The Rafalution and the Shelvation - My thoughts on the Brentford game

Can't believe I heard people on the radio talking about how bad Brentford were more than how good we were.

We weren't amazing but we controlled the game in Rafa fashion and Brentford barely got a sniff.

This is what I really wanted Rafa to do. Yeah I know it was technically a 4-2-3-1 at the beginning, but with Perez playing in the 10 role it can easily switch to a 4-4-2, which it did.

We went forward and killed the game off with a few goals before we decided to slow it down in a 4-5-1 formation.

Ratings -

Darlow - 7 - Not too much to do, but some good saves and good commanding of the area.

Anita - 8 - Solid and a reasonable threat going forward.

Lascelles - 6 - Not one of his finest games but still relatively solid.

Clark - 8 - Solid defensively and good goal. Gets forward quite a lot.

Hanley - n/a - Solid enough.

Dummett - 6 - Some silly mistakes. Relatively solid.

Colback - 7 - Had a canny game

Shelvey - 9 - Sexual passing. Two good assists. Seriously though he's the real difference. We need to build a team around this guy because Championship teams just can't handle him at his best. Under Rafa, he could really reach the potential that his other teams failed to get out of him.

Atsu - 7 - Some poor crossing, but some decent efforts on goal. Some excellent skills and runs into the box at times. A good threat.

Perez - 7 - Good work on the ball and some classy dribbling. He suits the 10 role.

Gouffran - 7 - Good work rate. Solid performance.

Gayle - 8 - Good work rate, good running and 2 good goals. Congrats to Championships new top scorer.

Yedlin - n/a - Good work rate to help close the game off.

Lazaar - n/a - Good late defending.

Rafa - 8 - Went forward and attacked early on, scored 3 goals and then controlled the game. He knows now that it's far better to go for it early and kill games off THEN control the ball in a 4-5-1.

MOTM - Shelvs.

 

Shelvey's passing was pornographic stuff at times.
Good job all the grocers have bog roll on deal a lot at the moment.

 

Didnt see the game but sounds like this Rafa guy is one hell of a player. Why havent we been playing him from the start of the season?

 

Replays of Shelvey's passing is all the w*nk material I need m8.

 

Don't agree with Perez comment. Thought he flitted in and out of the game too much. Failed to impose himself on the game. Was too peripheral to much of what was happening around him.

 

agree on most but for me Perez was very poor....looks weak as piss.

 

I think Perez physique doesn't really suit this league. I guess he'll be swapped for Mitro on Tuesday.

Rafa looks to be keeping our powder dry and keeping the squad fit. We might not get to see us pummel too many teams into the ground, but might instead just see the points tally keep us in the mix though the dark and cold months.

 

Perez was ****. He should have been subbed. Piss weak and wants too much time on the ball. He's been found out unfortunately. I thought he was our worst player yesterday by a mile. Easily a 4-5.

 

How did I know your obsession with formations would shine through

 

Not sure Perez is a midfielder anymore. Maybe he's simply a poacher striker and shouldn't be asked to be involved. He's definitely not been deserving of a prem or even championship starting place.

 

hmmm, I think we just need to play Perez the right way, he'll come good in this league - a couple of weeks ago we were writing off Colback but he seems to have got his act together now.

More rotation needed for Barnsley - Hayden, Richie and Mitro in for Colback, Atsu and Perez. Keep central mid pairing of Laecelles and Clark though, they're clearly well ahead of Hanley and Mbemba atm.

 

Perez just needs a spell out of the team and told to earn his place through 21's appearances. We need to give Mitro a run now.

 

I wonder how much of it is the position? When was the last time someone in a Black & White shirt played effectively in the No 10 role?

Wijnaldum, Sissoko, Diame, Perez, Gouffran - all tried and failed badly, so is it the position itself? Is it too restricted? Too difficult?

 

Well Perez has also been gash wide and up front so...

None of those mentioned are No.10's. Perez and Gini have the necessary skillset to adapt to the role. Perez would need to learn to be a lot more selfless and stop fannying around. I find it strange that Beardsley is a coach at the club and no one has said to him "teach this ****er what you know about the role"

 

Perez is a little fanny. He spends most of his time looking to fall over to get free kicks. He's also a greedy little prick who has developed ideas way above his station. I used to like him, but he's got a little too big for his boots now. He needs to realise that he's just being a **** when he falls to the ground.

 

Another business like performance.

 

Actually they have.

Trouble is that Pedro had just had an arguement with the Door Supervisor 5 minutes previously and thought they meant him. Now we have a Door Supervisor who is brilliant in the No 10 role for his Sunday Football team but still has an attitude about letting in staff if they've forgotten their passes.

 

Perez needs to do more on the pitch, simple as. Time is running out for him in my opinion. To be honest, I think he is going to need to move back to Spain to progress because he is a player who needs more time on the ball than he gets in England and he is just getting marked out of games.

 

Wasn't defending the lad, he's bang average. Just mentioned that we don't seem to have anyone able to play there since 1994.

Atsu?

 

I wouldn't say Diame is failing. Since he came into the team in nr 10 spot our winrate is what 90%? Ok, he's not been scoring goals but his runs and physique is useful, he's been creating loads of space for Gayle and Ritchie. I wouldn't write of Diame quite yet.

Pretty sure 1 nr 10 player role is dead for now. I caught some of Liverpool-manU yesterday and Liverpools system just was far superior to ManUs. Especially after Sturridge went off they used a mobile front 3, interchangeable, playing off each other and were running circles around ManU. ManU had Ibra failing 90% of what he tried and Pogba behind him trying to run beyond, rarely with the ball. Their team looked hugely disjointed. Pretty sure that flat 433 is the future, where the front 3 will have to do a hell of a lot of running and defending and everyone sticks together tight.