1st November 2003: I don't quite
know what to think about yesterday's game. I'm torn as to whether
it was tactical ineptitude or and hangover from midweek that saw us
outplayed for long periods; it's probably a bit of both.
Let's look at the positives first. We took a point of one of the expected
promotion challengers when we didn't deserve it, and picking up points
when you're not playing well is always a good sign. Also, the majority
of the players out there gave 100% effort with special mention going
to AJ, Hoult and my man of the match, Gaardsoe. The only other positive
I saw from the game is that we played 4-4-2 for an extended period,
although it's success was debateable and may, therefore, not encourage
GM to play it again.
However, once again at home, Albion looked second best as they did
against Sheffield United and in the second half against Norwich. It
seems that we lack the ability to play attacking football against
a good side play four in the middle of the park. With the Sunderland
full backs pushing on, the wing backs never really became part of
the midfield, and we were always a man short. In the second half,
when we switched to 4-4-2, Sakiri and Koumas were defending against
the full backs. Neither a good defensive players (although Koumas
has improved greatly on that front this season), so I would have thought
it more sensible for the Albion full backs to pick up their opposite
numbers, with AS and JK picking up theirs - half the time, it seemed
that Haas was marking space while Sakiri was getting beaten time and
again.
As for team selection, I can't complain with the starting eleven given
that we played 3-5-2, and it was unfortunate that Hughes had to go
off as he was far more effective than Hulse. But why oh why does GM
insist on playing Sakiri on the right - he has never looked comfortable
there and, because he has to cut in to cross, his balls are inevitable
coming diagonally from deep rather than the more dangerous option
from closer to the byline. And with Hulse off the pitch, surely it
would have been more sensible to put Sakiri, probably the least capable
defensive player we have, up front and put Clement on the left side
of midfield. Players did begin to tire, particuarly Hulse who had
three men on him constantly, but the majority of the threat from the
Black Cats came down the Albion right, and that was due to Sakiri's
lack of pace and defensive abililty rather than tiredness.
The 3-5-2 vs 4-4-2 debate rumbles on, although it's not much of a
debate amongst fans - most agree that we need to play 4-4-2. One thing
that did come out of the game yesterday is that, once the players
had settled into the formation, we didn't look any more vulnerable
at the back with two central defenders than we had done with three
and we were, in my opinion, a little more threatening. Personally,
I'd like to see the diamond formation I spoke about a few weeks ago
with Koumas behind the front two, O'Connor (or Gregan if his form
continues) in front of the back four, and AJ and Sakiri in the middle,
as I think this encourages the pass and move mentality and will still
allow the full backs to break forward with the defensive midfielder
dropping to cover. That maybe a bit too much to ask, but we should
at least see a 4-4-2 with players in the right position, i.e. Sakiri
on the left!!
Two years ago, we were promoted playing 3-5-2 and teams found it difficult
to break us down. But tactics have moved on, and managers and players
have learnt to counter that formation and we need to change. I know
we are second in the table, but in the last five league games, four
of which have been at home, we've only played well in one game, at
Rotherham. You can argue that we played well against Wimbledon, and
we did at times, but we didn't batter them as we should've done.
We have a week off now before potentially our most difficult game
of the season so far, in the league at least. I think that weariness
may have had some effect on yesterday's game, but there will be no
excuse on Saturday. We need to go there and prove that we warrant
our position in the table. A point will probably be satisfactory,
but a win would be superb. And a good performance would be nice.
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