I mentioned this a couple of months back, and then went back to it a few weeks later. And after today, it's rears its head again...
Bodies in the box, men getting forward into the final third when we're attacking. We dont have them. It's doing my head in, but it keeps happening.
Firstly, part of the blame has to go with Rafa for taking off Bellamy. Unless he was physically fecked or injured (which he didnt APPEAR to be, but i havent seen it on telly yet, so apologies if that's wrong) he should've stayed on. He was our biggest threat and looked like our most likely source of causing them problems. His pace, his movement and his desire were the spearhead of our attack. They played with one lone striker and yet, Rafa decides not to take off one of our THREE centre backs, and picks CB instead.
Back to the main point, there were times late on today when we were chasing the equaliser and taking the ball forward into the final third....and there was only ONE man in their box. One. That's all. Can anyone please throw a possible explanation for that at me? Because i cant fathom it.
We were tossing crosses and high balls into their area and our one player (usually poor Kuyt) was competing with upto SIX opponents to try and get to it. I'm no Carol Vorderman, but to me that seems like a very lop-sided equation. Unless the ball in is absolutely PERFECT (and that's hard enough to achieve at the best of times, never mind when you're in the middle of a busy fixture schedule, chasing a defecit late on, and physically & mentally tired) you're giving yourself an uphill task by only having one player in the box.
Part of the problem was with Alonso not pushing on, but that's not his game and i dont blame him for that. But when you're playing 5-3-2, the wing backs arent likely to find themselves as high up the pitch as conventional wingers do, so that leaves the responsibility on, in today's case, Garcia (when he came on) and Gerrard. Gerrard wasnt himself while Garcia struggled to make an impact.
So given our continuous inability to get bodies forward, it's hardly surprising that we often struggle to score when we go behind. It's obviously not JUST this that's the problem, it's a number of things, including players' heads dropping among other things. But the extent to which we're outnumbered in the opposition box doesnt help. I appreciate that we created chances today and should've converted enough to have won, but my point isnt just based on today. Ewood Park was just the latest example.
Ultimately, i DO feel we're a touch too cautious at times, especially away and it's something we must try to shake off quickly, because while we're good enough in terms of ability to outplay and be able to beat at LEAST 16 of the other sides in the league (by virtue of unquestionably having far more quality), without the right belief and mentality, the ability alone is almost pointless.
Sorry for the rant, but i had to get that off my chest, it's been chewing at me all season and it took a major bite out of me today
Bodies in the box, men getting forward into the final third when we're attacking. We dont have them. It's doing my head in, but it keeps happening.
Firstly, part of the blame has to go with Rafa for taking off Bellamy. Unless he was physically fecked or injured (which he didnt APPEAR to be, but i havent seen it on telly yet, so apologies if that's wrong) he should've stayed on. He was our biggest threat and looked like our most likely source of causing them problems. His pace, his movement and his desire were the spearhead of our attack. They played with one lone striker and yet, Rafa decides not to take off one of our THREE centre backs, and picks CB instead.
Back to the main point, there were times late on today when we were chasing the equaliser and taking the ball forward into the final third....and there was only ONE man in their box. One. That's all. Can anyone please throw a possible explanation for that at me? Because i cant fathom it.
We were tossing crosses and high balls into their area and our one player (usually poor Kuyt) was competing with upto SIX opponents to try and get to it. I'm no Carol Vorderman, but to me that seems like a very lop-sided equation. Unless the ball in is absolutely PERFECT (and that's hard enough to achieve at the best of times, never mind when you're in the middle of a busy fixture schedule, chasing a defecit late on, and physically & mentally tired) you're giving yourself an uphill task by only having one player in the box.
Part of the problem was with Alonso not pushing on, but that's not his game and i dont blame him for that. But when you're playing 5-3-2, the wing backs arent likely to find themselves as high up the pitch as conventional wingers do, so that leaves the responsibility on, in today's case, Garcia (when he came on) and Gerrard. Gerrard wasnt himself while Garcia struggled to make an impact.
So given our continuous inability to get bodies forward, it's hardly surprising that we often struggle to score when we go behind. It's obviously not JUST this that's the problem, it's a number of things, including players' heads dropping among other things. But the extent to which we're outnumbered in the opposition box doesnt help. I appreciate that we created chances today and should've converted enough to have won, but my point isnt just based on today. Ewood Park was just the latest example.
Ultimately, i DO feel we're a touch too cautious at times, especially away and it's something we must try to shake off quickly, because while we're good enough in terms of ability to outplay and be able to beat at LEAST 16 of the other sides in the league (by virtue of unquestionably having far more quality), without the right belief and mentality, the ability alone is almost pointless.
Sorry for the rant, but i had to get that off my chest, it's been chewing at me all season and it took a major bite out of me today
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