I thought he had a good game, and Bridcutt. I assumed (probably with many others) that it was competition for the same position. I see no reason why they can`t both play. Both did well imo.
I actually thought the formation we played last night with Catts and Bridcutt sat in front of a back 3 was brilliant and lets not forget here lads, we were up against a very, very good midfield setup that will trouble most teams this season. I thought the pair of them did really well as did the back line. I would like to see how that works out with Alonso in there as well, although Dossina did OK and put some decent crosses into their box. I thought that Henderson had a game plan to harass Catts as much as possible, much like Meyler did with Hull although I don't think there was any intent from Hendo to get Catts carded, just to fluster him which did work occasionally. He does tend to panic a bit under pressure and is always prone to a mistake but he knocked a few good balls around and made some good clean challenges and that system looked pretty watertight for a while. We were done by a good free kick from Gerrard and a lucky deflection, Mannone had that covered till it come off Brown's knee. I thought Ki would have been better in that position than Giacharrini, as much as I like him and think he has a great future with is with the right players around him, he is a bit lightweight and last night Ki would have been the better option.
Thought he did well and id play the same system for the tough away games with Alonso left Ki in for Giaccherini and Borini in for Wickham. Johnson impact sub.
I'd be tempted to play Catts and Bridcutt together in a 5 man midfield in the "easy" games, With Ki playing in front of them and told to get forward. Bardo, Brown, Oshea, Alonso Catts, Bridcutt AJ, Ki, Borini Altidore
I wouldn't mind that at all. Against West Ham though I think its our chance to play pretty much 4-4-2 like they do with Borini in the Nolan role behind Altidore. For all Giaccherini was garbage last night he'd get one last chance from me on the left.
I just wouldn't play Altidore! He has had about 3 shots in 4 games - You can say service is poor but Wickham had 2 shots himself last night and twice Altidore had a chance to just swing his foot at the ball in the hope of scoring and didn;t do it. What good is a striker so bereft of self confidence that he doesn';t even bother shooting anymore? http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/75589/jozy-altidore?cc=5739 27 shots in 27 games as a striker that is not exactly what you need to see! Shane Long has 44 shots in 24 games Fraizer Campbell has 48 shots in 30 games Steven Fletcher has 32 shots in 20 games (and 3 goals) Stats don;t always tell a whole story but a striker needs to shoot to score. And Altidore simply doesn;t shoot
Altidore plays people in when they are in a better position if Fletcher had done that for Ki we'd probably have scored and beat Palace if Wickham did that last night for Giaccherini he might have scored and we might have got a draw. Because a Wickham shot that was going straight at Mignolet until it got deflected doesnt mean he played better than Altidore...he didn't and we played better when he went off.
And because Daniel Sturridge's shot hit Wes Brown it went in - exactly the same situation - with a little luck his shot, which produced a decent save from mignolet, may have gone in the corner of the net instead of where Miignolet could reach it - I didn;t even know Giaccherini was there until I watched it again - if you don't shoot you don;t score. Altidore doesn't just "play others in" he looks to do that even if He's in a better position for a shot himself - twice there was an opportunity to swing his foot at the ball and take a chance last night - Wickham would have, but instead he took 4 extra touches and gave it away - he looks terrified to shoot - averages 1 shot per game played for us this season. Wickham averages the same for us but has only played 7 times and only started 2 games (and averages 3 shots per game this season overall). Altidore also has one assist in the premier league - and that was a mis-controlled pass he should have run on to but Borini took it off his toes and scored against the mags. he doesn;t score and he doesn't set up goals directly. What use is he? I can;t understand what people see that I don't. In the PL overall Altidore has 4 assists, 2 goals and 57 shots in 55 games (30 on target) He's a centre forward! Also - Saying "we played better when he went off" - We changed shape and personnel - the reason for us playing better wasn't becasue he went off - it was the players who came on playing behind the front man. Altidore doesn;t push opposition hard like Wickham does - He doesn;t shoot, he doesn;t score, he occasionally has a hadn in a goal 3 or 4 passes before the assist... Should I go on? Not forgetting this gem: http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/s...sts-his-miss-of-the-year-against-cardiff-gif/
That is defo the team I would pick like. hopefully gus picks it but I think wickham will play instaed of Altidore.
Catts please log in to view this image Cracking pass rate, much more like it. Unlike him to lose so many tackles though Briddcutt please log in to view this image
Spot on, but like Larsen, Catts and Oshea etc. we are stuck with them for a while yet as the alternatives are not much better. It was a good performance last night against a good, but nervy team, when they could not get the third goal to kill of the game, but we have seen this before from this group of players and West Ham will be a much sterner test than last night.
Same from me. On the subject of the thread, I thought Catts had a good game. He is constantly underrated for the quality of his distribution and he and Bridcutt who, for the first time, impressed me last night should start all games with Ki in front of them. Somebody was trying to tell me that there's a player called Giaccherini who regularly gets selected for the Italian national squad. I think we must have mistakenly bought his bookish brother.
