Is correct LTW, and he looked good I thought too.
A few things first:
- I thought they were both penalties. First one was obvious, second one could go either way but you can't really complain. He's tripped him and missed the ball. That's a penalty. But it's by the by, we were a beaten side by then anyway.
- Kelly's an appalling right back. Nothing new there, but if anything he's getting worse. He actually doesn't look like he knows to balance himself properly when he's got the ball at his feet. He looked uncomfortable in possession, didn't actually want it at all, and just shunted it back to Skrtel everytime he got it anyway. Remember Rafa stuck Skrtel at right-back away to Middlesboro years ago and it was a horror show? Well yesterday we relieved it again.
- Ignore the subs. We'd lost the structure of the side after the sending off, so no matter what Rodgers or the side did it wouldn't have mattered.
Right, the rest. I'm gonna do this quickly cos it doesn't deserve more.
All over the place. Full-backs that couldn't attack cos they were lopsided - meaning WBA could string 5 in a line across the middle. A midfield that I don't think had ever even met each other before the way they played. A captain who's idea of leadership is something you produce when captaining England these days. Slow, ponderous passing. Inconsistent movement. Too many long pointless passes. A defensive midfielder dropping deep to pick it up, and then no one within 40 metres of him for the next pass. Two extremely poor wide forwards; I hammered this all summer long cos it's true - in a 4-3-3 your wide forwards have to be brilliant. Not good, but brilliant. they need to be able to move the ball forward 40 yaards, beat one or two men, and drag defenders out of their way. I cannot stress enough how important it is that those 2 are good in a 4-3-3. One touch, one touch, then 4 touches, then one touch. You're either playing it quickly, or you're playing for the sake of passing. The latter being all too prevalent.
They looked like their mission was to pass, as opposed to score. This was possession for the sake of possession. They looked confused, uncoordinated, and disjointed. I thought Allen looked good, but he looked like someone who'd just been transported from a side that can play football, into one just learning it. Cos he had. This shit's gonna take time was the only conclusion to be drawn.
The formation is going to take longer. I said this in pre-season, and I'll say it again; when defending with a 4-3-3 you are only as strong as your weak link. You cannot press in isolation, cannot defend in 2s or 3s, cannot chase aimlessly. It's one in, all in. Anyone look at that yesterday and think 'well they haven't got it back within 7 seconds'? Get used to it. It's ok harrying Gomel and the reserves in training into mistakes, it's a different thing transporting that into 90 minutes of premier league football. Trust me, Guardiola didn't rock up one day and go 'here, try this' and 3 days later Barca were owning the ball for 89 minutes. It takes a fucking age, it takes repeated drilling of this shit in training, and it takes patience. Different stratosphere I know, but I can relate in a fucking way. The manager of the team i played for went with 4-3-3 at the start of pre-season, told us our whole world was gonna reveolve around this shit. We watched youtube after youtube, after video breakdown of that shit, we stood on the training ground for hours 4 nights a week whilst the opposing goalkeeper started moves and we got into shape trying to get it back. We're shite, but I can guarantee one thing that relates whatever level you're at - if one cunt's not sticking to the structure, the whole house of cards comes down. Last night, 3 or 4 players at a time weren't following the process, that's how far off they were. And why it looked so rubbish. The side I played for abandoned it after 4 months of pre-season and 2 months of the regular season and reverted to 4-4-2 by the way. It was that fucking hard.
Anyway. Structure and formation aside there re some things that should improve quicker than the system;
- Lucas and Allen will get better togethor. they're intelligent footballers, but you can't ask any two players to come togethor 8 days after first meeting and expect them to be Vieira & Petit. Some may remember Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce's first few games togethor for Man Utd many moons ago, it was like they'd never even met each other. I was reminded of that last night. Get close, play togethor, and play off each other. One starts, the other follows. Last night they looked like they wanted to do the same thing at the same time.
- Steven Gerrard may decide to break a sweat again soon. You're not on a fucking beach in Rio anymore. Get your finger out of your hole and show a bit of leadership when your team's getting dicked.
- He also needs to get closer to Allen and Lucas. He's too close to Suarez at the minute and he's choking his space. You can't hope for the wee man to control it and nutmeg someone everytime he gets it just to get a yard of space. Get the fuck out of his way. Mentally he received too much of it yesterday, certainly too much of it in the wrong areas. He needs better quality passes, not plenty of passes. Gerrard standing on top of him did more harm than good.
- Enrique and Glenjo in their actual positions will decidedly improve the balance.
- And will decidely improve things for Downing and Borini. They both struggled no doubt, but it was very hard for them. The ball took a fucking age to get to them meaning WBA had time to get into shape, and they had very very little outside running support from their full-backs. The boy Borini looked nervous, give him time, he's got an eye for goal.
- Condense the gaps. Far too big a gap between defence and midfield and midfield and Suarez. I'm not suggesting we close up, but that we get more players through the spine of the team. You need a straight line structure in a 4-3-3, especially from back to midfield as it gives your forward players the basis to play off. Think Valdes-Pique-Busquets-Xavi - they rarely bother going outside of the lines of the penalty box to penalty box. Last night on the other hand you could have driven a bus through the middle of our half of the ground.
- Buy a striker. A number 9 in fact. A Van Nistelrooy type would revel in our side. Not easy, but we're trying to fuck a pornstar with a flaccid dick at the minute.
And I'm stopping now. I'm not distraught, I knew this shit was going to take an age. We don't have a good enough squad, we don't have enough money, and most importantly - we haven't had enough time. I trust the manager, and I believe in what he's trying to do, so let's give him the time he deserves. This shit might get worse before it gets better though.
