Good god, that was bad.

[Ederson1000YardDrive]

I wouldn't have made a change, but would have got Barry much closer to Sylvinho to help out.

Couple of times Lennon ran at Sylvinho got past him and Barry was in the box waiting to cut out the cross, I would have had him right there as the second man ready to stop the cross coming in.

Then you look at the rest of the midfield, if we're getting overrun there then maybe it's time for a change (or drop Tevez back a bit).

Our midfield was non existent, no matter which of our midfield combo's we put in there we still look soft and non resilient. Where's this steel Hughes has been trying to enforce the whole time he's been manager!

 

[Goater666]

I wouldn't have made a change, but would have got Barry much closer to Sylvinho to help out.

Couple of times Lennon ran at Sylvinho got past him and Barry was in the box waiting to cut out the cross, I would have had him right there as the second man ready to stop the cross coming in.

Then you look at the rest of the midfield, if we're getting overrun there then maybe it's time for a change (or drop Tevez back a bit).

Cant you see the problem that by making Barry cover Sylvinho like that all game, it pretty much made him a non entity. Since when is is a good idea to have a central midfielder cover a left back?

Last night was all about balance and players knowing their roles. All our play went down a crowded left wing, whilst on the opposite side we had virtually nothing.

Ireland was drifting all over the show to try and get the ball but it just doesn't work, especially when your play becomes predictable. Tevez for all his hard work offered us nothing up front, he was our star man last night yet barely tested Gomez? see what i mean about players not knowing what role they were meant to be playing?

Anyway what do i know? Hughes gets paid millions and has his coaching badges, surely he's more qualified that the average Joe, right?

 

[moomba]

Cant you see the problem that by making Barry cover Sylvinho like that all game, it pretty much made him a non entity. Since when is is a good idea to have a central midfielder cover a left back?

I would have thought the point of playing the three central midfielders was that there was a bit of flexibility there for them to cover our weak spots. Maybe once it became obvious that it wasn't working on our left defensively we should have added another midfielder to give Barry that freedom to help out.

We could have made a straight swap, but if we're going to leave Lennon 1 on 1 with any of our potential left backs he's going to create chances for them. We needed to highlight him as a risk, and treat him accordingly. For me that means some form of double teaming.

FWIW Barry was a non entity anyway, so not much to lose there.

 

[Goater666]

Cant you see the problem that by making Barry cover Sylvinho like that all game, it pretty much made him a non entity. Since when is is a good idea to have a central midfielder cover a left back?

I would have thought the point of playing the three central midfielders was that there was a bit of flexibility there for them to cover our weak spots. Maybe once it became obvious that it wasn't working on our left defensively we should have added another midfielder to give Barry that freedom to help out.

We could have made a straight swap, but if we're going to leave Lennon 1 on 1 with any of our potential left backs he's going to create chances for them. We needed to highlight him as a risk, and treat him accordingly. For me that means some form of double teaming.

FWIW Barry was a non entity anyway, so not much to lose there.

You're correct that a 3 man midfield should be able to cover in certain situations, but last night by no fault of his own Sylvinho got destroyed every time, meaning Barry spent more time covering than he did playing his own game. You have to have some sort of competent fullback in the first place for it to work, unfortunately Sylvinho wasnt cut out for one of the fastest players in the league.