What?!! Who's fault was it that Eze was played there? SM should have changed things during the first half. Everyone around me was blaming McClaren, NOT Eze.
Absolutely McLaren's fault. I posted at half-time that he had got it wrong and he should have reverted to 4231 with Eze in behind Wells. A dreadful performance, with no one to blame but McCLaren.
He got the initial tactics wrong and we had a very frustrating first half as a result. We were much better once he had chance to reorganise at the break and were very unlucky to lose. No way Holloway for example would have had the tactical nous to adapt like that IMO. Certainly far from perfect and he really should have used Smith earlier but I think the reaction has been over the top.
In what way did he "adapt" in the 2nd half? Apart from us pushing higher up the pitch, meaning that we pressed a little more effectively, he continued with Eze and Freeman out of position and left Scowan and Luongo out numbered in the centre. It wasn't till the 76th minute that he made a meaningful change by which time we were behind. He also played a CB at full back and failed to continue with the formation that had worked so well against Millwall. Using Smith earlier with no supply from out wide would have made no difference at all imo.
sorry yes for the record agree it's totally McClaren fault Looked like he stumbled on a good formation Tuesday and I'd hoped he be clever enough to stick with it Smacks of Holloway sticking with 532 for tooo long then stumbling on 442
Sorry, that i jinxed it with that stupid premonition. Anyway the outcome was sad but true. We should had bought Pukki when it was possible....
