Why Guildo puts Taylor at full back i never know....LB yes but not full back. We complain there is not enough crosses into the box but a lot of goals are scored by through balls ....Shelvey was good at that and good at taking long range shots when the opportunity arose.....Trundle was such a good striker that not only was he good in the box but he had an eye for goal anywhere in the oppositions half and he was not afraid to take and beat defenders if there was nobody to pass too. I would love to see that type of football back were we start at the back and work our way forward with precision passing and get the ball to our forwards where they can take every possible chance to shoot at goal.....
Thought Left back was a full back, my boy plays left back for Pompey and he's confused what he is now!!!
Fer leads almost all categories from aerial battles to goal scoring and all some see is his lack of ambition running back. If it Ayew leading all categories at this time his weaknesses would be overlooked and most would only pay attention to him scoring 3 quarters of our goals .
Yeah Fer has done well in my book and will get better. He looks very comfortable in the side and of course his goal are a god send...
I see his lack of desire to win the ball back when he loses it. I also see that when he's in the team alongside Cork, our midfield is over run. Yes he's got a couple of goals, but our performances have been piss poor every time he started this and last season. Leon starts v Man City and the team and Cork are much, much better. It's not rocket science.
Cork finished last season well. Was outstanding in most of the last 4/5 games. Surprised me because I didn't know he had it in him. Thought he was just a run of the mill midfielder but he's good. Shame he hasn't kicked on this season but there were good signs on Wednesday that he's finding form.
Hopefully we wont play Leon and he will come on as sub if needed....He is too lightweight against the more physical sides and cant mix it with players who are much bigger than him. We need to play our most physical side ourselves or they will storm straight through us....This 3 points is far more important for man city than a cup game and they will have a very strong team for this game....Corky and Fer must play with Leon on stand by if needed.....
Re Cork: I'm in a minority I know, and not for the first time, but I can take him or leave him. I always think he may be one of those players that never quite reaches his full potential. I thought he was actually quite poor in the Cup game and gave the ball away - frequently. He's OK but that's as far as it goes. Sorry. Hope he proves me wrong and puts in some performances this season. He scored a great goal last season so he is capable.
I'm not as big a fan of Cork as some on here. Yes he works hard but as against Man City on Wednesday there was no end product and against Chelsea he had slow reactions and kept being hustled off the ball.
Not saying he's bad Roof, just that we have to adjust the way we play as a team to accommodate him. I think those that say he lacks ambition or desire when tracking back to defend are missing the point. When he's in defense he's good, when he's in attack he's good but his problem is that he lacks speed in transition so is a few yards behind the play when he does track back. Its not so noticeable when the transition is forward because he is an excellent passer of the ball. My point was that he is either a defensive midfielder who covers from our box to half way, or a cerntal to attacking midfielder who covers from half way to the opposition area but he can't do both and if you recall, neither did Ayew who was rarely seen in front of our back four but regularly seen strolling back into defense. Out of the two, imo, Ayew was lazy one but Fer hasn't got the pace in his legs to play box to box which leaves us a man down in defense and lop sided in attack. The fact he has bagged three goals just shows up the formation of the rest of the team imo. When he is central in attack he is relatively effective but, for reasons unknown, he looks to play in Loriente, who does make some good runs but he never gets the ball off of Fer. Today will be interesting, one to see if he is picked, if he is then the 'wobble' in our formation will continue and two, if he looks to plays in Borja. IMo, this should be the team Rangel----van der Hoorn----Amat----Kingsley ---------Britton--------Cork------------ Barrow-------------------------------Montero --------------Siggy-------------- ------------------------Baston------------------------- With Cork, box to box and Leon protecting the back four. . Same resut as Tuesday imo 2-1 Man City
I agree with the team, but there is absolutely no chance of him starting that even if all were fit. He cant help himself and negativity comes into his mind when selecting a team and a way to play. As for fer I do agree mostly, where I disagree, when I watched him ambling back against Chelsea, it wasnt that he wasn't quick enough it was clearly he didn't have the will or the energy to track the player and let him run away and made no effort to go with him. The guys I go with think he is great, but did notice his lack of effort to get back. For me he either sits in front of the back 4 and uses his passing ability to move teams around or he is a deputy to Siggy and plays as a 10. Either way he cant do both.
Have to agree with you there TLF, Fer was very poor when he came on against Citeh. I know some may not see what Cork does and so don't like him much but it was his and Leons relentless industry in midfield that plugged up the channels and passing lanes. They made it difficult for Citeh to gain continuity in attack and we were able to build a descent performance in the first half. Both he and Leon broke up so much of Citehs play attacking the channels, cutting out passes and intercepting the ball. They forced Citeh wide where they were pretty ineffectual. As soon as their partnership was broken, to accommodate Fer imo, the industry in midfield disappeared and passing lanes opened like runways for Citeh who dominated possession and play thereafter. When Fer appeared our shape wobbled and we lost all drive in midfield and this is the point I am trying to make about him. Fer may well be a decent player, but Guidolins insistence on building our game around him comes at a price. With Fer as our main man in midfield we have an imbalanced formation because to play Fer as he is being played by Guidolin, we have to lose a winger and so we are lopsided. Dropping a winger cuts down our defensive 'outs' as well as our attacking options. It also means that one of our more potent players is constantly sittings on the bench while losing interest and fitness; Monterro. Also with Fer we lose industry and tenacity in defense because Fer is too slow to track back effectively. He's ok when he gets back but he can't buzz around like Britton and he hasn't got the defensive intelligence of Cork. We lose out up front to with Fer because he takes up positions, centre middle, which takes up Siggys and Lorientes space, forcing them wide or at least out of position. He does have a descent pass but rarely looks up to use it and never, ever, passes to Loriente. Imo, his tunnel vision disarms our attack. He may well be top of the stats, but stats as we all know lie. With the team built around him and formation designed for him he should be top of the stats, but the stats don't tell the story that with Fer as our main midfielder, better more capable players games are suffering along with our performances and results. Just how I see it
This is the team he'll pick today -----------------------Fab----------------- Rangel-------Fed------Amat-------Taylor Routs-------Cork----Fer-----Ki --------------------Gylfi----------------- ------------------Llorente--------- We'll play the boring diamond in midfield as usual. I'll be amazed if Ki, Taylor and Fed don't start the game.
I think you may well be right there valley, we may not see Ki though, he still might be on the naughty step
