To me we had three issues today:
* Full backs
* SWP
* Tevez
*Richards didn't offer much offensively and time after time his passing isn't good enough for an offensively laid full back. Defensively Bale had him in his back pocket but I don't know if had anyone more fitting in our squad anyway. Zab isn't fast enough for Bale.
This resulted in us threating from the far right was non-existant, they didn't have to worry about crossing. Kolarov did at least try to go offensively, and even though he didn't wip in many good crosses today we all know what he's capable of.
A fully fit Kolarov and Boateng will hopefully solve the full back issue, but I fear what happen the days they are injured.
*SWP somehow took the role as lone striker today for some reason. Tevez (more on that later) kept going back to pick up the ball, with Silva doing the playmaker role it forced SWP to make the runs. I really wish the Balotelli transfer was finished 10 days earlier, because seeing him in SWP's role would be glorious. We played so narrow that we never had any use of SWP's crossing abilities, he spent the most of the match doing runs in the middle.
I Really wish we would have played Adebayor together with Tevez and Silva today, but I guess Mancini had his reasons to play SWP today. Would be interesting to know why though, anyone have an idea?
*Tevez, as mentioned above and in other threads, kept going back to pick up the ball. That's what he does and no one can stop him from it. I Just don't understand, as mentioned, why we then played a player like SWP together with him. It felt several times like the opportunities SWP had would have been bagged by a normal striker, like Ade or even Jo.
I recommend anyone to read this, it give some clues about how Balo can be used:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2010/08/13/2047390/goalcom-special-mario-balotelli-the-premier-leagues-new" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editor ... eagues-new</a>
I think the following points show that he would do very well in SWP's role today, together with Silva and Tevez:
-"As he is both footed – like Ronaldo - Mario can go right or left when taking on opponents which makes him very difficult to read."
-"Balotelli has a fantastic footballing brain, and the awareness to spot situations that others can’t. His decision-making is generally good, and his delivery cannot be faulted."
-"Balotelli has those explosive qualities that most of the top modern attackers such as David Villa, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi and Ronaldo possess. "
Two negative's though:
-"His main problem up until now has been an unwillingness to get into the box in areas where he can score with his head. The starlet prefers to do his damage outside the area, so this is something that will need to be worked upon to make him more complete. "
Obviously the striker at top would need to get in the box more often. Many of the goals he has scored was from near the goal so I'm not sure if they got that right.
-"Balotelli’s preferred position is as a support striker, but he is very flexible and has the tactical ability to interpret a number of different roles. These include as a first striker, on the right or left of a three-pronged attack, as a trequartista, a winger, or even as a wide midfielder."
Like Jo he apparently doesn't have lone striker as his natural position, but on the other hand that doesn't have to mean that he's as poor as Jo as lone striker. At at 20 he still has tons of things to learn, and he would always have support from Tevez.
I felt today that since we didn't have any tall, strong lone striker we couldn't hold the ball up. That forced Tevez down and he didn't get the time to run offensively since we couldn't hold the ball up. With Balo, we might do that better. That way he can hold up the ball, while Tevez run up to support him. That won't leave him as alone as Adebayor was in Hughes' 4-5-1.
* Full backs
* SWP
* Tevez
*Richards didn't offer much offensively and time after time his passing isn't good enough for an offensively laid full back. Defensively Bale had him in his back pocket but I don't know if had anyone more fitting in our squad anyway. Zab isn't fast enough for Bale.
This resulted in us threating from the far right was non-existant, they didn't have to worry about crossing. Kolarov did at least try to go offensively, and even though he didn't wip in many good crosses today we all know what he's capable of.
A fully fit Kolarov and Boateng will hopefully solve the full back issue, but I fear what happen the days they are injured.
*SWP somehow took the role as lone striker today for some reason. Tevez (more on that later) kept going back to pick up the ball, with Silva doing the playmaker role it forced SWP to make the runs. I really wish the Balotelli transfer was finished 10 days earlier, because seeing him in SWP's role would be glorious. We played so narrow that we never had any use of SWP's crossing abilities, he spent the most of the match doing runs in the middle.
I Really wish we would have played Adebayor together with Tevez and Silva today, but I guess Mancini had his reasons to play SWP today. Would be interesting to know why though, anyone have an idea?
*Tevez, as mentioned above and in other threads, kept going back to pick up the ball. That's what he does and no one can stop him from it. I Just don't understand, as mentioned, why we then played a player like SWP together with him. It felt several times like the opportunities SWP had would have been bagged by a normal striker, like Ade or even Jo.
BlueBoy93 said:
I recommend anyone to read this, it give some clues about how Balo can be used:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2010/08/13/2047390/goalcom-special-mario-balotelli-the-premier-leagues-new" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editor ... eagues-new</a>
I think the following points show that he would do very well in SWP's role today, together with Silva and Tevez:
-"As he is both footed – like Ronaldo - Mario can go right or left when taking on opponents which makes him very difficult to read."
-"Balotelli has a fantastic footballing brain, and the awareness to spot situations that others can’t. His decision-making is generally good, and his delivery cannot be faulted."
-"Balotelli has those explosive qualities that most of the top modern attackers such as David Villa, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi and Ronaldo possess. "
Two negative's though:
-"His main problem up until now has been an unwillingness to get into the box in areas where he can score with his head. The starlet prefers to do his damage outside the area, so this is something that will need to be worked upon to make him more complete. "
Obviously the striker at top would need to get in the box more often. Many of the goals he has scored was from near the goal so I'm not sure if they got that right.
-"Balotelli’s preferred position is as a support striker, but he is very flexible and has the tactical ability to interpret a number of different roles. These include as a first striker, on the right or left of a three-pronged attack, as a trequartista, a winger, or even as a wide midfielder."
Like Jo he apparently doesn't have lone striker as his natural position, but on the other hand that doesn't have to mean that he's as poor as Jo as lone striker. At at 20 he still has tons of things to learn, and he would always have support from Tevez.
I felt today that since we didn't have any tall, strong lone striker we couldn't hold the ball up. That forced Tevez down and he didn't get the time to run offensively since we couldn't hold the ball up. With Balo, we might do that better. That way he can hold up the ball, while Tevez run up to support him. That won't leave him as alone as Adebayor was in Hughes' 4-5-1.