Teams are in and Ruiz and Bobby start up front. Senderos in and Aaron @ RB ?? Bardinho not even in squad - did he get a knock for NI ?
Yes, Ruiz behind Bobby with Hughes as the RB. Happy about Ruiz's position, not so much about Hughes. If we're going to have a stand-in as a RB, I'd rather it was Baird. he passes better out of the back. What's also interesting is who's missing from the bench: no Briggs, Etuhu or Baird. Jol definitely has some different ideas about the personnel than the last two managers.
The positioning appears very fluid. It's almost a three-man back on attack with Riise as the left winger, Ruis and on the right and Duff and Dempsey running of Zamora in the middle. It almost appears like: Schwartzer Hughes Sendros Hangeland Ruiz Sidwell Murphy Riise Duff Dempsey Zamora Ruiz looks a little lost out there.
Been watching the game and am a little frustrated by our final delivery and the lack of ambition shown by our forward 3. The possesion stats look impressive but we do not seem to be able to put a quality pass into the box and when we do no-on is gambling on the front post or the middle of the box. Also, we do not seem to attack the ball and therefore are losing far too many second balls. We should be winning this game comfortably, Blackburn have not really shown anything going forward. More quality and desire needed. Shame Ruiz started in the end, he would be great to bring on in these latter stages.
It was a strange game, I thought. We didn't look like ourselves until the second half, but then fell into the same old patterns - Dembele holding the ball too long, poor crosses, lack of creativity. Ruiz was a disaster, but obviously we need to give him time to settle in. To early to panic, but I certainly didn't seen anything encouraging. I thought Senderos had a good game, except for his long passes. I've never been a fan of his, but I thought he and Kelly did a good job marshaling the back.
