Hazy2 wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Hazy2 wrote:Douglas Higginbottom wrote:If Gregucci is a defensive coach it certainly hasn't been apparent on the training pitch at ANY time that I have been there.
I would say with confidence that anything to do with zonal marking is all down to Mancini.I said pre the WHU game that a lot of time was spent going over the positional aspects of zonal marking and I assumed who goes to attack the ball once it's on the way over.
For WHU that would no doubt have been seen as critical bearing in mind how they play and to be fair at West Ham we got it right,competed very well with the high ball and didn't concede much.Then we come up against a smaller side,maybe with better movement and we fell asleep.
Is it coincidence that we are defending worse now that Gregucci is here? I obviously can't be certain but I would say yes it is as out there on the training pitch I haven't seen him do any coaching at all.
Doug do we lack a leader we have the best in Vinny and Joe, yet they effect nothing when a Dutch team score header almost like some sort of piss take. Marking the space in 2 banks of 3 with a goalkeeper watching the ball go in seems a waste of presence and talent. Vinny has to command better IMHO and maybe the set up with YAYA and Barry is all wrong . Fletcher did this to us a season or so a go. Wrong men dealing with a runner whilst Centre halfs are marking the decoy or worse SPACE, which has never scored a goal. In the Prem the we fight fo all types of balls Ajax smacked our bums with brians over Brawn.
Yaya should never be given any kind of job defensively, he has proven he will let the team down, over & over again. He doesn't mark, he doesn't pick up runners, he is a total liability if given a set job. He should be in a free role.
If he was left to be floating in Midfield IMO the set up against us would be different, that said how a Dutch team with the Pedigree of Ajax can do us for fun, is a worry. I think we look a shambles at times, to many players popping up all over the show, nothing set, Ajax always found a ball out and Erikson just came short turned at will. We miss De Jong sory for sounding like a record but it is like the sahara at times in there. I wonder if he will allow Maicon a shot at Bale for some sick reason like Stubborness, if he does we are in trouble. Something is wrong with us and we look a new team each game no shape.
Most of these teams are made up of ok but not brilliant players, who rely on their system to bring them success. I think Mancini (& Hughes as it happens was trying it) is trying to do something on a level above that, as we have access to better players.
If we spent July working on a solid system to go to Ajax & Dortmund & get a point, I'm pretty sure we'd get at least a point at Ajax & Dortmund, but we'd struggle to win the league here.
It's a balancing act & imo Bob gets it totally wrong in Europe by being half & half. We aren't lined up like a tactical machine but we don't play with the freedom we sometimes do in the Premier League. Consequently, teams who we would beat here, we struggle against in Europe. Later in the game, we chucked the tactics out & just played like a basic English team & Ajax were in shitloads of trouble. Everton or similar would have beaten them fairly comfortably just by playing their normal game. Chelsea cruised past Napoli last season without even playing well, just being themselves afterwe made Napoli look like a tactical masterpiece & wanted to sign all their players. We try to be something different in Europe & so far we can't do it.
Imo it's hugely over hyped. There are two sides, Real & barca, & they don't always produce. The rest are all beatable.
As for Nige, he was there with Yaya watching Cavani jog unopposed into our box to score in Napoli. He is currently dogshit for AC Milan. Good character, good player for us but he's not the player we are missing; that's Roy K**ne. De Rossi is the closest & if he's available in Jan, we should sign him.
