John Wayne
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 9 Mar 2007
- Messages
- 3,392
Great post.We seem to have deserted the notion of an effective press this season. A front three of Mahrez, Grealish and Erling is not going to push well enough as a unit. Hence our dependency on inverted full back to bulk out the midfield.
Alvarez, Silva and Foden brings the press back as an option but not necessarily our best ball holding set of players (apart from Silva).
I do think we are struggling to find a balance that accommodates Haaland. Hopefully an effective method will emerge sooner rather than later.
I don't think Jesus and Sterling were great possession players but we did get a good press out of them. At the moment, I think it's better for us to win the ball higher up the pitch than have teams play through us because we can't win it higher up the pitch. As good as he is, we probably need more from Haaland in that regard, but certainly the players who make up the front three alongside him need to be good at pressing. Presently that would be Palmer, Alvarez and Foden.
I particularly liked the front three of Foden, Haaland and Alvarez against Forest back in August. If we can ransack the opposition early on with our most energetic and penetrative front players then the game gets a lot easier.
Mahrez has a lovely strike on him and can get goals but lacks a bit of pace. Grealish doesn't have any statistics which would justify his selection currently. His only obvious quality does appear to be ball retention but this often means playing it safely.