by aCe' » Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:43 pm
alright ill start with the positives:
- Johnson.. had my doubts about his price tag... guy is worth it though... going forward, he offers whats needed... at the back, hes yet to be seriously tested and i feel for any shortcomings in that department, hell more than compensate for them with his attacking ability in the league... main worry about him is the CL knockout stages but thats probably the least of our concerns for now..
- Torres, absolutely awful first touch this season... probably still not ready and fully fitbut he still managed to bag a couple of goals... striker who scores even when he isnt playing well is always a good thing..
- Insua, looks good going forward... the few games he played seemed to give him a world of confidence... was bombing forward and looked good connecting with the attacking players when given the chance...
- ManUtd dropping 3 points... Chelsea playing a formation that i believe will soon backfire on them once other manager figure out a way to stop it... ManCity same as Chelsea..
Negatives:
- midfield pairing... we desperately need Aquilani to get back, and not just that, we actually need him to hit the ground running once fit... For all the backing up and support Lucas will get, he just doesnt cut it at this stage... tidy as he may ever be, he'll never make an impact in a top side like he should... Not to focus on individual and getting back to the main issue, the process of taking the ball out from the back to the front players so far in 3 games has been embarrassing .. Today, we had Carragher and Mascherano doing all the work getting the ball out from our half to the opposition danger areas... Until Gerrard was pulled back to the middle, we had noone to look for in the middle of the park to provide the attacking players with any sort of decent balls... Mascherano tries to do it at times but seriously....
- Gerrard, has been poor so far... not to try and take the blame out of the guy or to find him excuses or any of that, but i think hes the one to have suffered the most from the selling of Alonso... He just hasnt been able to receive the ball that little bit higher up behind the midfielders and in front of the defenders facing the goal where most of his good attacking work came from last season... No doubt thats also affected torres' game quite a bit, but Gerrard to me needs to step it up a notch or two... regardless of where hes played...
- Zonal Marking... huge discussion i know... wouldnt want to get it started here either... but just have to mention.. our players dont seem capable of understanding how it works at times... Not the first time this has happened... not the first time this season either... player makes the run, our players are unable to deal with the threat, and it cost us... the problem isnt with the system, personally i think it works fine if done the right way... just think our players need to work on that a little more... for now though, id like to see players covering each post...