pronounced ''coughghoness'' OK?
The other thing he did was shift Lennon to the left to double up on Belletti. For quite a while we seemed to be playing with 3 central midfielders in a diamond (Jenas at the tip), Lennon out left and nobody at all on the right. That, and the substitutions were definitely unconventional but they worked incredibly well .
Lennon was having zero success against Bridge, but he did seem much livelier when he was moved to the left against Belletti. Also, by the time of the second switch, we had Tainio and Hutton at FB, and of those two Hutton was much more likely to get forward. So having Lennon on the left gave us more balance.
anyone notice the switch of full backs in the last 5 mins of extra time!
pure genius, switched TT and Hutton because of the danger they were posing on our left side!
Yup. Very true. Jenas was definitely playing ahead of the T'Hud & Zokora, and that gave Mikel less time on the ball. Also, JJ was freer to make some forward runs - and as the match wore on, we really saw what a superfit player he is, especially after all those Chavski bodychecks.
Lennon was having zero success against Bridge, but he did seem much livelier when he was moved to the left against Belletti. Also, by the time of the second switch, we had Tainio and Hutton at FB, and of those two Hutton was much more likely to get forward. So having Lennon on the left gave us more balance.
But by the same token, his presence neutralised Bridge as an attacking force in the first half.
Good point. Lennon takes his tackling-back responsibilities much more seriously now, and is pretty good at it. No-one is going to get away from him.But by the same token, his presence neutralised Bridge as an attacking force in the first half.
awsome tactics, was at the game and the first sub confused me for the first time ever i usually know why a manager has done what he's done and what formation we've gone to etc but we played with what no right mid, steed AND lennon on the left i was pretty confused at the time but it clearly worked as did the rest of his tactics as we won long may it continue, poyet the master motivator and ramos the tactical genius!
awsome tactics, was at the game and the first sub confused me for the first time ever i usually know why a manager has done what he's done and what formation we've gone to etc but we played with what no right mid, steed AND lennon on the left i was pretty confused at the time but it clearly worked as did the rest of his tactics as we won long may it continue, poyet the master motivator and ramos the tactical genius!