Rickaaaay
edit: anyone know why I can't type things in all-caps?
It's inbuilt to the site, presumably to stop people ranting in caps to try and make their point 'better', and it helps with some spam I think. Little surprised it doesn't go away when you're a senior member though.
Just got back from the game, and I must admit I saw a few things that worried me (rant mode engaged....):
-We started 4-2-3-1, but it was Howson and Johnson the DM's, with Fer the CAM. The only logic I can see behind this is that it makes Fer the target man, in a similar way to Fellaini operates for Everton. He was the target for an awful lot of goal kicks, even if Bunn played it out from the back a little more than I expected. It really seemed an odd way of playing to me, it didn't feel like Fer's natural game to be that advanced, and neither is it Howson's to be a DM. Fer adapted somewhat, but Howson is still absolutely wasted as a DM. It felt to me like Hughton still wants the long-ball option, and because Ricky isn't a target man, he's compromised the central midfield to wangle one in. I don't think we're good enough in the middle of the park to consistently play out from the back (and clearly Hughton agrees), so it feels like he's compromised an attacking position to compensate for deficiencies in the DM positions. I felt it stifled a lot of creativity in the middle, and we were very poor in possession, although that's probably exacerbated by how comfortable Sociedad are on the ball.
-As I said above, why on earth are we still playing Howson as a DM????? It's not his game
at all, and he's not comfortable enough in possession to be the midfield 'recycler', and he put us in trouble several times. If Hughton wants Fer as a target, either tell him to go further forward for goal kicks and drop back (Howson then as CAM), or play Tettey alongside Johnson instead.
As to individual performances, Turner had a night to forget, he was very poor in possession, and nearly sold Bunn short a la Sunderland away. After 20 minutes I wanted Ryan Bennett on instead, and I thought he played reasonably when he came on, assuming Bassong isn't fit, my starting defence would be Whittaker-Martin-Bennett-Olsson, as Olsson seemed to offer more than Garrido when the spaniard came on late. Olsson is much less afraid to push on, Garrido got into promising areas but then rather than pushing on to the by-line, stopped and cut back. Johnson was off the pace a bit, but that's to be expected in what I think was his first pre-season appearance.
Positives:
-Redmond looks an absolute steal. Really exciting player to watch, and he's almost got that Hucks-like ability to make you expect something when he picks the ball up in promising areas. Having said that, he's still a work in progress, particularly when it comes to decision-making. Several times he ran down blind alleys when he should have off-loaded, and sometimes he didn't make enough of the space available. Positionally he was good though, and he made several good runs, even if our midfield rarely tried to pick him out. Watching him, he seemed like a player who prefers to hug the touchline rather than come inside when going forwards, and I wonder if that left the lone front-man a bit more isolated than when Pilks plays. If we went 4-4-2 I'd prefer Redmond, but an on-form Pilks seems a better option in a 4-2-3-1 to me at the moment. Definitely an exciting signing though, MOTM by a mile for me.
-Snodgrass seems to have carried on where he left off last season. I felt he was already up to speed: first touch excellent, his free-kicks were good, dangerous in possession, and as passionate as ever. Seemed most likely to make something happen. Martin seemed good at CB, and Whittaker dangerous going forwards at RB, even if he did create a couple of problems at the back. Didn't have a lot of time to judge Hooper, but he looked comfortable on the ball at least.
-Ricky's goal was nothing to write home about (tap-in after a Fer(?) header from a corner), but his positioning was very good, and his technique is very impressive. Felt very sorry for him though that we were so poor on the ball in the middle of the park, and created little. Nearly got onto the end of a Redmond flick which would have almost definitely gone in, and also a low cross from Redmond late on was just flicked past him by Hoolahan late on. Did fluff a 1v1 gifted to him by a Real defender, although it was on the left hand side of the box with the keeper closing very quickly.
Where do we go from here? The quickest fix for me would be
Toivonen (or similar). I don't think CAM is Fer's natural role, and Toivonen would offer that longer out-ball which Hughton feels we need (and based on the way we moved the ball from defence, we probably do need it), plus creativity and a greater goal threat than Hoolahan or Fer. The harder way of going about things would be to give Howson the CAM role, accept we don't have a target man, and actually learn to play out from the back. That's most likely too big a project to start this late in pre-season, although a signing like Alderweireld would undoubtedly help. I'd really like to see both Toivonen (or someone Fellaini-esque) and Alderweireld (or another ball-playing CB) sign, and against the right opposition play a single DM (probably Johnson/Fer), and give Howson the chance to play how he wants, with Toivonen and RvW in there too.
Edit: Wow that's a long post!
