A slightly on, slight off topic here, but did anyone see the England match last night? (daft question I know...)
Oh dear. On a scale of 1 to 10, how poor (and how LUCKY) were England? The defence did a decent job, albeit some of the defending was last ditch blocks (always a bad sign) but what happened with the midfield and attack? Absolutely awful, England offered nothing going forward and failed to do anything in midfield, either offensively and defensively. Italy should have won 3 or 4 nil, but missed a whole host of chances.
Aside from debates about various individuals (Rooney and Young in particular, who were especially dreadful), the tactics of Hodgson were very poor, and reminded me a bit of Pearson from last season. For example, Italy play a 3 man midfield, including arguably the player of the tournament Pirlo, and England line up with a flat, inflexible 4-4-2, and were of course totally over-run in midfield which created more chances for Italy. This is the same non-tactic Pearson used against Chelsea and Blackpool last season - trying to beat a 3 man midfield with a flat 2, and 2 wingers who, invariably, do not push inside enough when defending.
What is it with English managers who think 4-4-2 is the answer to all of football's tactical dilemnas? I understand that it is a comfortable formation that managers of a certain era understand and feel at ease with, but it is also a very outdated system that only works well against inferior 4-4-2 formations from weaker teams. It's like trying to run a marathon in a pair of slippers.
Hodgson, Pearson, Redknapp - all fail to counter-act different formations and all tactically inept. And people wonder why there are so few English managers in the top jobs....
For the record I think Hodgson has actually done a fairly decent job with the incredibly limited set of players he has to deal with. But I think he should have been a bit more expansive and a bit more attacking last night. Italy are a very good side, but only possess 2 or 3 genuinely world class players, and their defence is seen as being very fragile. The two players they said they feared most were Carroll and Walcott - both left picking splinters out their backside for 65 minutes!
Hodgson catches Pearsonitus
posted on 26/6/12
prawnsandwich - While I have no argument with much of what you've said there (file under 'you're entitled to your opinion', can I push you further on this point:
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"I have read a great deal of nonsence in recent weeks about Swansea, Norwich and Southampton doing it with unknowns - largely not true and a cursory examination of their squads would uncover a solid core of quality pros."
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Can you give some examples? The ones that immediately spring to mind in each team are quality footballers, but ones who hadn't had much if any Premiership experience before the present and certainly not as high profile as the likes our signings.
posted on 26/6/12
Why do I keep getting winky faces at the end of my brackets? )
posted on 26/6/12
Also Norwich, Swansea and Southampton didn't have the big name, big ego, big price players that Foxello says is required by Championship clubs aspiring to gt into the PL.
posted on 26/6/12
Dunge; I referred to "proven" and "high(er)" end Championship players at Swansea, Norwich and Southampton.
Those that spring to mind are the likes of Hoolihan, Surman, Holt, Morison, Pilkington, Dobie, Routledge, Dyer, Angel, Britton, Ashley Williams, Lambert, Puncheon, Rodriguez, Sharp - to name but fifteen.
My point is that these were known quality players and had developed their craft over many seasons and with different teams at this level.
We have this sort of quality (mostly signed by Sven) and all I am asking is that Grumpy builds around these and not the De Laets and Vardy's of this World, who I would expect to be bit-part players for the next season.
posted on 27/6/12
Leaving aside Mills for a moment, where there appear to be exceptional circumstances, aren't the players that Pearson seems more likely to keep more befitting of this mould? If you take a list of Danns, Nugent, King, St. Ledger, Morgan, Gallagher, Wellens, Schmeichel, Dyer, Drinkwater, Marshall - There's a mix of proven Championship players in there along with younger players of potential still learning their craft but looking good at this level. Compare that to a list of rumoured and actual leavers:
Bamba, Mills, Konchesky, Peltier, Beckford and you'll see that these guys are generally higher profile and recognisable names but don't necessarily have a lot of Championship experience (as I say, Mills aside).
In addition, Pearson brings in De Laet, who has played albeit on loan for several clubs at this level, highly rated James and of course controversial wild-card Vardy. Anyone else that we intend to bid for from other Championship clubs we probably won't hear about for a couple more weeks anyway.
Still, my point is: Is it not the case that Pearson's building just the way you want him to?
posted on 27/6/12
Forget Sven i think the issue that the fans and the players did not get is the keeping the ball style that we see in the Euros. I was hapy to watchthe ball go sideways and backward if we keeped it but all you would here is moaning. if you play teams as we did who put 10 men behind the wall you need to move the ball around.
Nothing wrong with roys 442 if the players are happy on the ball and are fluid.
We did the best we could with the players we have got and all those who moan about our performance IMO show there lack of knowledge about what is possiable with the resources avaliable.
posted on 27/6/12
Nev, is it not the case that that style is naturally going to have more success the higher up the football ladder you go - because the players you get there are better quality, have a better touch and are able to keep the ball more easily? Menawhile, players of far lesser ability are able to close down and tackle in an organised way.
This is what happened to Sven's team every week; they looked fantastic if the opposition sat back and let us pass it around them. When we were energetically closed down we were often found wanting.
posted on 27/6/12
agreed as far back as i can remember you need someone with a key to unlock the oppersition defence and we dont have that ability.
Teams have played their way out of this division Reading etc. It looks like we will try and bludgeon our way out!
posted on 27/6/12
I don't think we are at odds here Dunge.
If Grumpy can build a squad around the Danns, Nugent's, Beckford's,St Ledger's,Konchesky's and (IMO my separatist opinion - Mills's) of this World then we would have something. But my fear is that two or three of these will be replaced by players of lesser pedigree.
I see potential in Marshall and Drinkwater and as for De Laet, James and Vardy - who knows? As has been mentioned before, this approach would be sound for a five year plan but I just don't think the Super Thai Guys will have that amount of patience.
On Nev's point of "nothing wrong with Roy's 4-4-2" I couldn't disagree more. Can you show me a World footballing side that successfully plays this these days? They play with holding midfielders, three central/attacking mid-fielders and only one (or in Spain's case, none) up-front. Your width is supplied by the wing-backs but your three (and sometimes five) in mid-field only need pass the ball regularly and over a few yards. Even the English can manage that!
It's all about possession and picking the right moment these days. Something England fail to understand and hence will do nothing for the next 46 years !
posted on 27/6/12
"Also Norwich, Swansea and Southampton didn't have the big name, big ego, big price players that Foxello says is required by Championship clubs aspiring to gt into the PL."
I've not said anything about signing 'big name' players this summer. We brought in a variety of big names last season, some worked, some didn't. What I want(ed) to see this pre-season is us trying to sign 2 or 3 of the best players in this division to plug our weak areas. For the £3m we've spent on unproven, 'maybe' players thus far, we could have got someone like Peter Whittingham or Chris Burke, and someone like Ross Wallace for probably no more than £1m. And for the £1.7m we may end up spending on Vardy, we could've got the young Norweigian guy that Wolves are signing, who has a better goals-to-game ratio and has played at a far higher level.