Well, what else will it be? 30 points that we want to get as many as we can, but to put it as you have (and I agree), that is a gamble, but it is where we are. We are a new team.
I think one thing Cork brought to the team was that sort of water carrier role. He's fast and tenacious and how many players on either team are willing to expend that much energy in moving (preventing from moving) the ball from the box to midfield? When we don't play Cork, we do seem to have more trouble transitioning from defense to offense. It's not like Wanyama loses the ball, he just doesn't have the speed. Schneiderlin seems to prefer looking for the pass as a deep-lying playmaker. I think that's part of the reason for the long balls yesterday.
My point is that the team themselves, with the help of the coaching staff, need to 'transition' or gel quickly. We do not have the luxury of taking 10 games to get to this point. If we take that long we could find ourselves in a relegation scrap. We have enough quality in the squad to get to the required standard. However, some will not make that transition quickly enough and as a result we must add more depth, for me a further CF and a winger (Koeman agrees) are required, and preferably this added depth should be in the form of players who have played in the PL.
To back up your view, my friend (mentioned in earlier post and UEFa A coach) kept going on that Vic, although excellent in breaking up play, defaults to turning back with the ball and giving it back or sideways. He said that on a couple of occasions he could have burst forward with the ball into 10-15 yards of space, but he didn't, he checked back and gave it to a CB or FB. Interesting observation.
I agree with everything you say, accept the bit about the ten games... I think this conversation starts because I said that I will review after 10 games, having said we need to look at the progress over 6-10 games. Well we are where we are, plus whatever we do in the next week of the transfer window, but it takes time to gel a team; very rarely does it happen overnight. You also maybe are assuming that we'll get a low points tally in that ten games, whereas we may come out with 12-16 points which could be mid-table and ok while we are gelling. Lots of work will go on at the training ground but each week they only get one game to put it into practise. I won't be panicking even if we end up starting around the fringes of a relegation battle after 10 games. If we are on one point and no sign of progression, then it'll be different.
Absolutely. Good time to judge. Lets hope we're doing well with plenty of points on the board and a couple of good signings in next week.
I think we need to be hitting a bit of form around games 5/6 and start to take advantage of our easy start as after our first 10 games or so, we have hard teams. Wouldn't want to start to gel after our easy fixtures and have to beat the hard teams to make up for not beating the lower teams too often.
Yep, in our first 10 games we only play Spurs and Liverpool of the big clubs so we have a reasonably good chance to pick up points. Games 11-21 are much harder. We play Chelsea, Man City and Everton once plus Arsenal and Man Utd twice each. So if we have a slow start we may find ourselves in real trouble come January.
And we struggled to breakdown teams last season at times. Yes it's correct if you wish to build possession but sometimes the centre back has to take it on himself and we never had that alternative.
I pretty much think all our central midfielders can be guilty of this. Morgan has improved recently, but used to kill momentum on many a potential counter attack in previous seasons. A guy I play 5-a-side football with does the same thing. You play the ball to him and even if he has no marker close at hand he receives the ball square on as if expecting to shield the ball from someone coming from behind. He makes sure of his control and then gets his head up and assesses the situation. In a congested midfield and on a 5-a-side pitch this is good practise as players could potential try and steal a march from behind either shoulder, but when you're in good space you want to be able to turn and get on the offensive as quickly as possible. A great exponent of that at the other end of the footballing spectrum from my mate is Adam Lallana who can take control on the turn and get on the front foot in one motion. Ramirez is probably our best midfielder in the squad at receiving the ball and getting it forward quickly but guess who loses possession the most? He is often far too open when he receives the ball and is liable to have his pocket picked. His open style when in possession means defenders are more likely to challenge him as they think they can take the ball. He gets fouled more often and gets injured more often. We need a middle ground
That's a great example Saintly hero and there lies the rub. Do we have someone who is 'safe' or someone who is a 'risk'??? The ideal is someone who can do both, but they are usually at a higher level again.
I almost agree with every point. Bit harsh on Pelle because the tactics worked against him, just like you said. We're 2 games into the season so I think we should delay judgement on how much of a flop Pelle is until he gets a chance to settle. Today Pelle gets a 5 from me.
Not sure who this is addressed at but I'll assume me as you've not quoted anyone and I'm OP. Just didn't want you to feel like you were being ignored fella, try and quote the person you're talking to!
I was sure I clicked "Reply with Quote" the first time but obviously didn't! I'm new, that's my excuse! Aye, it was a reply to the original post.
