Because we appear to be a more attacking side this season our wing backs are being caught out of position all too often. Last season PVA was one of our better players. This season he is encouraged to get forward more and this leaves gaps which every manager in the league is aware of. Where is the fault then? Should the two wingers cover for the two going forward? Should we play more defensively and concentrate on trying to keep the defence tighter? Is there a different system to help out our defence, 5-4-1 for example? Have PVA and Jonesy become bad players? A bit of all the above? A question of balance but it needs addressing. Until it is sorted every team knows what to do to beat us, just keep putting the ball out to their wingers who can exploit the gaps we keep giving them. Would Alonso or even someone like Baines do any better in this set up and system. Would PVA be better used as a left winger. I remember Colback being used as an effective LB so it can be done so what options do we have. For what it's worth, I'd have Seb at RB with AJ coming on as sub on the RW at the 65-70 minute. For LB, I don't really know of any good options. Maybe for now stop PVA from going forward but then that limits our attacking options. I don't think PVA is a bad player but I do think he is not being used properly.
How good is Lens at tracking back ? Not very. I mentioned in the another thread, that I beleive PVA wouldnt look so bad if he had Borini in front of him.
I always said his defending and positioning was suspect. I remember the WBA game at the start of last season (when we first signed him) he failed to track a runner and I said from then he's a liability defensively. He's been found out and is being exploited by every winger in the league.
When Gus was in charge, When on the ball, the defence would step forward and Catts would hold his position. Meaning the fullbacks could get forward like wingers and the back 4 became a back 3 meaning the fullbacks got cover please log in to view this image Boom! The best system we've had in a long long time, spoiled by Gus' boring slow footballing philosophy. It still required the inside forward to track back but it wasn't dependent as there was always a covering defender to slip effortlessly across into the fullback positions. This brought the best out of PVA as he was protected from a lot of defensive responsibility. This set up with a more direct attacking philosophy is the way to go for my. It always pissed me off how close Gus was to getting it right only for his delusional tippy tappy ideals to spoil everything.
Forgive my input but I feel, with your worries at full-back, scrapping the inverted forwards and going to an orthodox 4-4-2 could serve you well?
The system only works if the team can follow it. No one wants to hang him out but he is poor. Colback and Gardner were better full backs and this lad is supposed to be a proper fullback. He wouldn't get in any other Premier League team. He has to go for me.
