Fully agree, for me it was crystal clear today to see that the three at the back doesn't work without the calming influence of Chezzy, even though he's younger and less experienced than Davies and Dawson. As much as we all love the warrior attributes of Macca he has absolutely none of the finesse of Chezzy, consequently watching the three CH's today was, at times, like watching headless chickens. So hopefully we will never see us attempt to play 3-5-2 again without the availability of Chezzy, or another CH that has the same calming effect.
Not sure where Tom Ince will fit in once Hernandez arrives. When he has the ball in the final third of the field, he looks like he is capable of making something happen but then seems to be just get pushed off the ball rather than tackled.
Jelavic is more than capable of playing lone striker, he managed it perfectly well at Everton, just so long as the wingers are nippy and give him proper support. Elmo's delivery is good for him but the rest of his play wouldn't support enough, he'd need to drift inside and help drag defenders away which simply isn't Elmo's game.
Not a direct pop at SB so don't get all defensive but I think we suffer a bit from having an ex-defender as a manager. We're set up to be solid, which I value but I watch other teams and see the pace and positivity with which they move the ball. I so rarely see that with us and just don't feel SB has that ethos running through our team. As it stands, we're very easy to contain no matter what formation we play.
I don't think anyone has questioned whether or not Jelly can play as a lone striker, but it's obvious for all to see that many of his flick ons are going to waste without a second instinctive striker alongside him, much like Long was. Also Jelly is having it hard both ways because none of the players that have been played as a striker alongside him, since Long left, seem to be able to find him or play him in with a killer pass. I've no doubt that Jelly would manfully play on and attempt to make the best of a bad thing in a lone striking role, but it certainly isn't using him to his best effect.
Clever, I see what you did there by completely missing my point. Swansea, Southampton, Leicester today for example, they all move the ball quicker and more positively than us. We don't pass it around the back as a chosen tactic, we do that cause for some reason and even with a 5 man midfield we have **** all body to pass forward to. That's what needs to change.
It was a suggestion/idea, not a hard and fast rule. It seems to me that it's an issue with us though, we have no impetus, no positivity, we're scared to try things and get forward.
That's simply because we don't currently have enough attacking prowess from midfield, but we're a work in progress
We never play balls through the middle, and we rely on Elmohamady's crossing way too much. It's very predictable and very tedious to watch as a supporter and a football fan in general. I'd play Brady more centrally and see what happens. Him and Robertson were the only players that picked up the ball and dribbled with it today.
...and I'd hazard a guess that Brady will now start to be brought back into the fold, he's made a huge difference in the last two games when he's been introduced from the bench
I'd like to see him replace ince, works harder in the centre of the park, great engine and an eye for goal
Aluko used to pick the ball up from deep and dribble towards the opposition's centre-backs in the Championship, and now he dribbles backwards. It's very frustrating to watch such a negative team when it comes to attacking football.
Yep, and that shiote passing across the back five in the first half almost had me reaching for the fooking razor blades, I mean wtf, had they realised at that point how badly they were performing and just didn't want to release the ball upfield as they knew it would coming straight back?!
None of our midfielders play through balls to our strikers. Teams like Swansea, Villa, Southampton, Leicester and West Brom all play through balls to their strikers, and they're around the same level as us. Aimless crosses from the wing-backs is even more tedious than hoofball. We need to utilise our best passers of the ball and get them linking up with the attackers.
This is so true, cant even say anybody is leaving either, your just lying, even when they have left they still think your lying! You won't get much of a discussion on here!
