Re: Player thread: Fernando (2014/15
Yaya hasn't got any lazier, he's always been cumbersome tracking back for us; difference was Gareth Barry was a tactical genius, always occupying the key space in front of the back four, protecting us in the area Lallana and Coutinho exploited the other day. We haven't replaced him; Fernandinho is good, but not a natural sitter, and in reality we had the same issues last season, difference is we also had the firepower to out score teams and paper over the cracks.
Another under-appreciated element of Barry's game was his forward passing; simple, but precise to feet, and meant Yaya didn't have to drop so deep to get the ball from the inept Garcia or now Fernando.
He was getting older, but keeping him around for 20 important games a season, with the energy of Fernandinho next to him behind Toure would have been huge for us.
Shaelumstash said:the originalkippaxman said:ell said:Whilst I agree on the whole, all 3 have come in for heavy criticism at points on this forum.
Exactly this ^^^^^^
Has everyone forgotten how Demichelis was slaughted playing next to him and Garcia became a favourite boo boy because of him having to cover for Yaya and people are now realising now that Garcia has gone that he actually wasn't that bad a player.
Has everyone forgot that we won 2 league titles with Yaya playing in a midfield 2? If the last 3 months have taught us anything, it's that Yaya is not the problem, we couldn't win a game without him! Yaya dominates games, dictates play, sets the tempo, he's arguably our most important player. We need someone alongside him who covers ground, reads the game, wants the ball and has quality when he receives it. Someone exactly like Fernandinho in fact! How the hell Fernando gets in ahead of him is baffling.
Yaya hasn't got any lazier, he's always been cumbersome tracking back for us; difference was Gareth Barry was a tactical genius, always occupying the key space in front of the back four, protecting us in the area Lallana and Coutinho exploited the other day. We haven't replaced him; Fernandinho is good, but not a natural sitter, and in reality we had the same issues last season, difference is we also had the firepower to out score teams and paper over the cracks.
Another under-appreciated element of Barry's game was his forward passing; simple, but precise to feet, and meant Yaya didn't have to drop so deep to get the ball from the inept Garcia or now Fernando.
He was getting older, but keeping him around for 20 important games a season, with the energy of Fernandinho next to him behind Toure would have been huge for us.