Jesus H Christ we are playing like shlt. Too many players out of form, a leaky defense in the closing stages of nearly every game, Dudek, etc. And all the talk about a distinct lack of width in our attack. I for one, thought the width argument was rubbish, but now, I'm coming around. A few thoughts on this mysterious phenomenon known as width. (It's nice for you football team, but not so nice for your lady) Will Trevor Sinclair become available? If so, when? If we can't buy Duff, maybe we can get Trevor. Anyone know how old he is? I think I recall him playing for QPR (all dreadlocked?) in the mid 90's. I guess he's not eligible for the PFA's young player of the year award. I want some width like Arsenals. I know, I know, it pains me to to covet anything of the Gunners, even the merely half attractive chick from Fever Pitch. But the more I see of the Gunners, the more it becomes obvious that only Henry plays wide. Ljundberg? Pires? They may spend some time on the flanks, but when was the last time you saw either of them racing to the corner flag to whip in a cross? No, they get the ball wide, attack and cut inside. Nearly ever time. Henry is constantly making runs deep, and to the corners, into space. And what a sight for the defenders, Henry, turning with the ball running at them. So, other than the occassional Ashley Cole run, nearly all the width comes from the strikers. And........Owen can beat people off the dribble. Get wide a bit Michael!! Will GH let him do this? The Giggs's, Duff's, and wingers of the World are hard to come by. Even Marc Overmars is ************ now. Will we ever get a quality winger? Is Stan Collymore available? Bring back Fowler to go with him!!!! And what's the deal with Emile? I did not see the Blackburn game, and I understand he started up front. Good news I say. When he is playing wide left our attack seems so slow. My grandmother moves bran faster than Emile moves into the attack. Gerrard has been patchy at his very best this season, and is facing (rightfully) a ban of a few matches. Sami has been all over the park. Traore drives me nuts with his constant desire to be out of position. Finally GH has seen the light as put Djimi on the bench. A gret knack for making athletic plays to get himself or others out of trouble, but we need consistency now, not a superhero. 3, sometimes all 4 midfielders defend well, but attack poorly. Only Murphy seems to be getting chances at goal. This is perhaps the most frustrating of all. Jerzy's head is fragile. Owen has not had is annual injury yet. If it comes now we are in deep shlt. Is GH losing it? Worst stretch since 1954 and all that. This sucks. The side which included Babb, Kvarme, Bjornebye, David James, Eric Meijer, and the like never had a run this poor. Is this really the same side that was the LAST unbeaten team in the league? We're half empty, not half full. Anyone switched to United yet? Help me my friends.........
I agree with nearly all that you just said, but these 4 issues don't sit right with me. 1) We HAVE been able to play very, very well through the center of midfield. It worked for the first 2 months of the season like a charm. I haven't the faintest clue why it doesn't anymore, and the fact that NOBODY but Diouf and Smicer head out there anymore is that they have zero confidence in their current form, and are searching for what used to work instead of trying to be creative. I have no idea how to fix this. That is one of the few reasons why I am not manager. 2) That is Diouf's job. He can beat men off the dribble a bit better then Owen. Besdies, I want Michael in the box when that short cross comes in, not on the delivering end of it. 3) Riise and Murphy. Riise has been just as sterling, and remarkably consistent in every game he's played for the last month (except for one, Sunderland I believe?) 4) That's not funny.
I'll play devil's advocate here for a minute, but I don't think this about wide midfield players, but in fact full backs who can overlap and provide a decent cross. Riise and Murphy can play the wider postions well enough, but they need support from behind them. Here's a common scenario, midfield player pushes forward runs into a couple of defenders, so turns back and plays it back to onrushing full back. In our case it has been Traore and Carragher. Both have proved good at defending, but neither can cross the ball worth a damn. Bear with me, I don't mean a high cross to Owen (what's the point of that). But either making it to the by-line and pulling it back along the ground. Or a sharp quick low ball in, similar to Gerrard's cross against Everton after a long run. Neither Traore and Carragher can beat a man or provide a decent cross. I would bet that if Babbel was fit we wouldn't be having this discussion. It is obvious that he is the missing link on the right side, but he needs a lot more matches to get full fitness. (See his sub against Villa) Then we look at the left side, Riise does the best in that position in my opinion, but GH has been reluctant to give him steady runs for 90 minutes. And if he plays left back who plays in front of him. The Heskey experiment out there was a bust. With Berger injured maybe Smicer can play there, he was tried on the right with some success early on against Blackburn. We need to stop the chopping and changing, settle on a steady first eleven and get back on the winning track. Highbury is a good place to start.
Re: Re: A Rant on Width -- and other depressing thoughts Because every team in the Premiership is dumping 7 (if not more) men at the top of the penalty area against Liverpool now.
I don't think this is necessarily a matter of needing a "winger", per se. We just need more width, whether that comes from John Barnes II, Danny Murphy, or Markus Babbel. Feeding Owen down the center is clearly not fooling anyone at this point.
Re: Re: Re: A Rant on Width -- and other depressing thoughts Sure, but then guys like Diouf and Smicer should be more effective attacking the wings but that ain't working either. If you're going to pack so many men in the back like that, there is NO reason to give up all the garbage goals we are giving up. Hoofing long balls forward as a counter attack or making two low passes that span 60 yards and find space should not result in a goal against us every game. That kind of junk is working against us constantly though. We need a much higher work rate from our back 4 before teams can stop leaving 7 and 8 men back.
Re: Re: Re: Re: A Rant on Width -- and other depressing thoughts Good thoughts there.... But who'd thunk it? Our back line sucks, and it's wrecking everthing else too? I for one, would have put money on us having one of the best defensive records again. As for the wide player --- paging Stan Collymore, paging Mr. Stan Collymore.
Actually since Henchoz and Hyypia got back together the defence has been a lot better. One wonder goal from Cole and a clean sheet in the match before that shows me the back four are back on track. But the caveat there, is that they are only doing the job defensively. They are not supporting the midfield and forwards with their long balls out or terrible crosses or reluctance to beat people on the wing.