Since making our acquisitions this summer we had strengthened the squad beyond anything we have had before.
With the purchase of Lamela and Eriksen you would have thought that our team had the means to take on any team. Ok we will need time to gel (accepted), but the past few games have been the most grueling and sleep inducing performances I have seen for a long time.
At the moment we are functioning without a true left back (so an issue straight away). We had been playing Naughton (who is not a left back) and not only is it damaging his confidence, it is also affecting our team. Naughton struggles at left back and it has a negative affect on the left midfielder (who must not stray forward in case Naughton needs cover).
Yesterday Naughton was dropped, so you would imagine with Jan at LB we would have been a lot more solid, however our new CB Chiriches at times truly shows he is new to the league. Silly mistakes that could lead to certain death for us.
As a team we should be using pace on both wings, Lennon did not look match fit (at all) so why use Lamela (would have been the perfect game for him).
The true problem is the tactics we currently employ. As a team we are trying to crowd a small part of the pitch, which makes us easy to defend. The back line pushes up, the midfield comes deep and the front line comes deep. Previously we adopted the wide game with pace coming in from both wings. Now we have a slow game attempting intricate passes and then go back to the defence, an accident waiting to happen.
So we are now left with a team working hard to achieve nothing. The only time we seem to get forward is when Townsend breaks down the wing only for there to be no one in the box!
I am pleased that we managed a win yesterday, but it could have easily been a loss with our negative tactics.
Dembele should certainly start (as soon as he came on at half time we were a different team). Holtby (as much as I like the guy) his energy does not compensate for the smart movement and defence cutting balls that we expect from a support man.
You know things are wrong when Holtby is collecting the ball at RB and then getting to the half way line to pass is back to the defence again, there’s no movement!
Fans may well moan at Soldado, but again where is the support? He is having to come out of position to help the midfield (as they cannot do their job). Or is it that they can do their job and it's actually that the tactics are wrong?
In order for Soldado to thrive we must have wingers that take on the opposition and get the crosses in. Or we must have the supporting striker that carves the great passes out for the striker to come onto. When this has happened (not often) Soldado has shined. Look at his link up with Paulinho and sublime finish last week, it’s obvious that he is not the problem!
We saw Soldado break in the second half and take the defence on, but did not manage to connect as intended when in front of goal. Harper had to pull a decent save off to deny it. Soldado was also pulled down in the box and nothing awarded. When ElMohamady handles in the box Soldado steps up and scores. What is the guy doing wrong then? Nothing is the honest answer, it is simple the lack of supply and the team’s unwillingness to hold their position.
My honest opinion is to bring Eriksen back into the squad and give Lamela a chance (as Lennon is not fully fit).
So at present our strongest lineup (taking injury into account) is;
Lloris
Walker Dawson Chiriches Vertonghen
Dembele Paulinho
Lamela Eriksen Townsend
Soldado
We have 5 games to sort out our tactics, we then travel to the blue half of Manchester. Against Hull in the cup (this Wednesday) we cannot afford to put out a full strength side, as we travel to Everton on Saturday. The Capital Cup is irrelevant to me, the EPL is where it is currently at.
We must get Lamela integrated, Eriksen linking up with Soldado and then we will see Dembele controlling the game from deep and dispersing the ball to the wings and support man to carve out the much needed opportunities for Soldado.
We cannot continue to play as if we are on half a 5 a side pitch, you will lose the ball on the law of averages (let alone making mistakes as well). We all know on a big pitch when the left or right winger loses the ball in the opponents box it gives your midfield the time to get back and defend, it doesn't become a major incident. But if you play deep in a small space and lose the ball..... well you may as well give your opponent the ball in your own box.
So Andre, should you moan at the fans? Certainly not. We are going into each game wondering what is going to happen. We are nervous because of the tactics employed. The slow build up has never suited our team and will obviously make us nervous as we are not playing to our strengths.
We all trust AVB I do not think that is the question, I feel it is more that AVB does not trust his players. If he did we would see Eriksen starting, along with Dembele and Lamela.
Many may question why to comment on this and place all the focus on the negatives when we won. My issue is that the past games we have been lucky. Soldado should have been awarded a penalty and wasn't, however we were awarded one for a handball. Other times we may not have got a thing, which would of seen us drop 2 points against Hull. We must rely on great passing and movement to win us games, not refereeing decisions!
I expect to see more imagination from the team. I don't want to see everyone dropping 15-20 yards to get the ball. Our players are more than capable of bringing the ball forward, so let them do it.
Maybe we will see a change and maybe AVB is working on the real plan as we luck our way through results? It does seem bizarre that Dembele and Eriksen are not starting, don’t you think?
Let's see what the Everton game brings as it has to be better than our last games seen.
Surely we will now be more positive going forward and see our players putting faith and trust in their team mates ability. Come on Andre show us what we saw last year!
COYS!!!!!!!
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