For me, all three should start every game. Taarabt remains the one player who I get excited by because he does look to do something unusual. It is not quite happening for him at the moment but that is as much down to his teammates reluctance or inability to make intelligent runs into space. Granero on the other hand has the same ability to create something out of nothing but constantly takes the safe easy option. On the basis of Faurlin's performance against United as compared to Granero's against Sunderland, I would have to say Faurlin is the better bet at the moment. He has 18 months/2 years of playing alongside Taarabt and they complement each other. Some of the passing and running into space between Taarabt, Faurlin and Traore was exceptional on Saturday. Granero played against Sunderland and we were frankly pedestrian going forward. They were there for the taking and we failed to do it. The longer the second half went on the more frustrated I got at the way we slowed it all up when we won the ball. In this, Granero was by far the worst culprit but they were all to blame to a greater or lesser degree. The biggest problem was that nobody with the exception of Mackie made any runs into the box to create angles for a through ball. When only one player is willing to do so, it is easy for the opposing team to pick that individual off and deny him space. The other obvious problem at the moment which feeds off the previous comments about the midfield is that we do not have forwards willing to put themselves into the danger zone. We have to live without a decent forward who can put himself about, win the ball, bring others into play and get into scoring positions. Cisse's shots against Sunderland were all too far out and he never had the nous to create some space and clear sight of goal before having a pop. I am confident that will change but at the moment everybody is looking nervous and short of confidence. Come on Harry, let's see what you're made of. It is not necessary for HR to invest in another midfielder. Certainly we will not benefit at all by having yet another maestro of the 5 yard sideways pass such as Scott Parker. By midfield I mean that in the most obvious sense of the word. Neither defenders nor out and out forwards. It is not obvious to me why any one of them in particular should be seen as a luxury or a duplication. We need to play Diakite, Mbia, Granero, Faurlin and Taarabt together in each game. Redknapp has seen them all now. It will be a measure of his ability as a manager to find a system that enables them all to play in the same team. We sacrifice system for the sake of the the talent at our disposal rather than the other way round.
YorkshireHoopster great post but it will be hard to find system that will let us play Diakite, Mbia, Faurlin and Granero together. I only can see it happening if Mbia get to play right back or center back but we would loose steel in the midfield. I hope this saturday we'll see that Faurlin Granero partnership giving some final product now Mbia can cover their back
I hope you're wrong about that but I agree that Faurlin and Granero should be given another chance to do the business together now that MBia is playing. I don't play any of the Football manager games so I readily concede I might be talking a load of tactical bollocks but what is the problem in playing Mbia as the key holding defensive midfielder with Diakite and Faurlin doing the defensive cover thus freeing Taarabt and Granero to concentrate on the attacking play. I keep hearing that Granero is played out of position whenever he is not in the centre. Why precisely? All our midfielders should have licence to roam provided that we are disciplined enough as a team to know that a couple should assume a defensive position when others go forward. There is simply too much rigidity in our attacking play at the moment. The best teams don't have it. They attack as a unit of 10 because they know that they have to make space for the man with the ball and run into space to give him options. When we learn that basi lesson we will suddenly look like scoring again.
Faurlin and Granero are very similar in the style of football they play and I'm not sure that works for us. Fat Frank and Gerrard rarely played well together when playing for England who also both have similar styles.
I struggle to see where we put him unless he can play behind the front man, Id rather Faurlin play deeper with one of Mbia/Diakite.
I honestly think our attacking tactics are very poor and I think we can thank Leslie for it. I hope Harry will sort them out as soon as possible.Our attacking player needs to start running channels for start
I think the problem we have is that we are overloaded with good midfield players and i'm not so sure there is a system that can accomodate all of them together in every game. Its like someone stated re: Gerrard and Lampard. We may need the odd gareth Barry in there to make the system work and unfortunately some of them may be forced onto the bench. I'd love to see them all play together but on quicl glance at my current signature reminds me why that may not always be possible! yes they should have the fluidity to interchange, but only when we have the confidence in our defence that any gaps will not be completely exposed and result in coceding a goal. Agree that a lot of this confidence, striker shortage, tactics is down to MH and hopefully we have the right man for that now. Also as stated on a previous post, Joe Cole would only make this situation worse. As for granero, he does always sem to take the safe option. Whether thats a confidence thing or what he's been told to do, I dont know. totally agree that Mbai is fast becoming one of the first names on the team sheet and definately looks the part. Lets see if he can maintain that form. It appears that we have so much talent in our team but not enough cutting edge. MUST get a striker in Jan, if its not too late!
Sorry mate, wasnt having a dig at you. After re-reading it does sound that way though. I cant disagree with most of that and the chip for Tarbs to score his "wonder goal" at WBA gives an indication of G's eye for a pass and ability to pull it off. Agree he needs to up his game though.
No apologies needed Queens. I knew you were generalising and I wasn't having a pop either. Looking at this thread I think we all know the pedigree that Granero has, it's just that he hasn't set the world on fire for us YET. Hopefully that will come. Can't see how all four of Granero, Diakite, M'Bia and Faurlin can play in the same team. Two holding midfielders and one of the four playing more forward. At the moment Faurlin seems to be the one who is missing out. With suspensions and injuries I think all four will get plenty of game time. IMHO the two best suited to playing DCMs are M'Bia and Diakite in that order. I think Faurlin comes next. Granero can also play here but IMO he is better suited to playing more forward as an ACM. The fact that he has not consistently being scoring or creating chances surely means that his place on the side can't be guaranteed and must be under threat. Considering his undoubted talent his confidence must be low. We need Granero yo really step up to the plate in the coming weeks and months as we are not creating enough goal scoring chances. He seems paralysed by fear and his passing is simply not what it could or should be. These are just my thoughts and everyone is entitled to dissect them as you all see fit.
So we will see what Harry has in store for us. We've seen better play just after 2 training sessions. Can we expect more positives after another 2 or 3 sessions is the question. I wouldn't mind a scrappy 1-0.
It was a figure of speech mate. I haven't seen the fantastic player that some on here are describing Granero as.....YET!
