mrlilywhite
Well-Known Member
- Sep 1, 2008
- 3,174
- 4,992
Before I start this, I want to make it clear that I am not a Harry hater and I think what he has done for our club is nothing short of phenomenal.
After watching our last two league games I have been quite dumbfounded at our lack of tactical ability and for some time this has worried me, Whilst I appreciate the way we play and at times have been well proud of what we do, I cant help but think that we are very one dimensional and very rare that we have a plan b that actually works, I feel that we have lost two winnable games and although the players should burden some guilt, I feel that Harry has been found wanting when it has come down to the crunch.
Lets take a look at the game against Arsenal, Here was a team just waiting to be put to the sword and as predicted by many, we quickly established a 2 goal lead and had it not been for Saha`s lack of awareness it could easily of been 3, Though in between the 2 goals that we scored, something was not right, Their midfield 3 of Song, Arteta and more so Rosicky were overwhelming our midfield of Parker and Modric, This enabled them to push up on our defensive line, Added to the fact that Van Persie was dropping deep enabled them to control and win the midfield battle, Also given that Modric was our play-maker and not our defensive unit basically left Parker on his own to close down the massive amounts of space that were left and a battle he could not win.
The space that was created was exploited by Arsenal`s front 3 and with our backs to the wall we were always going to have to play deeper and it was In my opinion always going to happen, The team sheets before the game started suggested so, Playing Niko was at best suicidal really, A player more adept at playing through the middle in the hole, The Arsenal lb was always going to have freedom against Kranky, This put too much on walker, Who let`s be honest is not the best when it comes to positioning defensively and relies on his quickness to compensate.
What Harry should of done here is quite plain to see, Lennon should of been given the nod with Niko not even being an after thought, What Lennon has done a lot better lately is his ability to track back and close his space down, This on it`s own would have nullified the threat from that side and given us a better balance and pace on both flanks, That alone would not of stopped Arsenal. We have proven in recent times that we don't have to rely on Ade`s goals alone, we have goals in Bale and Lennon, So in A nutshell we have 3 goal scoring threats that were possible in that game. All Harry needed to do was alter the midfield and match them, Sandro/Livermore alongside Parker would of been enough with Modric dropping into the hole, Instruct Modric to drop deep and cover defensively would have nullified that threat. Attacking wise, Modric would have had a field day against that Arsenal back four and his link up play would of been far more superior, That would have put us in a 4-3-3, With a much better defensive midfield than them and I am sure this would of won us the game, They did not win that game, we won that game for them, They were not hungrier than us at kick-off, They just had a manager that knew how to win Tactically, Had we met them man for man in Midfield and chose the right personnel we would of won.
The Man Utd game was in one respect the complete opposite of what we should of done against Arsenal, Here you have, Arguably, What was one of the best Midfielders of a generation in Paul Scholes and A defensive midfield shield of Michael Carrick, Both renowned for their passing ability and we had two Defensive Midfielders more accustomed to closing down space and yes we easily won that battle and controlled much of the game, and even though we played good in the 1st half we were 1 down through poor defending.
The situation could of been more different though had we adopted a different take on the midfield, through all our domination we created very little, Modric was ineffective on the Left and could not get into the game, Why did Harry not go with putting Luka in his normal position and matching them in midfield, A battle we would of still won? The boy Rose looks good on the left flank and can get past his man quite often or even taken a chance on Dos Santos ( the boy has some proving to do, so give him the chance!). Bottom line is we lost to a very poor Man utd today and yes we were guilty of poor defending, But we created very little except half chances, Utd converted most of their shots to shots on target and until it was too late we didnt really look that dangerous, Which leads me onto why Harry left it too late to make a change, At 0-1 down he should of been thinking to change something to give us more chances at goal but he believed we were playing well enough to get back into it!? The truth is we was and was not, we were holding our own very well but we were not creating anything that was troubling De Gea, Not even at 0-2 did he change it!! That is not a tactical deficiency just blissfully ignorant and defeatist!
The problem therein lies with Harry and his desire to get back to what he tactically knows best and that is the 4-4-2, When we set off on our journey into the champions league, It was abundantly clear that to survive, you had to follow a more continental approach and disregard the traditional and very British 4-4-2, Harry realised this and hastily moved forward with a 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 and this bought reasonable success, Though as the season rolled on, it become clear that Vdv was not able to sustain his early season form and as a result we limped home and finished 5th and our goals dried up, during that campaign we tried both of the formations, with limited success and yet with the players we had then and the players we have now we have punched above our expected weight according to the media, Though imo had the tactics been right we would still be up there fighting with the mancs.
As stated, I thank Harry for what he has helped us achieve, Though I do wonder had Big MJ stayed and been given the backing what he could of achieved with this squad as it is, I would argue that he could of done just a good a job and he was not the smartest in terms of tactics either, Ask yourself this, what is it that stops us playing a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3? Is it the lack of players that can play that formation? Man city play a very successful 4-3-3 with some very good players, Arsenal also play a similar system too and Utd play a formation that is versatile and can adapt, Do we?
Whatever the future holds, I seriously hope Harry gets the England job and we move on, As I believe Harry has gone as far as his tactical knowledge will allow him to go with Us....In the meantime whether we get 3rd or 4th, We have to believe that we will get champions league next year, The failure to do so would be more damaging than any of us fear possible.
