What has been said before remains extremely valid, which is that the Rs have to (have to!) keep the ball and press the opposition more than this current squad is capable of. It is very well congratulating the team for their heroic rearguard actions at Stamford Bridge, at home to Spurs and again at the 'Ammers yesterday, and of course they've remained undefeated in those games and have conceded but a solitary goal. But we must not forget that they've scored only twice too.
For this to be improved upon they have to play to Remy's strengths, which of course is predominantly his pace. But this cannot be best served by a defensive setup and reliance on counter-attacking football, which will yield the odd goal or two as we saw yesterday, but is every bit as likely to concede during the overriding bouts of offensive pressure by the opposition which, again, we saw yesterday.
This board has questioned Mr Redknapp's pursuit of more midfielders, which is fair enough. But perhaps he has already reached the conclusion that what we have cannot keep the ball, pass with sufficient accuracy and press the opposition? As much as we might admire Granero's Real Madrid pedigree or Faurlin's development, neither has yet demonstrated anything like the form and nous to keep possession further up the field. Then we have Mbia and Derry, both of whom are largely defensive-minded and, in the case of the latter, lacking in pace and prone to clumsiness. Samba Diakite seems to be a shadow of the player that stormed through to score against Arsenal last year (and he's been lost to the ACON). Hoilett and Park and been largely Toilett and Krap.
I personally applaud a tentative return to form of SWP which, but for his dire finishing, may well have culminated in 2-3 more points on the board over the New Year. He seems to have a developing understanding with Tararabt which may yet prove invaluable, but he is a player that seems to be able to only "do it" at pace; which means he's only effective in about 10% of the opportunities he gets. (And by "effective" I mean he doesn't lose the ball). SWP doesn't seem to be able to do "foot on ball, slow the pace, take down the heat, bide your time".
Only Taarabt has shown anything like consistency in the opposition's half and yet he is criticised (yes, by me too) for his wastefulness and tendency to run into cul-de-sacs when trying the incredible when the simple will suffice.
So for me, I would be delighted to see midfielders with better ball skills and possession. Only with them can we really see the best of our new £8M investment up front. Without them, don't be surprised if Remy gets caught offside with infuriating frequency or is forced wide up front whilst awaiting teammates to catch up in support. Mr Redknapp is correct that somebody like Zamora is essential to aid his new teammate and also free Taarabt from the overwhelming attention he inevitably gets at the moment.
The Rs will undoubtedly concede more goals playing further upfield, but perhaps they'll score more too? At present Mr Redknapp knows they lack firepower and is sufficiently pragmatic to set the team up to its current strengths. But this ain't going to get them up the table. He knows we have to win games.
