Its a good point. What is clear to me is we'd be better off starting with Mitrovic. He just brought immediate life to the attack. This is not some Newcastle fan blindness either. Plenty of game reports I've read since have noted exactly the same. I'd also like to see us give Aarons a run. I'd keep Shelvey back personally as I think he is a better sub. The issue on Yedlins side is growing and I actually think it is partly to do with Ritchie tracking less. This has meant Yedlin has had to be in better defensive positions because his pace can't get him out of trouble. He has shown this to be a massive weakness. Plus Hayden is not that aware as a holding midfielder. When Yedlin is out of position he doesn't track over he just watches. All last night told me is we have a really together squad, Rafa is still picking some of the players he shouldn't be, and we have an obvious lack of quality across most areas. The full back situation is really poor, the holding midfield area is a problem, our attack and creativity in the hole is really short. The keeping options are average but then again I'm not against giving Woodman a chance.
Pinched from the Mag. You just have to admire how the Mackems keep putting thei size 9’s in their mouths. “Highlights from the West Brom 2 Newcastle 2 match thread on Sunderland fans main message board Ready To Go: ‘Megson ex nufc player anarl. Let’s hope Jonny Evans scores tonight.’ Before the og ‘Jonny Evans – absolute class.’ (Newcastle make it 2-2) ‘Unbelievable lucky f…….’ ‘Flukey b……..’ ‘Jonny Evans anarl.’ ‘West Brom have been minging since they went 2-0 up.’ ‘Christ what a horrible deflection. How jammy was that.’ ‘What was McClean doing with that challenge for the free kick that led to the goal? He’s a liability defensively.’ ‘Who was the pillock who wanted Evans to score?’
The key issue (on both sides of the pitch) is we basically NEVER stop any crosses. We just allow ourselves to be peppered over and over in every game and if that happens something is going to give eventually. Have to say Mbemba's marking on their first goal wasn't close to being good enough. You can't just let an attacker get ahead of you like that. Mbemba's got all the attributes to be a top defender except for having a brain.
This is the key thing now - so many "footballers" - Sissoko, Diame etc etc - they might be great athletes, but they don't have a football brain between them. It's not something they're going to learn either, you either have one or not - Micky Quinn, prime example - even back in the day he wasn't exactly at the front of the queue when it came to athletic ability, but put him in the box and he knew instinctively where to be in order to put the ball in the back of the net
Mbemba to me is like a Gary Cahill but better athletically. Not that great in terms of the brain, but if you had a genuine leader alongside him telling him where to be he would look great. The problem is we have four or five of them. Lejeune, Lascelles, Clark are all very similar. Lascelles shows some leadership qualities. We are very susceptible to crosses, but generally because we play with full backs pushed on (which I like), you need your wingers switched on like Ritchie was earlier in the season, or Jonas was previously. Your holding midfielder also needs to be shrewd. He needs to spot things developing and close space. We have Hayden and he just isn't that good. Tiote in his first season was very adept at this. He'd see attacks developing and just close the space immediately. It allowed the team to reset tactically. Others worried less about it and there much less panic under attack. The best defensive teams are pro active rather reactive, and calm in their work. They have players who are specifically tasked with preventing the other team playing. Watching Makelele was the ultimate master class. The screening in a half moon all round the front of the box was masterful. The closing down breaks to allow his team to reset was fantastic. Chelsea now have Kante in exactly the same mould. At present we seem to be just committing at the wrong times, basically taking poor decisions and then scrambling to recover. Teams are targeting this now and finding they are getting a lot of joy through space, crosses and general wide play. They know Hayden is not aware, Yedlin is thoughtless in his committing and Ritchie is just not quite as on it as he was. Its one for Rafa to sort out really because this is tactical for me as much as it is personnel. The lack of quality in the ranks needs to be countered by having his team drilled. It was why we picked up points earl in the season but we've slacked off.
