I've found it interesting to see the reaction of a segment of our supporters here to the loss against Chelsea last weekend. People seem to be blaming our recent poor play on issues like "character" and "passion," when, in my opinion, our biggest problem all season has been the inability of our managers to play our best attacking players together.
AVB made a huge mistake freezing out Adebayor, and bizarrely dropped Eriksen for a period of games after the West Ham loss, leaving us devoid of creativity. Sherwood, for his part, loaned out Holtby (who has done well at Fulham) and has benched Soldado, Eriksen (his most egregious mistake by far and one that single-handedly cost us three points in my opinion) and Paulinho at various moments recently in favor of players who have long failed to produce any quality in the final third of the pitch.
The single biggest issue for us is the complete lack of productivity we've gotten from our wingers. You CANNOT play with one striker and have two wing forwards who are completely unable to create clear cut chances or score goals. Yet we have among the least productive (as far as end product goes) wingers in the entire league with Lennon, Townsend, and Sigurdsson. The former two have exactly 2 goals between them and 1 assist. The two goals consisted of a cross that happened to go into the net and a deflection off a defender. The 1 assist was a simple ball Lennon played to an offside Defoe. While Sigurdsson played well against Norwich nearly 6 months ago, he's been one of the poorer attacking players whenever he's gotten a chance since his first half goal against Chelsea (he's been exceptionally mediocre in all of the games Sherwood has started him in).
In total, Lennon, Townsend, and Sigurdsson, who at various times this season have formed 2/3rds of our attacking front, HAVE COMBINED TO PRODUCE ONE SOLITARY ASSIST in OVER 3600+ league minutes! That isn't a typo. Re-read that statistic out loud and let it sink in for a minute. Can anyone find me another trio or even duo of wingers anywhere in the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 or Serie A that can match that level of futility? Is it any coincidence that two of our worst losses this year (West Ham & Norwich) came in games when 2 out of these 3 players featured in a 4-3-3 formation on the wings (edit--It was actually Cardiff at home where Townsend and Lennon started together, but Townsend was brought on as a substitute before Eriksen against Norwich when we desperately needed a goal late)?
Why, given the overwhelming evidence available to him, does Sherwood continue to start these three unproductive players? I mean, when you mix in Bentaleb with two of the above wingers, you're putting pretty much the entire onus of scoring and creating on Adebayor and Eriksen (that is if Sherwood even picks Eriksen).
If you want to talk boldly about players having to earn their wages, why not target those who have been incredibly unproductive for the entirety of the season? What does it say about Sherwood's judgment if he "trusts" these players over others who have a history of better work product?
Adebayor, Soldado, Paulinho, Eriksen, and Chadli have all scored goals and created clear cut chances for other players during Sherwood's reign, yet these five players have never started a game together. Why?
Character and passion are fine traits, but talent matters. The most talented players in our squad need to play together. That didn't happen under AVB and it hasn't happened under Sherwood, and it is a prime reason why we are in this period of turmoil.
AVB made a huge mistake freezing out Adebayor, and bizarrely dropped Eriksen for a period of games after the West Ham loss, leaving us devoid of creativity. Sherwood, for his part, loaned out Holtby (who has done well at Fulham) and has benched Soldado, Eriksen (his most egregious mistake by far and one that single-handedly cost us three points in my opinion) and Paulinho at various moments recently in favor of players who have long failed to produce any quality in the final third of the pitch.
The single biggest issue for us is the complete lack of productivity we've gotten from our wingers. You CANNOT play with one striker and have two wing forwards who are completely unable to create clear cut chances or score goals. Yet we have among the least productive (as far as end product goes) wingers in the entire league with Lennon, Townsend, and Sigurdsson. The former two have exactly 2 goals between them and 1 assist. The two goals consisted of a cross that happened to go into the net and a deflection off a defender. The 1 assist was a simple ball Lennon played to an offside Defoe. While Sigurdsson played well against Norwich nearly 6 months ago, he's been one of the poorer attacking players whenever he's gotten a chance since his first half goal against Chelsea (he's been exceptionally mediocre in all of the games Sherwood has started him in).
In total, Lennon, Townsend, and Sigurdsson, who at various times this season have formed 2/3rds of our attacking front, HAVE COMBINED TO PRODUCE ONE SOLITARY ASSIST in OVER 3600+ league minutes! That isn't a typo. Re-read that statistic out loud and let it sink in for a minute. Can anyone find me another trio or even duo of wingers anywhere in the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 or Serie A that can match that level of futility? Is it any coincidence that two of our worst losses this year (West Ham & Norwich) came in games when 2 out of these 3 players featured in a 4-3-3 formation on the wings (edit--It was actually Cardiff at home where Townsend and Lennon started together, but Townsend was brought on as a substitute before Eriksen against Norwich when we desperately needed a goal late)?
Why, given the overwhelming evidence available to him, does Sherwood continue to start these three unproductive players? I mean, when you mix in Bentaleb with two of the above wingers, you're putting pretty much the entire onus of scoring and creating on Adebayor and Eriksen (that is if Sherwood even picks Eriksen).
If you want to talk boldly about players having to earn their wages, why not target those who have been incredibly unproductive for the entirety of the season? What does it say about Sherwood's judgment if he "trusts" these players over others who have a history of better work product?
Adebayor, Soldado, Paulinho, Eriksen, and Chadli have all scored goals and created clear cut chances for other players during Sherwood's reign, yet these five players have never started a game together. Why?
Character and passion are fine traits, but talent matters. The most talented players in our squad need to play together. That didn't happen under AVB and it hasn't happened under Sherwood, and it is a prime reason why we are in this period of turmoil.
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