by bigmick » Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:50 am
I don't recall the Alonso incident Sabes but your interpretation of it makes sense to me and is probably indicative of where we are experiencing difficulties as a team at the moment. We were known last season as being very "compact", we lacked pace up top and width so therefore by definition we were very solid, with in simplistic terms all the players being fairly close to each other at all times.
Chuck in a natural winger (Pennant) who hugs the touchline (too much in my opinion but that's anoter thread), and a striker with pace (Bellamy) who runs the channels (same as Pennant, too much) and the inevitable result is that we get a bit stretched at times. It requires of course that your midfielders who are at the hub of determining our rhythm and tempo (namely Alonso mainly and Gerrard) do so with appreciation of the team as a whole. There's no point hitting Bellamy if no fecker can get up in support, nor hitting Pennant if nobody has a chance to get in the box to reach the inevitable cross.
This comes back to my rotation thing really. Teams that function at somewhere near maximum have an effortless fluidity, being able to switch from the front foot and back to defence at a stroke. To use an overused expression, they have balance.
It's a state of being which we haven't achieved this season. Too often we've looked porous in midfield when we lose posession, players strewn accross the park trying to catch up with the play in areas where there is no support. As the attack breaks down teams are able to pass and run through the gaping holes, "it's Alonso he's sh!te isn't he?". Well no he isn't really, it's the team pattern. Next time you watch Kuyt hit the bar and kick yourself at his misfortune, check the instant control and fizzed pass that put him in. Sh!te players can't do stuff like that. They can't see it and they can't do it. Defensively our uncomfortable start to the season was obvious (although in the last two games we sacrificed some attacking intent to enable ourselves to become more compact) but in attack less so. The giveaway signs are there though if you look. How often does Pennant get it and check back, laying it off to Finnan? The two classic options ought to be Finnan overlapping at Pace and/or a midfield player hitting the inside right slot at pace. Neither has happened very often because the play is stretched and forced, the guys can't get there.
The rhythm and tempo is not quite there and there are a couple of reasons for it. It's not as simple as passing it to one of your teammates and if you can't do that you're sh!te. Football is a simple game but alas, if you want to build a top team it's not quite that simple. Good teams attack and defend as a team. At the moment, due to the formation getting slightly stretched (this is an indisputeable fact IMHO, Rafa would agree with this too I think) and in my view unfamiliarity within the ranks (made worse by over-rotation) we are not quite getting there.
We will of course. The worry is that by the time we do the league may be over as a winnable competition for us. When we do play well, watch out for the balance, it'll be there.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".