nevilletogoater-in said:
Kolorov made 16 crosses on Saturday, 11 of them didn't beat the first man. Also it's worth noting that 2 of their 3 goals came down our left hand side.
Clichy needs to start every game!!!
Kolarov as usual was our main atteacking threats from set pieces, put a free header on Marios head and scored himself. That is 4 goals and eight assists from memory now for the season. A fantastic record.
Out of the 5 free kicks he took, only 2 were on target and out of the 4 shots he had only 1 was on target. 4 goals and 8 assists in all competitions to me isn't a great return, especially considering the reputation he came with.
Your point about being down his side is pointless unless he is culpable.
I don't see how it is pointless when he doesn't close down the players quick enough to stop crosses and is constantly out of position.
The second goal was a quick free kick taken by Sunderland, Silva was infield as usual leaving Kolarov alone with Yaya coming across. Yaya went to the man with kolarov holding back to mark the man outside of him,
Yaya got beaten by the player with the Sunderland man putting the ball in before Kolarov reached him.
Silva is our main creative threat so if you're asking him to track back and cover Kolorov then it ain't going to happen. Yaya was stopping the guy coming inside, Kolorov allowed the cross to come in although Bendtner shouldn't have been allowed a free header.
Fo the third a number of players were culpable. Mario lost it in midfield, there was no pressure on the Seessegnon from De jong allowing the pass to be threaded through. Komapny inexplicably tried to push out being caught between playing offside and closing down the man, allowing the Sunderland man to run through. At that stage Kolarov and Toure were left in a mess. Arguably better communication would have prevented Toure neither coming to the ball or being tight of his man,but without being on the field of play it is impossible to suggest who was at fault. However in general footballers when a player is running wide, defenders protect the central positions particularly when support is close at hand.
Kolorov again didn't close the man down and Toure tried to cover both the left hand side and the middle which failed on both counts.
One of the main issues with the left flank is the role of Silva. Who likes to come inside and roam from left to right leaving the whole flank exposed, with only Kolarov in attendance. Hence the reason De jong was playing to offer additional cover. Unfortunately not just on that flank the nature of the game led to us being continaully stretched all over the pitch
