Standing back and looking at our performances this year as a whole I think it's pretty obvious why we've been so bad. The good thing about this is in most cases there are obvious solutions.
Firtsly, Sir Stevie has been crap. I don't care whether he's playing in the middle, on the right. He should have had more goals and he should be able to pass the ball 40yds. The differences between last season and this are astonishing. Only he can fix that, TBH I see Stevie becoming an impact player not controlling the game, but popping up and scoring the odd goal. If El Jefe starts showing the quality we all know he has I can see Sir Stevie struggling to hold down a place in the middle. He needs to get his act together.
Next, Kuyt. He's a much better player than we're seeing. I really don't understand why Rafa insists in playing him in between the lines. FFS You play a Riqueleme, a Garcia,an Aimar in that kind of role. Dirk doesn't have the skill or vision to play that role. Get him in the box and let's get a true #10. Maybe that's why we're supposedly in for Robinho. Dirk is suffering from Rafa's tactics.
Thirdly, we ARE missing Kewell, he may not be the player of old, but at least with him we were getting production down the left. SpeedyG has been disappointing and Fabio hasn't the right make up for that role. Problem now is that we are not stretching the defence from the left and hence we are being shunted through a very compact center of defence which without a true #10 is gonna make it almost impossible to pick apart those two banks of 4.
Lastly, the right side of midfield has been inconsistent. Pennant is coming along and maybe this problem will right itself anyway.
So how do we fix all this.
#1 priority we need to get a true #10 a consistent Garcia and then push Kuyt forward.
#2 Get consistent left side production. We don't even need a world beater like Vicente we just need someone better than we have. I even think someone like Milner would be good enough to improve us significantly.
#3 Alves is so good that he would stretch the defence to a much greater extend than we are today.
#4 if we have enough money left and can attract (which is not a certainty) a striker like Etoo then go get him.
#5 Xabi must play every game. Admittedly, his passing has been crap but then so has the movement in front of him. I think he will be a revelation in a more advanced role. He'll be passing 20 yards instead of 60. If El Jefe plays like we know he can then Rafa needs to get some balls and bench Stevie till he fixes his attitude and gets his form back.
I know this kind of goes against conventional wisdom, but I really don't think we are as far away as the Villa game would have us believe.
Firtsly, Sir Stevie has been crap. I don't care whether he's playing in the middle, on the right. He should have had more goals and he should be able to pass the ball 40yds. The differences between last season and this are astonishing. Only he can fix that, TBH I see Stevie becoming an impact player not controlling the game, but popping up and scoring the odd goal. If El Jefe starts showing the quality we all know he has I can see Sir Stevie struggling to hold down a place in the middle. He needs to get his act together.
Next, Kuyt. He's a much better player than we're seeing. I really don't understand why Rafa insists in playing him in between the lines. FFS You play a Riqueleme, a Garcia,an Aimar in that kind of role. Dirk doesn't have the skill or vision to play that role. Get him in the box and let's get a true #10. Maybe that's why we're supposedly in for Robinho. Dirk is suffering from Rafa's tactics.
Thirdly, we ARE missing Kewell, he may not be the player of old, but at least with him we were getting production down the left. SpeedyG has been disappointing and Fabio hasn't the right make up for that role. Problem now is that we are not stretching the defence from the left and hence we are being shunted through a very compact center of defence which without a true #10 is gonna make it almost impossible to pick apart those two banks of 4.
Lastly, the right side of midfield has been inconsistent. Pennant is coming along and maybe this problem will right itself anyway.
So how do we fix all this.
#1 priority we need to get a true #10 a consistent Garcia and then push Kuyt forward.
#2 Get consistent left side production. We don't even need a world beater like Vicente we just need someone better than we have. I even think someone like Milner would be good enough to improve us significantly.
#3 Alves is so good that he would stretch the defence to a much greater extend than we are today.
#4 if we have enough money left and can attract (which is not a certainty) a striker like Etoo then go get him.
#5 Xabi must play every game. Admittedly, his passing has been crap but then so has the movement in front of him. I think he will be a revelation in a more advanced role. He'll be passing 20 yards instead of 60. If El Jefe plays like we know he can then Rafa needs to get some balls and bench Stevie till he fixes his attitude and gets his form back.
I know this kind of goes against conventional wisdom, but I really don't think we are as far away as the Villa game would have us believe.
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