Have you ever known anyone that has had a change in circumstances and moved from their old two bed flat or tiny 3 bed terraced house into a lovely large house in the country? You get an invite and as you arrive you are duly impressed with the large garden and there before you is a stunningly beautiful country manor house. The wow factor hits home. Then you walk inside and the only furniture is the same stuff from the previous abode! All of a sudden the wow has gone and you don’t know what to say. Perhaps this analogy can best describe our football club? The move was supposed to bring in a new era of plush furniture and all we got was some second hand cupboards. Past their best but still sturdy and useful, but you know the woodworm has already started to infiltrate the poor things. Now, Snodgrass and Fonte are decent players. Players that in any other circumstances I would be over joyed with. I actually think they are upgrades on what we have now if you compare to Feghouli and Ogbonna. But it is like replacing the Tallboy with the missing leg with some chipboard put it together yourself unit. Two and a half and three and a half year contracts for a 33 and a 29 year old? What happened to the Chairman’s promise to only buy players with a sell on value in the future? What other progressive club continually buys players around the 30 year age mark and gives them long term contracts? I actually think that Payet leaving was a financial blessing for the club. It may have robbed us of another season littered with some magical moments but he was on a five year deal worth around 6.5m quid each year! In March, Payet will be 30 years old and the likelihood would be that for at least three, probably four of those contracted years, he would have been a passenger and a financial hindrance on our spending power. The top clubs can financially afford to make gambles and even mistakes like this and it is of course the inducement used to get top players to sign and stay with the club long term in the first place. But can we? I think not.
Onto the pitch and it has all been a bit up and down hasn’t it? Well actually it is getting quite easy to predict when you look closely. Discounting draws the following happens more often than not. We play a top ten side at home (OS) and we get beat. We play a bottom ten side at home and we win. We play a top ten side away and we have a small chance of some crumbs. We play a bottom side away and anything can happen. Burnley are the only top ten side we have beaten all season and the reality is they will be bottom half themselves come the end of the weekend! This does not auger well when you look at our remaining home fixtures for the rest of the season. Most Premier league teams nowadays play one of two ways. They play a high pressing game or they play a sit back and contain game, relying on the counter attack. The former can be played home or away and demands that the team work hard together and in unison. It requires the players to hunt in packs and play virtually how as kids we were told you shouldn’t play. “Don’t bunch up, get some width, stay in your positions”. I can still hear the school PE teacher screaming those instructions at primary school. Not in the Premier League though. Bunching and pressing the man in possession can be your teams main tactic. The second option is the containing one. Easy to play away but much more difficult at home when there is more emphasis on the home team to take the game to their opponents and with a baying crowd infuriated at any lack of endeavour. Interestingly, Leicester managed to play this style even at home last season with a very understanding home crowd. Their patience was very well rewarded. I am still trying to work out what style we are playing this season? It seems we try a bit of both without any true commitment to either. We have certainly looked better away from home with the containing style whilst many of our home wins have been remarkably ugly. I actually think it is just the fact that we have better players than most of the lower teams and despite the lack of effective tactics we ride our luck with our class edge. Not many of the lower tier can boast the likes of Carroll, Kouyate, Lanzini, Antonio and for some time Payet?
I firmly believe that this season the second tier of the PL is the worst in some seasons. Last season was a serious blip with a few of the big boys floundering but normal service has since resumed. Last season from a fair way out, only four teams ever looked like getting relegated. I actually think if we were playing like we are now, in last season’s league, we would be serious relegation contenders. This season the relegation battle is really open slather and even we are not completely out of the mix.
There has been a lot of chat about who Bilic will drop out of the central midfield positions? Some have called for Noble to be axed but I doubt the boss will do that to his captain. Obiang, despite a poor game against City has been very good in recent months. Kouyate is really one of the first on the team sheet for me. So who will miss out? In my opinion Slav will probably try reverting back to his favourite three at the back system. This allows both Noble and Obiang to remain in the side and Kouyate can play at the back with Fonte and Reid. This system takes a lot of pressure away from the under performing Cresswell but it does pose the problem of who plays right wing back? This problem however, may be easier for Bilic to solve rather than the prospect of leaving out one of the three aforementioned players. Whether he goes with this format against Southampton we shall see, but I think he will revert to this system sooner rather than later. What do you think?
COYI