Well. That was better.
Interesting first 25 minutes. Pompey showing us inside at every opportunity, closing us down relatively quickly, and affording little space between defence and midfield. I thought we look a little toothless, culminating in Insua and Maxi having to shoot from 30 yards. Gerrard and Aquilani were the only ones looking to do things quickly, with Carra, Babel and Masher holding on to it for far too long. Play slow and you play into Brown and Diop's hands. It takes more than 2 players to raise tempo unfortunately. Then the goal comes, and the game irrevocably changes. Two things for me on that goal - Gerrard closing down which he's been shite at of late so kudos for that, and secondly - was Torres offside? I still don't fully understand that rule. He's offside and walking out when the through ball's initially played, Gerrard blocks it, he turns around - runs back in and gets a tap in. If I was Avram Grant I'd be asking questions about that.
After that, pompey capitulated. In fairness, we got confidence out of the first and pressed higher up the pitch thus forcing them into mistakes, but their defending for the 2nd goal was abysmal. This wasn't 90th minute error-making, we're 30 minutes into the game and they're defending in their own 6 yard box. Look at their positioning when Johnson's cross goes in for the 2nd goal - they're in their own fucking 6 yard box. No wonder Babel was free in the penalty spot. It reminded me of the own goal Sunderland conceded in stoppage time at Old Trafford - hang about 5 yards from your own goalline, and you're inviting trouble. That's poor, inexperienced goalkeeping for me - you've got to move your defence out.
A few pleasing things away from the norm - (1) Babel and Torres interchanging. Quite liked that, Torres drifting wide left, and Babel swopping with him. That's new, and gives us something different.
(2) Aquilani. Excellent. As I've said for ages, his major plus point is his ability to move the ball quickly. You could see even in games where he only had a cameo role that he's got the werewithall to move the ball along in one/two touches. Makes a difference. The other thing I liked was his movement. Interestingly it was done in behind the Pompey midfield for most of the first half. Not many midfielders try that consistently (of course it asks a lot of questions abotu the structure of the team going forward but that's for another day). He picked it up in those areas a few times, but - and it's a credit to him for it - several times he made those runs without actually looking for the ball. It was done solely to create space for others. Nice.
I thought his best piece of play was the move in the second half that led to a chance for Gerrard on his left-foot. Super one touch passing rom the Italian opened that up. Quick, neat, intricate. You see folks - we don't need quick running, just quick thought.
(3) Agger. Nothing he really did, just his presence. We spent most of the first half defending from the halfway line. That's the difference having him in there ahead of the Greek. If nothing else it means we start bulding moves in the opposition's half of the pitch, contrast that to Wigan last week when we were trying to build attacks 30 yards from our own goal.
(4) Maxi. Good players find a lot of the ball. He's got ability.
Babel. Frustrated me a bit actually. The lad needs to learn a fucking trick. A step over, a dummy, a one-two, something. How many times does he get in full gallop and end up running staright into defenders. Even with that pace, he's easy to mark. Look at the way Berbatov escaped three palyers to set up Rooney's second on Sunday. Berbatov's got zero pace, but he's got skill and a brain. He needs to release the ball quicker. Still, got his goal, and stretched their defence on more than one occassion.
And finally, the team selection. Let's get this out of the way - if we go to Old Trafford with that team, we'll get destroyed. If anyone doubts this, I'd be surprised. And worried. For tonight it worked a treat after they gifted us the goal. We only started to look impressive after we'd gone 1-0 up. But credit where it's due, that team selection was bold, worked, and took me aback. There were issues with it. Good sides would be able to counter-attack at pace, and kills us. When we're playing that high up the pitch, and with only one defensive midfield shield, it means the back four have to retreat like fuck when the ball breaks down. Pompey had about half a dozen opportunites when they were able to run through the middle unchallenged and at a retreating back four. They made nothing out of any of them. Good sides won't be so accomodating. Best example of this was when Masher went sliding in on Dindane (I think) on the Centeneray Rd side, missed the tackle, and we were fucked. O'Hara and Belhadj were both entirely free in the box, and a half-decent side would have punshied us. Carra went mental at Masher for sliding in (rightly so), but the tactics are always going to leave us susceptible for things like that - which is why tonight's side won't be deployed too often.
Anyway, good win, surprising but pleasing team selection, and I'm more than happy to be proved wrong on that. He might go with that sort of side looking at the rest of our home fixtures this season. At OT this weekend, you won't see it unfortunately.
