As a team we can and are playing some beautiful football and many times we should be out of sight by half time, Saturday against Stoke is a good example of this. Unfortunately, after creating the chances our midfield are missing most. Its not Bony's fault we are not scoring. Who is feeding him in the box? no one, who is crossing the ball to him? no one, where is Siggy in relation to Bony? nowhere to be seen. We mostly see Bony at defensive corners or back to goal after tracking back to halfway just to offer himself as an outlet target for a pressured midfield. We shouldn't be used to seeing him there but we are. Why is that? could it be because someone has gone missing. Back to us not scoring, because we can't convert the pressure comes on us in the second half as teams we should be beating out of site are still in close contention and this predicts that teams will try to close down and pressurise our midfield, they don't have to chase the game so this is what they do. Most teams cope with this pressure by increasing the dynamism in midfield, foreshortening passes and demanding the ball after moving into spaces left by closing down players. To be successful at countering the pressure our midfield needs to be sharp and all the players are required to play their part as on missing cog will throw out the timing which is essential to playing sharply. We try to do this but, so far, have failed because a key member of our midfield just stops playing when we are under pressure. This means our dynamic midfield has a player less than it should have, its lost a player so we start to look back for support become reactive to situations, basically on the back foot. If we had a full compliment playing in midfield we have the talent to play our way out of tight corners, to look ahead and to be pro-active and make things happen. We cant do this though because a key players has gone AWOL......AGAIN. It would appear that our play making, midfield general, talisman can only play when he has yards of space and aeons of time to play in. It would appear on the evidence so far that these are the only conditions he can play under. Pressure him and he becomes as influential as a fart in a hurricane. Credit when its due, but right now none is, Siggy is killing us.
No it's not just you! He's not up for it when the opposition press us high up the field, and so disappears, I've stated this a few times this season, it happened in the Newcastle game too. I think our midfield really needs Leon back, he is our magician and we are badly missing him, and why is that, because he is the only midfield expert we have that scoops up lost ball, no one else comes close. ............
We need Leon back for sure but Siggy is having a great season so far, scoring himself and setting up others. I'd never leave him out, and when Leon is back breaking up play and setting up forward momentum he will come into his own again. We are playing some great football at times and Siggy is almost always involved in our best, most exciting moves. Converting those chances seems to be the problem, and no I'm not blaming Bony who seems starved of service himself but is more likely than not to be involved in the build up.
We lost on Saturday because our midfield became non existent in the second half with Siggy becoming virtually absent. This meant our wide players were starved of possession and consequently Bony and Gomis when he came on did not receive any meaningful openings. We are crying out for a dynamic, forceful midfielder and for all his faults Jonjo does, to a degree, offer this. Although they are not popular with us fans a Tiote, Catermole or Charlie Adams type is what we need.
Agree with all of the above especially the points highlighted, but when we have a team that presses high up to break down our passing and time on the ball, he cannot cope and disappears for periods?
Agree, but we really need a Ferrie Bodde, then we would be into some serious footy! I have stated this many times.................
I think all us fans regret that Ferrie Bodde never had the chance to play for us at the highest level.
Agree with all here, we need Leon back. I agree that Siggy has played well but with conditions. He's only played well when he's been given time and space to work in and anyone in our midfield, namely Ki, Shelvey, Dyer, Routs and up front even Bony can pick a pass, can do everything he's done so far if in his position of AM. I suggest that at this point in time Siggy isn't a luxury, not even a treat in our team because there are several others named above who can do anything he has done. These players also work for 90 minutes under any playing conditions and not just ones conducive to pretty football. His cameos for 25-30 mins flatter to deceive imo. I say this because you have to weigh yup the over-all performance each game and then over a number of games and currently, imo, his disappearing act is costing more than his his pretty football is gaining us, over the course of the games so far. Other questions, I don't know why this is happening of late, was he like this at Tottenham? is it just a phase he's gong through? Is he carrying a knock/strain? Is he unfit? I will say that most of those back from international duty looked a little strained, other than Taylor. Williams looked like he could fall asleep, Bony looked tired too. Siggy did have a lot of travelling, not making excuses just fumbling for answers,
The same has happened in every game bar Man U. Jonjo is a presence but he is so slow and, many of his. passes go astray. Without him on Saturday we were no worse than when he has played. Sacrilege, I know, but Siggy does look shattered after about 50 minutes and then largely goes missing. That puts more pressure on Ki who, as a result also tires. And I'll get on my hobby horse and say Ki gets drawn out wide left to make for Taylor's poor positioning. We also have taken to hoofing the ball forward and often miss out our midfield, gift possession to the opposition and have our players chasing shadows. But, irrespective of our favoured 'reasons' for the poor midfield performance, I think everyone is agreed the failure to sign a central defensive midfield player is taking its toll.
Stumpy Bony has had countless chances to score since the season started. Most of his attempts are not even on target and is looking more like a one season wonder in every game. He is not doing the business this season and the only reason i can think of is that he was expecting a big club move and they have shunned him. I would bench him for a while and see if that works. A team without a good striker who is missing the chances he has had this season puts the club in all sorts of trouble especially when the team is playing good football and creating chances. We had the same problem with Danny boy so i hope he dont end up like him playing for different clubs and soon dropped and passed on to the next failure. His job is to score as he is the main striker and it dont matter how many times fans say he had a good game if he can't find the net then he is no use to us....
why they are both strikers who have had one good season and they both have baron runs where they cant hit a barn door with a shovel....they are exactly the same...
matts favorite quote......"I'm Intrigued" how many do you think he has squandered this season you should be concerned about. Would you say he has been brilliant or well below average...he has missed sitters a swans schoolboy could have put away....
Season 13/14 You conveniently forget Michu played midfield once Bony came in, he was clearly unhappy & had a serious injury. He still managed to score 1 goal in every 4 games. Shelvey 1:7 Nathan 1:6 Routs 1:8 Guz 1:7 Michu 1:4 Wilf 1:2 You should try sticking up for our successful players instead of blindly slagging off anyone vaguely considered close to Laudrup.
