I said exactly this weeks ago. It's really thanks to injuries that Under got his chance recently and I'm delighted he has grabbed it with both hands. The days of a front 3 of Perotti/Dzeko/El Sha are over. I wanted EdF to work with Under/Gerson for that RW spot. Going back a few weeks I had Gerson as first choice with Under as back-up. Obviously it's vice versa now. El Sha and Perotti can battle it out between themselves for that LW spot. As for CF, I don't see EdF dropping Dzeko any time soon even though he probably should. I don't know what is wrong with Kolarov but he has developed an uncanny propensity for kicking the ball off or straight to the opposition these days. He needs to take a step back and start playing it more simple. He has been attempting the unlikely pass far too often and never executes it.
yea, poor kid just can't stay healthy enough to get a good run of games. Hopefully he can start getting time from here until the end of the season so he can go into next with a real chance of being the starter.
Well, due to our poor stretch, we're now in a dog fight for top 4. Unless EDF wants to try him as a #10 against shit teams , I dunno how EDF can really risk starting him. We have no room for error. And, like I said, we suck at winning matches early, so EDF never feels comfortable enough to take Dzeko out anytime before the 80th.
I'm not basing my opinion on this match. We can't play 4-3-3 with Ninja and Strootman and rely on fluid fast football, I know this is EDF's plan but Strootman just doesn't have it in him anymore. Moreover, Dzeko has always suffered in 4-3-3 with us, he is not mobile enough to close the gap between him and midfield, while the midfield is not creative enough to close it either. Last year Spalletti went to extremes to cover our lack of creativity in midfield (he didn't do that in 2016). He moved Ninja up and put Strootman next to DDR, then he had these 2 send long balls all day long. This way Strootman can do what he's still good at, tackling opponents and sending long balls, Ninja can be more dangerous up front and give Dzeko more support, while the flanks have someone other than Dzeko to aim their crosses to. We played some of the ugliest football last year, but it was effective because everyone was doing what they are good at. Dzeko was abusing defenders in air duels, Salah was chasing balls behind defenders, Ninja was doing anything he wanted up top and Strootman was tackling people to death and sending long ball after the other. DDR and Ninja can play in any system, Strootman can't, and Pellegrini is not reliable enough yet. We just can't execute EDF's style effectively right now, even though he was brought here to apply it. We have some of the biggest bullies in football on our team, and instead of bullying people we are trying to make them look cute, and it hasn't worked even when the results were good. We have 14 league games left plus CL, and we can't afford to under perform. The right thing to do right now is for EDF to be realistic and play ugly ass football to secure the CL ticket, next summer they need to move Strootman and Dzeko and bring a Pjanic replacement, then he can play the way he wants.
Eventually EDF needs to step out of that conservative approach and give Schick a legit shot. Dzeko has been pretty bad ever since that big game against Chelsea, so it's not like starting him every single game and playing him for 90+ mins each time is doing us any favors.
Kolarov just looks like he is out of steam. It doesn't help that he tries to make end to end runs with the ball on his own all mat h long .
I'd give JJ a go at it, at least against bottom feeder clubs. Today would have been as good a time as any. I don't think he could've possibly looked any worse than Kolarov did (aside from that free kick)
Yeah , Dzeko has been bad (downright awful), but again , he gives us the best chance to score right now. No one else is providing offence for us. If Perotti or SES scored relatively consistently, then it wouldn't be such a risk. Unfortunately, all of our secondary scoring is coming from a 20 year old right now. It's easy to say "EDF needs to step out of that conservative approach" when you're not the manager. Schick needs to show something , anything, in the spot duty he gets , otherwise EDF isn't going to risk it , and I don't blame him , there's a lot at stake right now.
Agreed on that. Playing 4-3-3 won't be a safe bet this year to pick up enough points. It might work but you'd need a lot of iffy positions to perform and its not worth the risk. Spalletti did clearly turn ninja into something nobody has seen playing attacking mid and pressing opponents very hard high up the pitch. It was direct and instinctive. Ugly though might be a touch harsh. We still played some great football even with more direct play. I wouldn't sell Strootman if he and he surely will want to continue with 4-3-3 next season. He can be that long term holding player. With an aging De Rossi we need it covered. He has the characteristics to make the change. I hope we don't need to sell him to finance the midfield.
That part about bullying just reminded me of the 4:0 versus Villarreal. I have hardly ever seen something like that in modern football. They looked like school boys compared to our midfield.
Yea, I agree especially the part about Ninja. It's no coincidence Ninja had his best year playing up front. Let Radja play closer to Dzeko and win the ball further up field leaving Strootman back to clean up in MF. Fck, I miss that crazy bastard Spalletti.
Coincidence that Under takes-off when Turkish Airlines is about to become our shirt sponsor (pun intended).
For what it's worth (not much at all, really) Dzeko and Kolarov made the whoscored.com Serie A team of the week (along with Cengiz). I don't think Dzeko is anywhere near last season's form. But I do think he's getting a rough review from many on this game. He had a goal. Forced another diving save on a header (that he probably should have finished). And he was more active in the hold up and build up play as evidenced on his pass that sent through Perotti on Under's first goal. Now Kolarov on the other hand....
It seems bizarre. I mean those ratings are usually weird, Dzeko rated even higher than Cutrone and his two goals.
Yeah , I dunno how serious those team of the week things are taken. Dzeko and Kolarov weren't good. They just got a goal and an assist.