by Colin the King » Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:25 am
We must be great to watch from a neutral perspective, we're so unpredictable. I went to Eastlands genuinely expecting us to really click and play Burnley off the park but the lack of tactical organisation again was scary. At times the midfield was nonexistant and there was enough space to drive a bus through us. Ireland, while doing some good things, made a high number of wasteful passes and Barry didn't come anywhere near dictating the game as he should have done. Tevez doesn't seem to have any direction in his play, it's all ferocity and constant running but he usually ends up at a brick wall. Adebayor doesn't look to have the same desire he had at the start. Defensively, Touré is doing well but Lescott has been- let's not sugar coat it- he's been fucking abysmal. I keep thinking that he was bought for £22million and Dunne sold for £6million. Is he £16million's worth of an improvement?
I was pleased that we clawed our way back into the game but it was really the efforts of a select few that got us there- as a unit we looked hopeless. Long ball after long ball. So we're 3-2 up and I'm thinking (a leave things as they are, we've just scored three goals in quick succession or (b bring on de Jong and close the game out. But to bring on Petrov, who for all his good qualities is a lazy shite and then put him on the right, moving SWP to the left, seemed like completely the wrong thing to do. Whether that was the turning point or not is debatable but ultimately we went from being comfortable and looking likely to score another couple, to drawing at home with bloody Burnley.
So, can Hughes take us into the Champions League? I should think so given the investment and backing he's received but five successive draws- three of them very, very winnable games- is not the form of a team that's going to scare the living daylights out of the established sides. What's frustrating is that for every intelligent change, for example against Arsenal when Petrov come on for Ireland and we ran out 4-2 winners, there's an infuriating one. That inconsistency might cost us. Liverpool at Anfield will be a decent measure. So far we've played once away at a top four side and, regardless of the circumstances, lost and having dropped ten points from our last five games a draw is less than ideal. If we can beat Liverpool on the their own patch it would go a long way to making up for the disappointments of recent weeks. The question then is, can Hughes find a suitable, effective system to win us the game?
20 points from 11 games, fifth in the table and only one defeat reads well from a statistical point of view. But when you look closer at the performances in those games that's where peoples' concern comes from. In isolation we've had some excellent results but looking at the games collectively I feel we're missing something and need to find it to have any chance of succeeding. A team that keeps the ball on the ground and plays some football would be a start.
