by bigmick » Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:02 pm
Definately a chinese whispers thread this. I think the original topic starter was relatively sensible, I didn't advocate selling Gerrard or sacking Rafa I merely posed the question as to where we currently are. Since then of course the thread has been taken over by some obvious wind-up merchants, but fair play to Bad Bob, Rafa Dodd and the Saint for some good posts. Good spot also by the Scotbott who harked back to a very similar thread after the Crystal Palace game last season.
The question remains though, where are we? I definately don't go along with the one or two who have claimed that we weren't that bad yesterday, we were and it's been a performance which has been threatening for a while. Though I wouldn't be in favour of any moves to sell Alonso who is one of our best players, on the evidence of this season so far Luis Garcia (who is one of my favourite players TBH) has to be treading on thin ice surely. I thought he was an absolute passenger against Man U and while he persists with his tricky-dicky approach and continues to pay no attention whatsoever to the necessities of ball-retention, it is hard to imagine him having a positive influence on many Away games in the league. Gerrard too was desperately poor by his own imperious standards and it doesn't take a genius to work out that he is clearly unhappy with his life at the moment. I merely asked the question as to what we propose to do about it? Do we take the "ah well he'll snap out of it approach" or do we address the problem, if indeed it's addressable?
The whole point of the post really was a snapshot look at where we stand. While it would be unfair to place the blame for our dreadful form squarely at the door of the rotations both in personel and formations, clearly it's fair to say the whole philosophy isn't making us play better at the moment, (I say clearly but I am aware that there are still advocates who may dispute this). Similarly, it is hard to argue anything other than the fact that unless we improve dramatically, we won't even finish in the top four never mind win the Premiership (once again I'll probably get shouted down here. I'm not saying we won't finish fourth, merely that if we do you can be sure it will be as a result of a drastic improvement in form).
And that's it really. It was a question. If we accept that Gerrard is p!ssed off with his football at the moment (which he is) and that we are p!ss poor based on the obvious potential within our squad (which we are) what do we do about it? Do we as some have suggested tell Gerrard, "Nobody's bigger than the club. Lump it or feck off", do we tell Rafa "either sort out Gerrard and therefore the teams situation or feck off" or do we calmly look at the situation and try and resolve it? There is an option four I guess which is to bury our heads in the sand, claim we are actually playing quite well/have just been unlucky/have had some hard games/we will be thanking our lucky stars for rotation at the end of the season etc etc etc.
I really think for reasons I have written on here a million times, the fourth option is a non-starter. The answer lies in the third option. We need to explain to Gerrard that playing him on the left was a mistake which we now realise and accept. We also need to tell him that we accept it is a mistake to not play him through the centre in the unlikely event of us playing five in midfield ever again. No, we need to tell him that we think if he starts on the right, that is the best way of getting him on the ball in areas where he can most hurt the opposition. This is the area right or central where he recieve the ball in the final third. Get him on the ball there, and he is the most destructive footballer in the Premiership today.
We need to tell Sissoko to go back to hunting the ball much higher up the pitch. FWIW I actually think this is THE most significant factor in our demise this season. Momo, hunt the ball in the final third, you are not a holding midfielder.
Guess what the last one is? Yeah you got it, pick a team and stick largely to it. If we continue as we are we could be the first team in the history of the Premiership to have rotated and tinkered our way into barely the top half of the table.
Last edited by
bigmick on Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".
hell people, get a grip.