After watching our last two league games I have been quite dumbfounded at our lack of tactical ability and for some time this has worried me, Whilst I appreciate the way we play and at times have been well proud of what we do, I cant help but think that we are very one dimensional and very rare that we have a plan b that actually works, I feel that we have lost two winnable games and although the players should burden some guilt, I feel that Harry has been found wanting when it has come down to the crunch.
Lets take a look at the game against Arsenal, Here was a team just waiting to be put to the sword and as predicted by many, we quickly established a 2 goal lead and had it not been for Saha`s lack of awareness it could easily of been 3, Though in between the 2 goals that we scored, something was not right, Their midfield 3 of Song, Arteta and more so Rosicky were overwhelming our midfield of Parker and Modric, This enabled them to push up on our defensive line, Added to the fact that Van Persie was dropping deep enabled them to control and win the midfield battle, Also given that Modric was our play-maker and not our defensive unit basically left Parker on his own to close down the massive amounts of space that were left and a battle he could not win.
The space that was created was exploited by Arsenal`s front 3 and with our backs to the wall we were always going to have to play deeper and it was In my opinion always going to happen, The team sheets before the game started suggested so, Playing Niko was at best suicidal really, A player more adept at playing through the middle in the hole, The Arsenal lb was always going to have freedom against Kranky, This put too much on walker, Who let`s be honest is not the best when it comes to positioning defensively and relies on his quickness to compensate.
What Harry should of done here is quite plain to see, Lennon should of been given the nod with Niko not even being an after thought, What Lennon has done a lot better lately is his ability to track back and close his space down, This on it`s own would have nullified the threat from that side and given us a better balance and pace on both flanks, That alone would not of stopped Arsenal. We have proven in recent times that we don't have to rely on Ade`s goals alone, we have goals in Bale and Lennon, So in A nutshell we have 3 goal scoring threats that were possible in that game. All Harry needed to do was alter the midfield and match them, Sandro/Livermore alongside Parker would of been enough with Modric dropping into the hole, Instruct Modric to drop deep and cover defensively would have nullified that threat. Attacking wise, Modric would have had a field day against that Arsenal back four and his link up play would of been far more superior, That would have put us in a 4-3-3, With a much better defensive midfield than them and I am sure this would of won us the game, They did not win that game, we won that game for them, They were not hungrier than us at kick-off, They just had a manager that knew how to win Tactically, Had we met them man for man in Midfield and chose the right personnel we would of won.
The Man Utd game was in one respect the complete opposite of what we should of done against Arsenal, Here you have, Arguably, What was one of the best Midfielders of a generation in Paul Scholes and A defensive midfield shield of Michael Carrick, Both renowned for their passing ability and we had two Defensive Midfielders more accustomed to closing down space and yes we easily won that battle and controlled much of the game, and even though we played good in the 1st half we were 1 down through poor defending.
The situation could of been more different though had we adopted a different take on the midfield, through all our domination we created very little, Modric was ineffective on the Left and could not get into the game, Why did Harry not go with putting Luka in his normal position and matching them in midfield, A battle we would of still won? The boy Rose looks good on the left flank and can get past his man quite often or even taken a chance on Dos Santos ( the boy has some proving to do, so give him the chance!). Bottom line is we lost to a very poor Man utd today and yes we were guilty of poor defending, But we created very little except half chances, Utd converted most of their shots to shots on target and until it was too late we didnt really look that dangerous, Which leads me onto why Harry left it too late to make a change, At 0-1 down he should of been thinking to change something to give us more chances at goal but he believed we were playing well enough to get back into it!? The truth is we was and was not, we were holding our own very well but we were not creating anything that was troubling De Gea, Not even at 0-2 did he change it!! That is not a tactical deficiency just blissfully ignorant and defeatist!
The problem therein lies with Harry and his desire to get back to what he tactically knows best and that is the 4-4-2, When we set off on our journey into the champions league, It was abundantly clear that to survive, you had to follow a more continental approach and disregard the traditional and very British 4-4-2, Harry realised this and hastily moved forward with a 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 and this bought reasonable success, Though as the season rolled on, it become clear that Vdv was not able to sustain his early season form and as a result we limped home and finished 5th and our goals dried up, during that campaign we tried both of the formations, with limited success and yet with the players we had then and the players we have now we have punched above our expected weight according to the media, Though imo had the tactics been right we would still be up there fighting with the mancs.
As stated, I thank Harry for what he has helped us achieve, Though I do wonder had Big MJ stayed and been given the backing what he could of achieved with this squad as it is, I would argue that he could of done just a good a job and he was not the smartest in terms of tactics either, Ask yourself this, what is it that stops us playing a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3? Is it the lack of players that can play that formation? Man city play a very successful 4-3-3 with some very good players, Arsenal also play a similar system too and Utd play a formation that is versatile and can adapt, Do we?
Whatever the future holds, I seriously hope Harry gets the England job and we move on, As I believe Harry has gone as far as his tactical knowledge will allow him to go with Us....In the meantime whether we get 3rd or 4th, We have to believe that we will get champions league next year, The failure to do so would be more damaging than any of us fear possible.
