So why so crap this year

[LadyRed]

Agreed.

I dont believe we will ever win the league playing the style and brand of football that we do.
For us to get a "superstar" striker or at at the very least a 20 goal a season man and 1 or 2 top wingers/attacking midfielders would mean a complete change in the way we play and i just cant see it happening.
Long balls humped up front from the back to the front man with the odd midfielder venturing over the halfway line to try and live off the front mans knockdowns/scraps will not win this league.
Obviously hope im proved wrong.

Don't you think our style of play is down to the players to have, to a certain extent?

I mean, you're always going to be inclined to hoof the ball up Crouch of he's playing.

[LadyRed]

But just having some width to stretch the defence and giving people time to get into the box, will make us a different team. It's not as if Rafa doesn't want width it's just that we haven't got the personell to do it. Look how it worked for Valencia with Vicente. We play in a very similar fashion.

We only need a few tweaks not wholesale changes.

I think Rafa likes the idea of having wide players, he talks alot about the importance of the wingers, you've mentioned Vicente, who was an intricate part of Rafa's Valencia.

I think Rafa's signings of wingers, i.e. Gonzo and Pennant, just haven't come off quite as he'd hoped.

[Joe Le Toff]

Don't you think our style of play is down to the players to have, to a certain extent?

I mean, you're always going to be inclined to hoof the ball up Crouch of he's playing.

I dont buy that regarding Crouch. Hes considerably better on the deck than he will ever be in the air, and you would think his team mates would know this and play to his strengths.
Im not saying we shouldnt hit the front man early, its the lack of quality in the service to them, constant high balls up the field immediately make it a 50-50 ball and Crouch isnt good enough in the air to compete for all of them.

[LadyRed]

I dont buy that regarding Crouch. Hes considerably better on the deck than he will ever be in the air, and you would think his team mates would know this and play to his strengths.
Im not saying we shouldnt hit the front man early, its the lack of quality in the service to them, constant high balls up the field immediately make it a 50-50 ball and Crouch isnt good enough in the air to compete for all of them.

I agree, but doesn't stop us from doing it though, does it?

[Joe Le Toff]

I agree, but doesn't stop us from doing it though, does it?

Very true, which would lead me to hazard a guess that the style of football we play is to the managers instructions, meaning constant bypassing of the midfield.

[Est1982]

Very true, which would lead me to hazard a guess that the style of football we play is to the managers instructions, meaning constant bypassing of the midfield.

Im sure the players always listen to the manager and his instructions?

[LadyRed]

Very true, which would lead me to hazard a guess that the style of football we play is to the managers instructions, meaning constant bypassing of the midfield.

Hmm..

I think one of the main reasons we no longer start with Crouch is to avoid this very porblem. Crouch was always brought in as an 'alternative' option, circumstances lead to him becoming first choice striker.

[Joe Le Toff]

Im sure the players always listen to the manager and his instructions?

The vast majority of the time, then yes.
If you are suggesting that the players are punting the ball forwards every single game home or away, when Rafa has told them to get it on the floor and build, then I would imagine that Rafa wouldve put a stop to it immediately.

The fact he hasnt and our style remains long ball speaks volumes

[Red Star]

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.

Excellent post, mate, agree with a lot of that.

Alves could be the first of these to come true and I must say looking forward to it.

[red g]

It's not about my crap posts"this year".

Some of us have seen my crap posts on Rafa's style, man management and transfer nous for quite some time.

agreed

[red g]

2 strikers and 2 wingers.

and 2 full backs

[friedk]

Have you seen us play ?

There's much more fundamental reasons for our failure than merely the lack of a top class striker.

so what are the solutions?

[FatTony]

so what are the solutions?

Two top class wingers to go with the top class strikers

[friedk]

On the 3rd day of the transfer window Gillett and Hicks gave to me
2 top class strikers
2 top class wingers
and Thi-erry-Henry

[El Jefecito]

I think Rafa likes the idea of having wide players, he talks alot about the importance of the wingers, you've mentioned Vicente, who was an intricate part of Rafa's Valencia.

I think Rafa's signings of wingers, i.e. Gonzo and Pennant, just haven't come off quite as he'd hoped.

Agreed. Pennant is improving though and I still hold out hope for SpeedyG. Someone suggested giving him a run for the rest of the season and TBH I don't see a downside to that.