Sunday 16 November 2008

A bad sign?

Garrido has been our best defender this month. By miles.

What do you think?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I regretfully agree

Kinabalu said...

Garrido now playing much better: of all the rumoured exits, JG and Elano should stay. But MH doesnt appear to be able to control Elano.

Kinabalu said...

In fact the problem is rather worse than we care to imagine. If City had been fifth then it might have been easier or e.g. if Villa had had our money then the 'top' 4 would we worried. But the Club only has 2 things to offer top players who might be bought: 1. money and 2. fair prospects of CL football. There is little that MH can do (other than try to move us up the league - but there isnt much time before January). He is clearly a strong manager but how can he control galacticos? They know - within reason - that they can go anywhere. Robinho is already (in effect) saying "Keep Elano and buy Kaka or I'm off". At the top four clubs the managers have more power - because the players want to be there, and if some out of favour player kicks up he can go - and be replaced. (Actually top 3 are in that position - Arsenal is a special case). So it seems to me MH is in a weak position, however a strong person he is. The best we can hope for is that he can hold the ship together through January, get us up into top six territory and persuade the high flyer players to stay.

1.618034... said...

Agreed! What does that tell us about our current predicament..?

Time for 4-4-2 I reckon. Or even Vincent playing as Libero in a 5-4-1..?

The main problem with the back 4 is when they have "possession". It's like the ball's a hot potato and they don't want it as they've lost/never had the skill to play a pass to a team-mate! Basic coaching? I really am beginning to wonder...

Good point by kinabalu too...

Unknown said...

I agree - though it would've been Zabaleta had he not been suspended.

We certainly have a problem in the heart of the team at the moment: the central midfield is inadequate when we're out of possession and the central defence has become unreliable and error-prone. There's certainly a link between the two, though some of the defensive problems are down to individual aberrations and (enforced) inconsistency in selection rather than the team's 'balance'.

Some of these problems will pass: hard though it is to believe at the moment, it won't be every week that our defenders give away a poor backpass or get sent off or similar. Others (the midfield) require spending in January.

Nonetheless I must protest at the unmanly panic that has gripped some of the fans. Of course we're not going great guns, but there ARE positives, and in my view we've not had a single 'lucky' result as yet, along with several 'unlucky' ones. I'd wager that every other club outside the top 4 has at least one 'lucky' (undeserved) victory. That will turn, although if you listen to some people, we won't win another game until we appoint Mourinho. Remember Phil Neville's comment? He was right, wasn't he.

NNelly said...

I've been reading yr blog for months and have always found it entertaining, lucid and down-to-earth (which is somewhat unusual for a football-related blog these days). Congrats on this.
But all of a sudden my work internet filters have blocked it leaving me feeling somewhat deprived during my lunch break.
Anyway such is the strength of some of yr recent posts on team selection I've felt compelled 2 try & get involved & comment from home, and this post (and its replies) sum up for me much of what being a Blue is all about.
Specifically at present we have the immediate Garrido, Vassell/Elano and Benjani/Jo conundrums plus the what the debate on what the hell would be our first choice midfield once Johnson & Petrov become available?
Oh, and also the thought that given the money available will we still be seriously discussing many (any?) of these names this time next season?
I don't have the answers, but like many I'm not convinced that MH has them either at the present. Which isn't a call to do anything drastic, I just wish it was a little more obvious as to where his thought process was taking us.