The performance last night...

[ono]

We're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

First of all, an out and out anchorman generally would work better in a diamond formation. Unfortunately this leaves us short of width, and neither Zabba or Garrido are atheltic or good enough to consistently get up and down the flanks.

Last night we lined up pretty much as a 4-4-2, but because De Jong's job is so one sidedly defensive he drops a little deeper. Now this left Vieira with an awful lot of grass to cover and because of his age and legs, he didn't manage it. He was constantly been beaten to the loose ball. Now De Jong's job is to mop up, but when Vieira can't get close to their midfield it creates a big problem. Their midfield advance, and suddenly De Jong is exposed. He can deal with 1 player, but when he 2 or 3 advancing, there is little he can do.

So imo we should drop De Jong. Sounds harsh as he's been more impressive than Barry and Vieira, but it's not working, and in fact it won't work until De Jong has a couple of players in front of him who can control the ball and control the game.

 

[Wheelsy]

All this talk about battering teams... I remember early last season smacking Portsmouth to the tune of 6-0 and beating Sunderland, West Ham, and Arsenal 3-0. And we were still in the relegation zone by Christmas.

3 points is 3 points.

But I kind of think we're hanging on by the skin of our teeth. Just like in Star Wars its "Help me Carlos Tevez, you're my only hope..."

 

[Anonymous]

Very true about Lescott, my mistake.

Can I ask you a question, have you seen any improvement in our attacking play between when Mancini took over and now?

There hasn't been any improvement in the attacking play, but the defence has improved ten fold and that was the priority

End of the day the guys been here 3 months. To come in and sort what was a woeful defence out was very good. To ask him to sort both the defence and the attack in such a short space of time is asking too much

That said. How many goals have we got under Mancini? Plenty I'd geuss at

Sorry Hombre, missed this post. I tend to agree that he's improved our defensive play. You're saying it's too short a space of time to expect improvements going forward, I disagree. I think that having been in and around the players for over 3 months we should see signs of what he's striving for - and I don't see them. We play on the break just like we did under MH. There isn't a plan B....

Anyway, another question. Why is it that we consistently struggle to start a game with any tempo? Look at the Sunderland, Hull, Chelsea, Everton, even the Wigan match yesterday. First 45 minutes, no tempo, and we looked like we were going to struggle...

 

[Rammy Blue]

P14 W8 D3 L3 For 25 Against 12

Not bad imo.

 

[Anonymous]

P14 W8 D3 L3 For 25 Against 12

Not bad imo.

How is that relevant to this thread? Just curious...

 

[Bluesandtwos86]

...was very very reminiscent of how we played at times under Mark Hughes...lots of huge gaps between midfield and the back 4, looking very very vulnerable on the break, needing the magic of one of our stars to crack a team ...

Just an observation...I'm sure i'll get slaughtered for it...but hey ho.

The more things change the more they stay the same...

until we get a midfield that can dictate and dominate a game we will always look disjointed.

we have players who can dig us out of an hole, but the midfield is average at best.

We seemed to be overrun in the middle in the first half but we were still playing with SWP and Johnno with their heels on the touchline. Surely they have the stamina to touck in and help condense the midfield when we don't have the ball but get back out wide when we gain posession. Viera is honestly the worst player i have seen wear the shirt in a very long time.

 

[Neil McNab]

We're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

First of all, an out and out anchorman generally would work better in a diamond formation. Unfortunately this leaves us short of width, and neither Zabba or Garrido are atheltic or good enough to consistently get up and down the flanks.

Last night we lined up pretty much as a 4-4-2, but because De Jong's job is so one sidedly defensive he drops a little deeper. Now this left Vieira with an awful lot of grass to cover and because of his age and legs, he didn't manage it. He was constantly been beaten to the loose ball. Now De Jong's job is to mop up, but when Vieira can't get close to their midfield it creates a big problem. Their midfield advance, and suddenly De Jong is exposed. He can deal with 1 player, but when he 2 or 3 advancing, there is little he can do.

So imo we should drop De Jong. Sounds harsh as he's been more impressive than Barry and Vieira, but it's not working, and in fact it won't work until De Jong has a couple of players in front of him who can control the ball and control the game.

An out and out anchor man is called a defender, De Jong has never impressed me!

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

...was very very reminiscent of how we played at times under Mark Hughes...lots of huge gaps between midfield and the back 4, looking very very vulnerable on the break, needing the magic of one of our stars to crack a team ...

Just an observation...I'm sure i'll get slaughtered for it...but hey ho.

The more things change the more they stay the same...

Pretty much how I saw it Billy.

 

[Donkey Boy]

until we get a midfield that can dictate and dominate a game we will always look disjointed.

we have players who can dig us out of an hole, but the midfield is average at best.

We seemed to be overrun in the middle in the first half but we were still playing with SWP and Johnno with their heels on the touchline. Surely they have the stamina to touck in and help condense the midfield when we don't have the ball but get back out wide when we gain posession. Viera is honestly the worst player i have seen wear the shirt in a very long time.

jesus pal, how long have you been watching us??? Vieira is the worst player you've seen in a long time, are you serious, i'm 24 and I've seen some real dross.

If your telling me he's worse than Ben Haim, Kelvin Etuhu, Benjani, Fernandes or Vassell (all featured within the last 2 seasons) then your seriously deluded. We have been wank all my life, for the first time in my 24 years we are on the verge of doing something, and still people arent happy, we are 7 games away from champions league football and still you find things to nit pick on.

People get a grip, all these jonny come latelys do my tits in, get behind the team and stop moaning.

 

[Rammy Blue]

P14 W8 D3 L3 For 25 Against 12

Not bad imo.

How is that relevant to this thread? Just curious...

Billy, Billy, Billy, come on now, I am not some stupid ignoramous that you can waffle away to and twist things round to suit.

I really can't be arsed going back over your posts to quote all the "veiled" pops at Bob, I hope you really don't expect me to?

However because I'm bored I've selected a few of your highlights from this thread alone.....

"But I'd like to see us go into games with the correct team selection, motivation, and tactics,"

"As you say performances haven't really improved since Mancini took over"

"My biggest disappointment is that we've established very little consistency or fluidity to our play since Bobby came in"

"It continues to amaze me how poor performances are solely down to how bad our players are, or a lack of options, whilst even the faintest of criticism sent Mancini's way leads to deep sighs and the puffed out cheeks of exasperation."

Therefore, your honour, I see that pointing out our results under Bob is wholly relevant as he can only pick a side from what he was left, you don't like him and that is your prerogative but please save me from the "how is this relevant" nonsense.

You don't offer a single shred of reasoning as to what else Bob could do, of course as I have already admitted he is by no means faultless as he picked it wrong against Everton - I just don't see what exactly he can do other than try to get us 4th by any means possible.