Actually, against City we had Sterling but no Sturridge. So, I'd sacrifice Sturridge for Allen in our plan B.
Well, vital components are missing. FB need to be quality and ours have either been missing physically through injury, or mentally through performance. If they can't bounce back on either score they need teplaced as they are a large part of the gap. Non stop tinkering in midfield because the reality is none of our existing 3 no matter what combo used is a really good fit .not singling particular players out just what we have doesn't suit each other, the city game and Everton game flattered to deceive for those particular combinations. Very little contribution of goals from midfield or FBs is that extra missing up front for when sas are having quiet days. I've seen BR change it up when not working in quite a few games and got an improvement, was it enough , well see above. But I don't quite believe this no plan b, he certainly changes it quicker mid match than Kenny or Rafa did. But bench is pants at moment. Would the 4 players we didn't get be a much more powerful bench? Who knows. He got slammed for tinkering with formation did he not? Attitude: on average a very young side, at least in enough positions that heads dropping has a direct effect. Teams above us have had youngsters introduced into a winning team, ours have had to learn to win together. Doing better than I thought they Would this year. Likes of Sterling bounces back from his dip quicker than I thought he would. Fitness; the likes of coutinho drops off the edge of a cliff come 60 minutes...I also suspect it has something to do with drops in concentration too but that's just speculative. Leadership, our captain was a leader through action not mouth, not going to change that but if he's playing DM and disciplined then he can't lead through action. Captains not going to change literally or mentally so we need more leadership further up to support him. I see Suarez trying but as striker it just looks like him whinging because he didn't get the ball. Hendo needs to man up in the mouth department, he's earned it by being first pick every game so stop being a timid mouse. We are what we are at the moment. Let's see if it can be added to in summer. Sneaking 4th will obviously help.
Brendan was at the Etihad and witnessed the defensive effectiveness of Chelsea's rarely used counterattack plan, 2 DMs plus CM (ramires) in the middle at the expense of their ACM. This is equivalent to what Brendan did yesterday by subbing Coutinho with Allen after the goal. Very weird thing is BR wanted to make that substitution before WBA's goal- why on earth did he not change his mind after their scored? There was a point in making that sub to defend the goal lead, surely not to create the winner? Despite the mess up in that situation, Allen for Coutinho could work as our defensive counterattack plan. However, we're still to figure the best tactics that would give us build-up patience and optimal ball possession.
