A fundamental Rafa Rethink required!!

[Depth_Charge]

Well - the title race is dead and buried by the start of November, after pre-season promise we haven't even looked close to challenging - how depressing.

We need to start playing 4-5-1 away from home until we stop losing and then we might have something to build on.

We're too easy to beat away from home and although we seem to start well, if after 15-20 minutes we haven't scored you can almost visibly see the confidence draining away.

Currently we are using an attacking looking 4-4-2 but don't play in an attacking way to suit the formation, leaving our strikers to fend for themselves and with no-one making runs at or into the opponents defence it's all too easy for defenders to prevent any dangerous situations from arising.

We've had most of our difficult away games now, but to not have anything to show from the Bolton, Everton, Utd, Chavs and Arsenal matches is a very poor showing. We're like chalk and cheese home and away - and far too often the team just don't perform away from home, with quality players failing to take responsibility and basically going missing - it's as if they believe that we're good enough to get a result without actually having to put the effort in. We've been unlucky once or twice, but against Utd and Arsenal we may as well have waved a white flag after we went a goal down because we barely registered an attempt on goal afterwards and we can hardly have cause for complaint when we are well beaten without giving the opposition a fight.

I find it difficult to criticise Rafa, but I think he has to concentrate on making us hard to beat away from home - current tactics are obviously not working, but we've been here before at this stage in his previous two seasons as manager - surely he should be learning from his mistakes...

[Rich]

Surely we need to try and suffocate teams away from home - stop them playing, keep hold of the ball, turn the crowd and then increase the pressure in the second half until we score a goal. I'd settle for that.

4-5-1 is the way forward.

[rodo]

got a really bad feelin that after saturday its gonna be well we`ve had our six hardest away games out the way unless rafa changes it

[Joe Le Toff]

Feck.
Lets not forget though we have to assess that we have probably had our 5 hardest away games of the seaons already completed, although in poor fashion there is now a real chance to give the youngster and those than need to find form a good run in the side.

I havent just picked one section of your post to pull to pieces (i agreed with most of it btw) but i have seen the comment about us playing our hardest away games already, (Chelsea, Mancs & Arse) in many threads, and although thats true it doesnt hide the fact that:

We havent scored a goal in any of them, and conceded 6, and Chelsea aside, we've never looked like at the very least, matching our opponents in any aspect of the game.

Truth be told, we've been spanked in 2 of them, Chelsea there is a good case for us getting a draw.

At OT and Emirates especially, we've shown minimal heart or desire until we concede and from that moment on it becomes abysmal. IMO this is because we approach these games with a team with no width, 2 banks of 4 and are trying too hard not to concede and are worried about the opponents. More importantly, there is absolutely no tempo to our game when we've played these 3, so when we go behind and try to raise the tempo to get back into it, we inevitably can't. You cant start slow and raise it, it never works,we need to start from the first whistle, penetrating runs and passes, midfielders getting beyond the front 2, all at a high tempo. IMO its Rafa who is setting our stall out this way, the players are struggling to cope with it and shows to me why he hasnt got to grips with english football yet. Until he does i expect more of the same when we play the top 3.

Our home form is virtually the total opposite because, again IMO, the increased tempo that we play at. In the games at home this season where we have started slow, we've struggled.


I never thought we would win the league this season, but i thought we'd run Chelsea a close second. Until the day comes when we play the top sides away from home and get something out of these games, then none of us can realistically ever expect any more than 4th place.

[dww]

I actuall thought we went out quite attackingly yesterday and for the first 40 minutes it was a real game. We held our own, our 4 in the middle coped with their 5 pretty well. The problem was that we lost concentration at the back and let a goal in. Once we went behind we were crap, except for maybe the first couple of minutes of the second half we totally crumbled. It just shows a lack of confidence I think.

I'm not sure that Zenden allows us to use the two deep lying midfielders to cover Stevie in the way that Momo does but I think that was the single tactically flaw yesterday. Everything else seemed to flow from a lack of confidence in what we were doing. I think Stevie in the middle might be the answer now - partly tactically as we leave no obvious area of the pitch for the opposition to attack and partly purely psychologically I think his drive in the middle might help.