Interesting first 25 minutes. Pompey showing us inside at every opportunity, closing us down relatively quickly, and affording little space between defence and midfield. I thought we look a little toothless, culminating in Insua and Maxi having to shoot from 30 yards. Gerrard and Aquilani were the only ones looking to do things quickly, with Carra, Babel and Masher holding on to it for far too long. Play slow and you play into Brown and Diop's hands. It takes more than 2 players to raise tempo unfortunately. Then the goal comes, and the game irrevocably changes. Two things for me on that goal - Gerrard closing down which he's been shite at of late so kudos for that, and secondly - was Torres offside? I still don't fully understand that rule. He's offside and walking out when the through ball's initially played, Gerrard blocks it, he turns around - runs back in and gets a tap in. If I was Avram Grant I'd be asking questions about that.
After that, pompey capitulated. In fairness, we got confidence out of the first and pressed higher up the pitch thus forcing them into mistakes, but their defending for the 2nd goal was abysmal. This wasn't 90th minute error-making, we're 30 minutes into the game and they're defending in their own 6 yard box. Look at their positioning when Johnson's cross goes in for the 2nd goal - they're in their own fucking 6 yard box. No wonder Babel was free in the penalty spot. It reminded me of the own goal Sunderland conceded in stoppage time at Old Trafford - hang about 5 yards from your own goalline, and you're inviting trouble. That's poor, inexperienced goalkeeping for me - you've got to move your defence out.
A few pleasing things away from the norm - (1) Babel and Torres interchanging. Quite liked that, Torres drifting wide left, and Babel swopping with him. That's new, and gives us something different.
(2) Aquilani. Excellent. As I've said for ages, his major plus point is his ability to move the ball quickly. You could see even in games where he only had a cameo role that he's got the werewithall to move the ball along in one/two touches. Makes a difference. The other thing I liked was his movement. Interestingly it was done in behind the Pompey midfield for most of the first half. Not many midfielders try that consistently (of course it asks a lot of questions abotu the structure of the team going forward but that's for another day). He picked it up in those areas a few times, but - and it's a credit to him for it - several times he made those runs without actually looking for the ball. It was done solely to create space for others. Nice.
I thought his best piece of play was the move in the second half that led to a chance for Gerrard on his left-foot. Super one touch passing rom the Italian opened that up. Quick, neat, intricate. You see folks - we don't need quick running, just quick thought.
(3) Agger. Nothing he really did, just his presence. We spent most of the first half defending from the halfway line. That's the difference having him in there ahead of the Greek. If nothing else it means we start bulding moves in the opposition's half of the pitch, contrast that to Wigan last week when we were trying to build attacks 30 yards from our own goal.
(4) Maxi. Good players find a lot of the ball. He's got ability.
Babel. Frustrated me a bit actually. The lad needs to learn a fucking trick. A step over, a dummy, a one-two, something. How many times does he get in full gallop and end up running staright into defenders. Even with that pace, he's easy to mark. Look at the way Berbatov escaped three palyers to set up Rooney's second on Sunday. Berbatov's got zero pace, but he's got skill and a brain. He needs to release the ball quicker. Still, got his goal, and stretched their defence on more than one occassion.
And finally, the team selection. Let's get this out of the way - if we go to Old Trafford with that team, we'll get destroyed. If anyone doubts this, I'd be surprised. And worried. For tonight it worked a treat after they gifted us the goal. We only started to look impressive after we'd gone 1-0 up. But credit where it's due, that team selection was bold, worked, and took me aback. There were issues with it. Good sides would be able to counter-attack at pace, and kills us. When we're playing that high up the pitch, and with only one defensive midfield shield, it means the back four have to retreat like fuck when the ball breaks down. Pompey had about half a dozen opportunites when they were able to run through the middle unchallenged and at a retreating back four. They made nothing out of any of them. Good sides won't be so accomodating. Best example of this was when Masher went sliding in on Dindane (I think) on the Centeneray Rd side, missed the tackle, and we were fucked. O'Hara and Belhadj were both entirely free in the box, and a half-decent side would have punshied us. Carra went mental at Masher for sliding in (rightly so), but the tactics are always going to leave us susceptible for things like that - which is why tonight's side won't be deployed too often.
Anyway, good win, surprising but pleasing team selection, and I'm more than happy to be proved wrong on that. He might go with that sort of side looking at the rest of our home fixtures this season. At OT this weekend, you won't see it unfortunately.
