hgblue said:
Lancet Fluke said:
The same happened all last season. Seems to me that some people must see dominating possession as playing well.
They certainly do. They need to watch our game at Cardiff and United's game at Swansea for a demonstration of possession meaning absolutely fuck all.
Not entirely. Possession is a desirable goal because possession is control. If we have 70% possession then for 70% of the game we are able to effect the game both offensively and defensively. Mancini wanted us to control and dictate the game every time we played and Pellegrini will want the same.
Possession for possession sake is pointless if you do nothing effective with it and whilst we were laboured against Cardiff we did make the crucial breakthrough and its at this point where we totally veered off the Mancini script and lost control of the game. The problem previously and especially last season was not making the breakthrough and either drawing the game (our real downfall) or losing1-0 to a late goal. Going 1-0 up in the second half was invariably meat & drink to us because the opposing team had spent so much energy in keeping it at 0-0 there was sod all left and now they have to have a go at us and that really played into our hands. Even if they had the energy we were damn good at holding on to what we had. Much is made of our travails on the road but in reality we lost 9 out of 38 on the road over two seasons. It could have been better but only by a factor of a handful of games. Last season drawing games was the issue rather than losing even if everyone jumps up and down with excitement over the Southampton where we had a collective stinker.
Cardiff was different in that we had the possession and made the breakthrough just at the point they were starting to tire. At this point I am celebrating 3 points and hoping Negrado will come on and get his first goal. What happened next still has me stunned and yes even more than bloody Southampton. As an team we do not lose like that. It just doesn't happen. The botched attempt to remove 3 years of zonal drills from what was a makeshift defence was a mistake of epic proportions. Quite why Pellers has gone this route is a fucking mystery. If we had employed Big Sam I'd understand it but as far as I am aware Pellers is not known for man marking at corners. I dimly remember a quote saying he detests man marking (if anyone knows differently then feel free to jump in) so I'm fucking baffled unless its not Pellers making this call.
It is also fairly evident that if you put sod all pressure on the team ie Newcastle then we look good. But then every team looks good if the opposition allows you to do what you want. Come at us and we leak goals. It was obvious in pre season and its obvious after two games.
Our defensive setup is now a glaring weakness where previously it was a strength. And its a collective thing. Slagging off Zabs or Garcia is pointless. We defend as a team and attack as a team.
Given Vincent keeps tweeting at the superior nature of Pellegrini's training sessions I look forward to his tweet on Friday that the lads have the new system sorted in time for Hull although even if we haven't I still expect us to twat the Thundercats into the middle of next week.
