by Ace Ventura » Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:23 pm
A very poor result and a strange line up. Thank god Arsenal slipped up today otherwise that would of put us in a very difficult position.
Now i dont want to slag the manager i am 100% behind him, but that doesnt mean that he hasnt left me scratching my head.
For starters the formation on a big Reading pitch was strange, no width at all, so when Mascherano and Sissoko (two players not great in posession) they didnt have an outlet wide.
And the two players that were in support of Torres where the wrong players, that system was tailor made for babel, he played it at Ajax and also for Holland. Admittedly he has done well coming on as a substitute in the last few weeks but that formation could of been great if it was Kewell and Babel either side of Torres.
What it seemed like to me (and i know some will take offence to this) is that he thought he could get away with playing players that dont often get a game, Sissoko and Voronin, now not wanting to single out players, over the course of the season i am sure they will have there uses, but assessing our squad now, they are two players imo that should only play if others cant or arent fit. They will get games over the course of the season but are struglgling and getting worse with every game.
Torres was a major threat, the other two (and i like Crouch) where non existent, why we couldnt play 4-4-2 with Crouch and Torres up top with Kewell on the left and either Babel or my personal choice Benayoun on the right is mystifying.
Obviously he has one eye on Tuesday and rightly so, but get the game won first then worry about the next game.
What i would say is that the game is gone now, we have lost, fortunately so did Arsenal. So no ground lost, i am disappointed that we havent gained any when we should but trust Rafa to get it right over the course of the season, and that some of the decisions that baffled me today will come good against Marseille and united on Sunday.
ALLLRIGHTY THEN !!