in our favour. What did Voy do? Stood on the touchline rubbing his chin!! What was the result - a 3-1 loss. In comparison I don't think Dalgliesh has been that bad! Now. I agree that changes often have to be made (and I'm glad I don't have to make them) during a game.
Im not a pool supporter but Kenny I think has just chosen a different way of playing because of the new players and the loss of Lucas. I think once Lucas comes back you'll be a lot stronger - having him play there means first off you'll actually have a decent defensive midfielder, but also because it pushes the attacking players up a bit. Your midfield looks soooo much stronger when Lucas is there. Also I really rate Maxi. He's not the most athletic but technically very good and his positioning and know-how seems to be top notch. He'd do a heck of a lot more than that guy you play on the wing, Downing. I'm not sure he's classed as a footballer. Gary Neville did say England needed a new tea lady...
No worries. I agree it is easy to say 'this and that needs to be done' but understand for the manager it's not quite as simple as that. Personally I would like to see Maxi getting a game - we always seem to play well when he plays against teams we are expected to beat. His movement is very good and he is always available in the box which is something we are lacking immensely right now.
I would give the Kuyts and Maxi's who have come through for us this season the games and sit the likes of Adam and Downing for a good couple of games not just 1 or 2. Really send the message that squad player is in your future. Also, to tie in with another thread, one thing United do well is they buy to their strengths in the team, they buy what they need to keep their style ticking over. We sometimes do not do that. We want to play pass and move but have players liek Adam, Downing, and Carroll who have probably never done that in the prem as thye came from very direct style teams. I get buying british but why not buy to what we want to do, we want pass and move, buy players that can do that and build from that.
How so? Arsenal - we played well and deserved to win, but lost. Sunderland - we played **** and deserved to lose, and lost. two different styles, same ****ty outcome.
Inconsistent, against the top 6 sides we play so well ( win most or draw) and everyone else we normally play **** ( draw a lot, lose some, win fewer). And as you said, we still end up with a result that no one wanted, most of the time a draw, but I think we all know what draws get you, sweet **** all.
I reckon the Arse game sums it up better than the Sunderland game. We annhilated Arse, but got beaten because we couldn't put the ball in the net. We were crap against Sunderland. They didn't help with their tactics, but we should have been expecting that and we should have dealt with it.
true but it's not just a symptom of this season, even under woy we got some good results against bigger teams, seems any manager can get us riled up against the big boys but winning on a rainy day in stoke is harder - Rafa, Roy and now Kenny can't seem to get it right. Another frustrating season.
