By Brian Jones
The fact that Sam changed the tactics and brought in Plan B was more surprising than the result on Saturday. Especially as he has doggedly kept to his usual approach of relying on a target man, with the resultant long balls and high crosses. The match raises a number of interesting questions:
A number of people in different threads have commented along the lines of “Can’t wait for Carroll to get back” and “We can do even better with Carroll”, etc. But do we need him? Can we play more games with attacking midfields, and is this a strategy that suits our players like Vaz, Morrison, Joe Cole and Downing, much more than the target man approach? The 4-6 formation seemed much more difficult to cope with for the opposition than our usual hit to the wing, cross the ball and hope for the best. We are too predictable with the target man plan and Sam himself pointed out the unpredictability of the 4-6 with different midfielders running at the Spurs defence at different times. How useful will 4-6 be against other teams? Was it simply what we needed to do against Spurs and won’t work against City?
Further, is this the new Sam? A foxy tactician who can out think the opposition coach? Or will he go back to Plan A against City, because it’s what he knows best? If Carroll is fit again will we go back to Plan A week in week out or will Sam have the confidence to leave him out and do something different? Will it be back to James Collins hoofing it up field for Carroll to nod down to Nolan?
I know what I would prefer – what about the rest of you?