Dear God, no Ferdinand, Evans or Vidic and Neville off after half an hour, Manchester United are here for the taking but we have barely got into their box firt half and go in a goal down because Kovac lost Scholes on the edge of the box! Had Cole been fit and playing, he would surely have put this makeshift United defence to the sword, with Carrick and Fletcher now playing in defence, but with a slow Franco and a limping and green Hines up front, they haven't been tested.
Just as I predicted, we are vulnerable down our right hand flank. Spector has battled manfully but the goal came from a cross from the right and a poor headed clearance, leading to Scholes slipping past Kovac and blasting home.
The midfield is utterly lacking in creativity. Collison, as predicted, is unable to get forward due to his defensive duties and the long ball to Hines, as predicted, is being dealt with with ease because it is our only attacking option. Stanislas might be a threat if on the right, but being on the left, he keeps trying to come inside rather than attacking the fullback - again as I have been saying ever since Zola came up with the mad plan to play him on the left.
How can we change it? is Diamanti on the bench? If so, get him on! Dyer is definitely there and might be worth a run out. Dare we send on Nouble for some height to trouble Carrick and Brown in the air? Desperate measure but deperate times and all that. At the moment, we can't hold on to the ball. On the rare occasions we actually have it, we either try to run through United or simply lump the long hopeful ball up towards Hines. Neither tactic is working. That's why we need Diamanti's passing skills! If we win corners, we must stand a chance of scoring from a header, and if we can run at the centre of the defence on the edge of the box, we will win free kicks, thus the logic of bringing on Dyer and Diamanti. Will Zola do it? We are not going to get back into the game with the current personnel!
Diamanti is on for Hines.
ReplyDeleteThis is painful watching.MAN UTD are superioe in every department.WESTHAM's passing and running off the ball is poor.We are completely clueless pass the half way line.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would have made one jot who we played and what formation we used MAN UTD are a different class.ZOLA can tinker as much as he likes with the team personel and use any number of permutations for his formation it will not change the fact that as a club we lack quality.As we all know a huge investment in bringing a higher calibre players to the club is the only way us fans will ever see any significant improvements in our gameplay.
ReplyDeleteI really do like this wacky blog but can't find any good news on here about the hammers!!
ReplyDeleteWoeful. When you can't defend for toffee you need to be able to take the pressure off by being a effect in attack. We offered very little up front either.
ReplyDelete1710, you find me some good news and I will report it!
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