Just how much longer can Nice Guy Zola be allowed to keep getting his tactics wrong? With every damaging defeat and every goals against fest, our chances of surviving in the Premiership recede. Of course today was always going to be difficult with Cole and Upson out, but Zola was presumably part of the brains trust that settled on recruiting Jimenez and Diamanti as "forwards" and that decided we could get by without Collins, a replacement left back and anybody of Premiership quality to play on the right side of our defence.
Those fools who joined in the chorus of "In Zola we trust" when we failed to recruit a striker or two in the summer should now be feeling very silly and shame faced. I repeatedly said that blind support was no support at all; I repeatedly said that a true friend is honest, a true supporter stands up and protests when bad decisions are made. Others tried to shout me down; some even campaigned to have this blog removed from News Now. Fools, fools, fools!
When I forecast a relegation struggle, I was labelled a Spud and a traitor. No way, the enlightened insisted. We are a top 8 side, no question they proclaimed. I asked, what if Cole gets injured and the reply came back, the window hasn't closed yet, in Zola we trust. Fools, fools, fools!
And then along came Franco and so all our problems were over! Look, the enlightened proclaimed, just like we said, we have a second striker. But what if either Franco or Cole were to be injured? In Zavon and Zola we trust. Fools, fools, fools!
Already the excuses are being made for today's humiliation, already heads are being buried deep in the sand. But there can be no excuses for failing to score against a back four reading Fletcher, Brown, Carrick and Evra. Only a side devoid of tactical nounce, devoid of pace, devoid of shape, devoid of threat in the final third and devoid of midfield invention would fail to score against Charlie Brown, two midfielders and an attacking left back! That team was picked, briefed, trained and "motivated" by Zola.
Before kick off, I said Diamanti had to play. Before kick off, I said that without him in the team, we would offer no attacking threat. Before kick off, I said that we needed Stanislas and Collison to spring beyond Franco to offer a threat to Ferguson's charges. Before kick off, I said Hines would be ineffective if picked. Before kick off I warned that 4-4-2 would result in Collison and Stanislas being pinned back in protection of their full backs and that without Diamanti, we would have no creativity in midfield. Since last season, I have been calling for Stanislas to be liberated from a left flank that is alien to his right footed attributes! Before kick off, I warned that Faubert was needed to protect Spector from Giggs. I didn't even consider it worthy of mention that Da Costa is a better option to Tomkins!
If I know this, if I can see this, why can't Zola? Tactically, the guy appears a complete numpty. Time and again he gets his tactics wrong and yet he doesn't ever seem to learn from his mistakes.
Remember the 4-0 defeat against Bolton when Pardew got his tactics completely wrong; that was the final straw and even I, a staunch supporter of Mr Armani, had to accept that his time might be up. Today felt like that nightmare performance at Bolton. Of course the Mancs are a stronger team, but they didn't have a defence for God's sake and we were at home!
Even with Ronaldo in the team, Ferguson's boys were unable to humiliate us at Upton Park. Well today they shat all over us and then rubbed our noses in it; and somebody has to be held accountable for that. Maybe it is Duxbury, maybe it is Nani, maybe it is Clarke or maybe it is Zola, or maybe it is all four. And maybe it is the fools who refused to see what was staring me in the face! What I know is that today confirmed that we are deep in a relegation struggle and with Cole out for two months, we are going to struggle to get many more points before the end of January. By then, we could be deeper in the mire than we were in the Great Escape year. And, as good as Carlton is, he is not Carlos Tevez.
4 comments:
Alot of what you state I agree with,but I don't think our poor results are primarily down to ZOLA .He inherited a squad that wasn't exactly going to set the premier league alight,and we knew was going to stuggle after the great escape season.ZOLA comes in and makes a few additions on a pittance of transfer funds.Those that he had targeted like CHAMAKH,BALOTTELI,didn't want to join us or circumstances didn't allow it to happen,but would have been far better quality then those we ended up with.Is that ZOLA'S fault? No.....The players we ended up were probably 3rd or 4th choice on his list.The point I'm trying to make is he can only do so much with players who lack the quality.If he had quality players to manage,implementation of tactics and levels of performance would vastly improve.I honestly believe even if top managers were in charge at WESTHAM like Ferguson and ANCELLOTI they would find it just as hard.
I disagree mate. Top managers would not stand for Nani and Duxbury deciding on who is bought and sold and top managers recognise the limitations of their players and cut their cloth accordingly. Zola thinks his players are better than they actually are and so employs tactics that leave them exposed. There is NO WAY IN A MILLION YEARS that a top manager would play Stanislas wide on the left and would leave Spector without a protective shield against Giggs after what we saw Eagles do to him last week. That is crass! If I can see it, why can't Zola? I could have picked a side better equipped to deal with Man Utd today.
Unfortunately I have to agree with sadness that you are absolutely right in everything you have sid
I am genuinely sad about it too John.
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