Fernandes and BeEattie was a good crossing/finishing combination. Although he usually swung in crosses from the right on his left foot so not a traditional winger.
MP may have had alook at the acadamy and thought is it worth paying 10 mil plus for a decent winger plus 30K plus a week when we have players like Rowe,Sinclair and McQueen in the youth set up. McQueen has really struggled with injury so can probably be discounted, however both Rowe and Sinclair offer a willingness to run at people and they both have speed and a goal threat. Probably not ready this year but maybe in cups and a few camio 15 minutes. We could play them against slower fullbacks to get thier confidence up, a few on here lament over punch, but I feel these two will offer more than him just not this season.
Talking of utilising players from the Academy, I was very impressed with what I saw of Harrison Reed from the highlights against Barnsley.
Fernandes was one of the first, if I remember correctly, who played on the non-traditional wing. John Motson would often make mention of his effectiveness of playing on the wrong side of the pitch. I noticed that John Hartson on MOTD2 said he preferred the traditional ball which swung toward you, as you ran onto it, rather than the ball that swung into the keeper. Nowadays, the more popular cross appears to be the latter, but defences seem to be set up for it, whereas when Fernandes was doing it defences used to get themselves into a right old tizz.
I'd agree with this FLT if there was any convincing evidence that we could use what we have to be an offensive dynamo. But for the latter half of last season, it didn't happen. For the first three games of this season, it hasn't happened. We've been playing in front of the defense for an awfully long time at this juncture, and our tempo must be one of the slowest in the league. That's the real difference between ourselves and a team like Swansea...they move the ball forward -- usually on the ground -- very quickly, creating space in the process. We, well, we frequently don't.
The other thing about Swansea is that they can switch to a plan B, as they have players like Routledge and Dyer in the side who are natural wide players. I don't mind the fact that we are choosing to play the way we are, as I think it could/will be effective, my main concern is that when it isn't we don't have options to change it up. For me bringing in a proper wide player would've meant we could have Osvaldo up front on his own with 3 in behind him, if not working we could bring on a winger and Lambert and try getting wide and getting crosses in for him to attack
Absolutely gents. I have said all through this, that I wanted a wide man and this would give us a good plan B. The next few games will be very interesting, excluding the very next one I am not looking forward to this game as I think we'll really play into big Sam's plans and both Lovren and Osvaldo will have their patience tested by the wind up Kings. Hope the referee is on the case.
Famous last words, but I've seen no evidence (admittedly on the basis of 3 games) of Lovren being at all hot-headed. Dani on the other hand.......
Great post FLT, and some interesting comments on both sides of the fence. All I will say to those worrying about having out and out wingers, remember a certain Bridge/Marsden partnership?
Maybe, but untill we create more chances against teams who put 10 men behind the ball, it will appear that we are lacking wide options!
Here's a "devil's advocate" view to this then. Let's pretend we got two quality wide players in... what will this do the teams that defend in numbers? How would they defend different against us? Wouldn't they just double up when the ball goes wide? Would we then not be slinging 50:50 crosses into the box that might suit a Stoke or a West Ham? This is not saying "wide men" are wrong, I think we need them badly, but I am just trying to view things on the flip side. If we had true wide men, would we be susceptible to teams steam rolling down the middle, leaving our CBs exposed? There's always more than one way to look at things.
We'd be able to stretch the play better and drag their defenders out of position, something we're not very good at right now. If teams come at us, there's nothing wrong with the way we play currently, as there will be space in the centre to play through, but against teams that defend in numbers, we need to make the pitch as wide as possible so they aren't able to stay as compact and difficult to break down.
I was expecting someone to offer this. So why can't we stretch the play now by having players move out there at the appropriate time? I would hope that MP wants them to do this, but I'm not sure they are getting this instruction. I think he wants is to be narrow and to use fluid movement to stretch teams, which is fine if its on a fast paced break, but a lot harder if a team is already there and defenders are good enough to pass a man along the line. When our CB or CM players get the ball, out FBs never push more than a few yards ahead of them. I wish they would push a lot further forward, pivoting for safety so that if we are going down the right, Clyne bombs on and Shaw drifts round and inside.
Well Clyne and Shaw tend to push forward a lot, and do offer some of this, but Fox and Chambers don't. Maybe it's something Chambers will introduce to his game as Shaw did, but at the moment it's really limiting our attacking I think. We probably can use width more using the players we have, but the caveat is that few of them are able to get past a full-back to pull the ball back to an onrushing attacker, and few are able to deliver crosses accurately. That's why a specialist winger would be better for that scenario. Puncheon could deliver decent crosses which is why I think we will miss him. JWP can deliver good crosses but doesn't really have the pace or trickery to create space to do so. Clyne and Shaw sadly are not great at crossing, though Chambers put some good ones in during pre-season.
Chambers was doing this pre-season (and was criticised on here for being out of position!) but is apparently being instructed to be more cautious in the PL.
Chambers was criticised for poor positional awareness in general, and allowing people past him too easily. Clyne doesn't have that problem.
Having not seen any of our pre season games, did Chambers look quick when going forward? From what I've seen so far he doesn't strike me as having the speed to be getting up and the down the flank well enough to be able to attack and defend effectively
