Cue Grant and I expected better; I expected common sense and pragmatism; I expected a manager who looked at his available resources and picked a team accordingly, rather than start with a formation and force players into it, regardless of suitability. Sadly, that's not what we've got.
The team selected to play Bolton wasn't just poor it was stupid. Bolton attack down the flanks, so you have to protect your full backs. Protect them? Grant didn't even pick a specialist right back, instead he went 4-3-3 using Piquionne and Ba to "screen" Bridge and Tomkins. I saw the team and accepted defeat immediately; there was no way in a million years that the selected team could win at Bolton. Add in the fact that Keane has NEVER fitted successfully into a 4-3-3 formation and you end up concluding that Grant's "thinking" was crass.
Now regular readers of this blog will know that I have been reluctant to condemn Grant. You can't change managers every season and you can't judge a guy too early after he has inherited a mess - as Grant unquestionably did. I gave Zola until December of his second season before I started the campaign to get him sacked - and at the time I was something of a lone voice! The trouble with Grant is that he is almost certainly going at the end of the season anyway, with a nice little number at Chelsea on the back burner. And, like Zola, he seems to have become obsessed with 4-3-3, the formation of the gods but a formation that tests mere mortals beyond their point of endurance.
If we play 4-3-3 today against Young and Downing, I fear we will be murdered. Our first priority must be to contain these two and try to cut off the supply to Bent. If we give them space and time, they will hurt us. Remember back to August? We were cut to ribbons and Villa literally could have scored ten. Who played right back that day? Reid! If Grant starts a centre back at right back today, he should be shot. Literally.
4-4-2 is the only answer and the formation should be conservative, with Boa ahead of Obinna in my opinion. And then there is the problem of who plays up front. I suspect Ba has now been found out. It was a great start but how good is he? Like Obinna, maybe not as good as we believed at first. I would go with Keane and one of Cole and Piquionne personally. Not the most exciting of combinations, I accept, but functional.
To win, we have to grind out a result today and not winning is close to unthinkable. Blackpool v Wigan is a nightmare fixture, promising one or both of the relegation "certainties" a point or points. If we lose today, the mountain becomes Everest like in proportions. We then HAVE to beat Blackburn, Sunderland and Wigan to survive.
It aint looking good. If I see 4-3-3 as a formation at 2.30, I may have to accept that Grant is as big a cnut as Zola!
My team for today:
Green
Jacobsen, Tomkins, Upson, Bridge
O'Neil, Noble, Hitz, Boa (or Dyer)
Cole, Keane
Totally agree. We just do not have good enough players to play 4-3-3. We did not have them when Zola tried it and we certainly don't now. Any side with decent wide players will rip us apart. Petrov did it at Bolton and Young/Downing will do it today
ReplyDeleteGrant is clueless
4-4-2 or die. Zola's stubborness was his undoing and if Grant does'nt yield to the popular consensus on the terraces then surely it will be his...33,000+ or so of us can't be all wrong...
ReplyDeleteba was still our best player against bolton your forgetting hes being played out on the wing to make way for cole then keane yet all four of his goals where scored as the center forward
ReplyDeleteSo we should keep Grant at the end of the season HF? Is that what you're saying?
ReplyDeleteIf we stay up, I would keep him yes. If floundering at Christams, get rid. Same appplies to Grant as to Zola with me. They need 18 months ideally.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you'd take such a big risk with a man who, if we're honest, hasn't shown much good HF.
ReplyDeleteWe could be deep in trouble by Christmas. Why take the risk when we can start afresh with someone proven?
Proven? Look at Chelsea. How "proven" do you have to be? Proven seems to count for little unless your name is Jose!
ReplyDeleteI've thought about the " if we stay up what do we do " thing as well. As simplistic as it sounds, a lot depends on who would be willing to take the job. But that begins the whole ridiculous scenario that cost us O 'Neill.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we would benefit more from a new manager "bounce" if we did what HF suggests. Let the season start, and if the same problems persist sack him.
But my gut says he has shown that he is not up to this. I am pretty sure we are down. If the is a Miracle On Green Street I would want to show him the door.
Proven counts for little when your friends are giving you jobs, yes. So on what basis would you choose a manager HF? And don't tell me you're comparing Ancelotti and Grant.
ReplyDelete