1. Kenny picked an away side
solid oraganised and difficult to break down but offering little in the way of creativity.
kuyt is a tidy player (with an erratic first touch) he will give and go he will get into good areas but he doesn't have the ability to strecth teams by beating a man and then playing a killer ball, the same can be said of maxi. at home you can get away with one in wide areas but not two, all that will happen is the opposition will funnel the play through the middle and cancel out the threat of the team.
with our current squad I have no idea who we can play in a wide role that will give pace, directness and good delivery, the obvious choice is johnson but kenny seems reluctent to use aurelio, which is a shame because aurelio can pass and rarely wastes a ball and you can't have too many of those in the team.
2. Skrtel is an accident waiting to happen
the classic example was when he bundles over the fulham forward. the fulham forward had his back to goal and posed no threat (from that piece of play) whatsoever, so skrtel turned a situation with ZERO threat into a free kick with the excellent set peice taker danny murphy on the pitch. martin needs to do himself a favour and THINK before he lunges in. when carra is fit again skrtel is the one who should may way for him.
3. The fullbacks were superb
the fullbacks got forwards when needed (johnson especially made some superb runs) and were the ones the team looked towards to width. kelly is maturing into a fine right back and johnson is doing surprisingly well at left back (is glen two footed?)
that said I would still like aurelio at left back and johnson further forwards, but I digress.
4. We need to calm the fuck down
we got drawn into a scrap and played completely into fulham's hands. as a team (and we were guilty of this under rafa as well) we need to stop with the panic stations, headless chicken routine. we were a goal up and in a winning position so why were we hurried? why is it that people were trying 'eye of the needle' passes with less that 10 minutes to go? why were people launching the ball up field to nowhere as long as it was clear? make no mistake when you launch the ball to no one it will come straight back and the opposition gain confidence by spending more time on the ball. STOP! look around for options! give it easy! it's not fucking rocket science, it's not the most difficult thing in the world. fortunately we got away with it but if fulham were more clinical we would have been punished.
5. can we have more female lineswomen, please?
sian got the call at the weekend stop on, the hapless twat yesterday got the call horrible wrong and it could have cost us a couple of points that could be gold dust come the end of the season.
6. miereles and gerrard
which one to play further forwards? personally I would play gerrard in the support role because even though gerrard's range of passing is better therefore can play deeper, gerrard has more pace so is better able to get forwards and support torres who was horrible isolated last night. also I wouldn't play both of them together in midfield without a holding midfielder as fulham (okay, it's on game as an example) had far too much of the play WITH a holding midfielder to back them up, okay the holding midfielder was the hapless poulsen but the point remains the both players will be far more effective if they are left to concentrate on attack something that will be curtailed if they are asked to defend for long periods of the game if they are holding.
7. torres
needs to release the ball earlier and stop trying to take on the entire opposition. the ball moves faster than you do so if someone is in a good position GIVE THEM THE FUCKING BALL! we are losing possession far too easily because players attempting to hold onto the ball too long. the 30 pass passage of play v wolves was exquisite and no one two more than two touches. keep the ball move and only attempt to run with the ball if there are no better passing options. however, he DID take his 'goal' superbly.
all in all small steps, we are moving in the right direction and we are passing better as well. two clean sheets in a row. kenny is certainly working his magic. playing badly and winning is supposed to be the sign of a good team.
solid oraganised and difficult to break down but offering little in the way of creativity.
kuyt is a tidy player (with an erratic first touch) he will give and go he will get into good areas but he doesn't have the ability to strecth teams by beating a man and then playing a killer ball, the same can be said of maxi. at home you can get away with one in wide areas but not two, all that will happen is the opposition will funnel the play through the middle and cancel out the threat of the team.
with our current squad I have no idea who we can play in a wide role that will give pace, directness and good delivery, the obvious choice is johnson but kenny seems reluctent to use aurelio, which is a shame because aurelio can pass and rarely wastes a ball and you can't have too many of those in the team.
2. Skrtel is an accident waiting to happen
the classic example was when he bundles over the fulham forward. the fulham forward had his back to goal and posed no threat (from that piece of play) whatsoever, so skrtel turned a situation with ZERO threat into a free kick with the excellent set peice taker danny murphy on the pitch. martin needs to do himself a favour and THINK before he lunges in. when carra is fit again skrtel is the one who should may way for him.
3. The fullbacks were superb
the fullbacks got forwards when needed (johnson especially made some superb runs) and were the ones the team looked towards to width. kelly is maturing into a fine right back and johnson is doing surprisingly well at left back (is glen two footed?)
that said I would still like aurelio at left back and johnson further forwards, but I digress.
4. We need to calm the fuck down
we got drawn into a scrap and played completely into fulham's hands. as a team (and we were guilty of this under rafa as well) we need to stop with the panic stations, headless chicken routine. we were a goal up and in a winning position so why were we hurried? why is it that people were trying 'eye of the needle' passes with less that 10 minutes to go? why were people launching the ball up field to nowhere as long as it was clear? make no mistake when you launch the ball to no one it will come straight back and the opposition gain confidence by spending more time on the ball. STOP! look around for options! give it easy! it's not fucking rocket science, it's not the most difficult thing in the world. fortunately we got away with it but if fulham were more clinical we would have been punished.
5. can we have more female lineswomen, please?
sian got the call at the weekend stop on, the hapless twat yesterday got the call horrible wrong and it could have cost us a couple of points that could be gold dust come the end of the season.
6. miereles and gerrard
which one to play further forwards? personally I would play gerrard in the support role because even though gerrard's range of passing is better therefore can play deeper, gerrard has more pace so is better able to get forwards and support torres who was horrible isolated last night. also I wouldn't play both of them together in midfield without a holding midfielder as fulham (okay, it's on game as an example) had far too much of the play WITH a holding midfielder to back them up, okay the holding midfielder was the hapless poulsen but the point remains the both players will be far more effective if they are left to concentrate on attack something that will be curtailed if they are asked to defend for long periods of the game if they are holding.
7. torres
needs to release the ball earlier and stop trying to take on the entire opposition. the ball moves faster than you do so if someone is in a good position GIVE THEM THE FUCKING BALL! we are losing possession far too easily because players attempting to hold onto the ball too long. the 30 pass passage of play v wolves was exquisite and no one two more than two touches. keep the ball move and only attempt to run with the ball if there are no better passing options. however, he DID take his 'goal' superbly.
all in all small steps, we are moving in the right direction and we are passing better as well. two clean sheets in a row. kenny is certainly working his magic. playing badly and winning is supposed to be the sign of a good team.
