South Stand Balti wrote:Not sure we could have been 4 up by half time. Big Dave missed a great chance but there was nothing else clear cut. Boro were truly awful today but we do look vulnerable when attacked, even though they barely raised s canter. The squad is not well balanced for me. You can't go from Tevez, Agueo, Balo and Dzeko to Aguero and Nacho and expect to be more clinical in front of goal. Defensively we can be shambolic at times, but I'm not sure the midfield are giving enough protection. It will take Pep some time to sort this. I do think there is s Chumps league hangover.
This says it all for me.
I envy Barcelona being able to play with a front three, of the quality that they do. Moreover, I don't think our Brazilian recruit in January is necessarily going to be an instant 'fix' as he's only young, playing in a new League altogether, in a new country and in a new team with different approach to what he may have been used to.
It's going to take time for him to settle and it might only be next season before we see the best of him and, on that score, we're all going to have to be a little patient. In any event, by the time he arrives, we might be some distance behind Chelsea, Arsenal or whomsoever is topping the table at that time and we might not be able to catch up.
In other threads, there has been some criticism of playing with a back three but Chelsea, after going three down in the fixture against Arsenal, switched to this set-up during that game itself and have used it since. They've now won five games in succession and have hardly conceded any goals at all during this spell, apart from scoring more freely with the assurance of greater defensive solidity behind them (and David Luiz, of all people, is one of the back three in this system).
On that basis, it's not this particular formation that is wrong for us, but the players we're using in it and perhaps we don't have the correct personnel, at the moment, to be able to successfully play with such a set-up. I also thought the inverted full back question, that 'FA cup winners 2006', raised, is perfectly valid. Why indeed, did we stop using it so soon after implementing it ?? If we had been playing it for a large part of the season and then teams found better ways to combat it, fair enough, but it seems we've hardly given it a chance.
So where does that leave us ?? For myself, I'd be more than happy if, in trying different systems, Pep were to use more of the youngsters, as a flexible approach to playing football has been drummed into them from day one. If this doesn't work out, at least we will have found out who, from that group, is going to make the grade and who will not.
Added to that, in the January window, I'd like to see us get another forward of proven quality (if no-one steps up from the EDS) and use the rest of this season as a 'test-bed' for determining the necessary systems, formations, squad content so we can mount a successful campaign in both the Premier League and Europe in the next one......in the latter case, whether it be in the Champions League, or the Europa.
So, in essence, the remainder of this season should be a time for experimentation and we'll just have to accept whatever results come our way.
