That was dire with little or no skills at breaking down a pack defence Lovely lad Dawson but not good enough to match our supposed ambitions Lennon under rated
When Harry got us playing well it wasn't a million miles away from what we're doing now in someways but there was a clear structure in place. Wingers went up and down the wings, strikers got infront of defenders in the box and centre mids were the link between defence and midfield. Right now everyone's just doing a bit of this and a bit of that and it's relying on the players too much. There's absolutely zero nous coming from our coaches which has become apparent as from game to game we're seeing slow start after slow start and no consistency in any of our tactics selections or anything.
Most of our players were well below par, courtesy of the Europa game. A 3500 mile round trip 2 days before we play a PL game away against a relegation candidate, is always asking for trouble. Fair play to Norwich, they had more energy, desire and took their chance. Paulinho may as well have been at home for all the use he was, and Vertonghen was unusually dreadful. I would question some of the tactics, like having Naughton on corners for instance.
Your point re. the Europa game is answered by 3 words - rotating the squad. Sherwood only left a few at home, played a strong team out there and lost. I'd rather he took the kids out there instead of doing a half-arsed job in taking some first teamers. He's screwed both games this week rather than only screwing one.
We sacked off the Dnipro game to focus on this afternoon's game, yet put in a performance just as bad with the exact same result.
I blame the pitch - it was level and well-grassed - immaculate in fact. (Well, the reverse excuse worked on Thursday..... )
That's the thing - we did neither. We approached the Dnipro game in a half-arsed manner and then didn't make enough changes today, getting the worst of both worlds.
Teams will be trying to avoid the EL so much that teams will be losing games to finish 7th or 8th !!!!!!
That's not far from the truth Lol! If we can't finish 4th, I would rather we dropped to 7th as Europa league football drains the life out of a season unless you fully compete to winning it like Bentinez did, but he had proven players and just wanted to add a trophy to his cv.
Too many players not up to top 4 quality Naughton/Rose/Dawson just to name the obvious if SHerwood is up to the job he will not find replacements in the youth squad
It's two poor performances back to back. No need to drag back the hellish thoughts of Avb and his football as Sherwood himself will be embarrassed by the comparison! Sherwood made the mistake of trying to keep us within the top four. He should never have got us winning games, scoring goals or getting Adebayor back to form or allowing Eriksen a chance to shine. He's set himself up to be knocked if we don't stay up there.
Surprises me how much Dawson has been exposed this season. Wasn't that long ago he was been praised and having made himself indispensable, captain, off the back of very nearly being sold.
Dawson is a solid English style PL defender, but is often exposed for his lack of pace and movement at the top level. This has been apparent for years. With the likes of Aguero and Suarez around he can be made to look very ordinary. Can't fault his effort and to a lesser extent, his awareness and positioning, but there are times when his weaknesses are ruthlessly taken advantage of.
What you've described there, was Dawson at his best!! He's been woeful this season IMO, and is declining rapidly.
Dawson's weaknesses have been there for all to see for some time now. Not only does he lack pace, his first touch is generally poor, as is his distribution. As Luke has said, players like Suarez, Aguero, etc, must relish playing against him...
