14 Apr 2019 20:47:54
Best not to dwell on yesterdays performance the most positive thing I can say is job done.

In many ways we are still suffering from an unbalanced squad where players have been recruited without an understanding of where they will fit into the team and without knowing or understanding our preferred style or system.

Without wanting to sound like a broken record if we are to enjoy any success either on the field or in the transfer market Ole must impose his identity on the team.

When he took over he quickly identified his preferred 11 and formation. For the first time in years we knew our best team and it brought success. The football was better (not perfect), players started to form relationships and partnerships and we had reason to be optimistic. Injury derailed this plan and threw it into chaos. We now have different systems every week with players being asked to perform several different roles often within the same 90 minutes. Whilst some degree of tactical flexibility is useful players perform at their best when they understand their role and know what's expected of them. They benefit from playing the same system and knowing their team mates. At the moment we've reverted back into a bunch of individuals playing their own game rather than a cohesive team where everyone understands their job.

I think it's fair to say that none of us could reliably name the team for Tuesday let alone guess the tactics or formation. Will it be 3 at the back, 442, 442 (diamond), 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 who knows?!

When it comes to the summer recruitment how do we know which players to target if we don't even know what style or formation we want to play?

I would have liked Ole to stick to the 4-3-3 which brought him his early success. To continue to demand his players work hard and press the ball. Move the ball quickly and play without fear. If he'd have stuck to his principles we'd have a better understanding of what was required in the summer. His tinkering and square pens in round holes approach has contributed to a lack of form, disjointed, disorganised and uninspiring recent performances.

I agree we need a CB, RB and probably another CM but in my opinion the priority position must be RW. We just don't have anybody that can play that position effectively on a consistent basis. Lingard has done ok on occasions but he often drifts inside which leaves us without width. I accept a better full back might go some way to alleviating this problem but Lingard constantly drifting inside often leaves us vulnerable defensively as well.

Surely we want our FB to build up a relationship with our wide men, providing overlapping runs and freeing up space inside. Lingard is often so far detached that the full back is totally isolated often left without a passing option. We must be able to attack down both sides of the pitch and if we had someone on the right this would free up space for Martial and Pogba coming through the centre.

I think Ole has been guilty of trying to be a little bit too clever and manipulating his tactics and formation too often. He has fallen into the trap of setting up his team according to the opposition rather than building on his early success and principles.

For the record I think Ole deserved the job but I want to know what type of football we can expect next season. I went to see us work harder, press the ball higher and play on the front foot. I want to see us impose our own style on the opposition and watch a team rather than a collection of individuals. I think Ole has fallen into the trap like his predecessors of chasing results rather than performances. He's now walking a dangerous line believing that the ends justify the means. Yesterday wasn't good enough despite the result. Look after the performances and the results will look after themselves over the course of a season.

Come on Ole give us what we want. We need to see progress and an identity returning to our play. Prioritise the performances and the results will look after themselves. Don't lose your way like those before you.


1.) 14 Apr 2019
14 Apr 2019 20:57:25
Spot on DLIB.


2.) 14 Apr 2019
14 Apr 2019 21:06:23
To be fair to ole and the players dlib since the Liverpool game there was lots of injuries. he has not been able to call on his preferred 11 once since then.
So what do you get?
Some positives in the emergence of dalot fred and mctom in particular.
The negatives are the chopping and changing leads to disjointed performances and players playing rash and jessie when not 100% fit.
The.


3.) 14 Apr 2019
14 Apr 2019 21:09:19
Pressed send early.
The other negative is we have to rely on depth of squad and we got exposed in midfield and wide areas in particular.


4.) 14 Apr 2019
14 Apr 2019 23:20:05
Good post dlib and I couldn't agree more about your point about attacking from both sides . Martial cops lots of stick, to be honest even though I still like him he deserves a lot of his stick, while the right sided attackers get a bit of a pass as it's more just accepted we are pants down the right . I hope Sanchez duznt get better in people's eyes by not playing and simply on the fact martial has had a poor game, Sanchez has been truly awful .
On pogba another who frustrates but of the midfield options we have it's a pretty bland bunch attacking wise without him .
We have it in us to be able to beat pretty much anyone in a one off game, the flip side is we also look well capable of losing to teams we would hope not to.


5.) 15 Apr 2019
15 Apr 2019 06:13:03
Good post DLIB.
Injuries are starting to take a toll on the squad.
We have not fielded a same starting 11 for the past 10 games.