Retro Control
This game very much had the feeling of 16/17 to me. Obdurate bus parker - check. Lots of control - check. Territorial domination - check. Lots of bumbly wastage of good situations - check. sucker punch goal - check. 4231 (eventually) - check. Better pressing (especially second half) - check. Strong finish to overcome the bus park - check.
The diamond vexes most of us, for a variety of reasons, and it's really hard to understand why Poch persists with it, after so many insipid performances with it last season. I don't mind the 3CM part of it myself (possibly because it's as close as I get to seeing the pure footballing format - 433 - but I hate the front two part of it, Moura's not a CF, he hasn't got the hold up play, he just whizzes around in areas too congested for him, it's like watching a pin ball machine. It makes us very narrow and easy to funnel us into areas that the opposition want us to play in.
Poch clearly switched us to a 4231 second half, and this almost certainly did change the dynamics, did give us more impetus in forward areas, but with the same personnel out there we were still looking offensively inept - just more frequently - in fact, shoving Sissoko up into the ARM position just added to the forward malaise and he wasted a guilt edged chance second half to match the one he dithered on first half. He wasn't alone though, everyone was bumbling about up there until Eriksen came on, and though I don't think he was "brilliant" enough for sammyspurs to lose his bet, he made a vital difference, bringing some much needed, and previously pretty deficient composure, focus and direction where previous it had been fleeting moments of Ndombele and Winks.
This was never a bad performance, not even the first half, we were thoroughly dominant, and again this felt like "vintage Poch", getting back to controlling games. With that type of control will always come the risk of the odd break, and they will always look like you are more exposed, that's the nature of a break-away goal, and by and large we barely allowed Villa a sniff throughout the 90 minutes, much different to last season where nearly all our games feature phases of losing control.
It has to be said Rose didn't cover himself in glory for that goal, and was generally his usual mixed bag of crowd pleasing gusto, a couple of midfield dribbles, one great cross, lots of careless passing, some stupid fee kicks given away, played there guy onside for another great chance for them, and plenty of forward wastage. Its not that he got caught out buy the long ball, the way play that can happen, but the way he commits harry carry and dives onto his arse was schoolboy stuff.
First half Winks was easily our stand out performer, I criticised him last week for playing too safe at times, but today he was spraying balls out to flanks and played some really zippy vertical passes (Winks forward passes 33, Sissoko 22, Ndombele 21) and that moment in the first half where he tears back, slides in ferociously, wins and comes away with the ball, then drops a shoulder and dummies their second fella and goes past him and passes it forwards was fucking gorgeous football. He also stayed on his feet when Trezuguet went through the way Rose should of, and forced him into a weaker shot.
It was absolutely baffling that Poch took him off before Sissoko, I can only assume that he was maybe feeling his previous injury and Poch was protecting him? because when even Bazali is calling for Sissoko to go off, you know he's having a mare. He was atrocious first half. When Lo Celso gets up to speed, and the emerging Skipp, surely his days are numbered. I think his best phase was that 20 or so minutes as an ARM second half when we switched to 4231, he was involved and could bare down on defenders, but as ever, his composure in forward areas let him down badly. His little run and pass to Kane at the end didn't disguise what had been a tough day. He was OK when pushed back in the two with Ndombele, but by then we were in total control and had them penned in their third, and there was nothing defensively for him to do.
Ndombele didn't set the game ablaze, but clearly showed glimpses of why we bought him, composure, vision, and scored an absolute pearler. He showed that he is good in both the CM3 and CM2 systems - in the same game in this case, played a couple of lovely passes, and when Eriksen came on you could see the interchange between two clever footballers and how they can bounce off each other and the whole dynamic improves, when Lo Celso comes in that midfield will have another bright, sure footed addition.
All in all this was a decent performance, not a scintillating one, but a welcome return to some of the old values for me. I like to see us control games through midfield, which we did, and once Eriksen came on that control turned into a stranglehold which eventually wrung a thoroughly deserved win out of the mangle.
Individual
Lloris - fuck all to do really.
KWP - A really solid game. Hard to get in behind when the game is compressed deep, but he was bright and confident on the ball, and contributed to our game play throughout. Be nice to see him get a run of games now.
TA - Solid.
Sanchez - Good game. I don't mind seeing more of him this season, I know he's not a Rolls Royce, but he's quick, tenacious, allows us to play high and pressure, and he's better on the ball than some give him credit for.
Rose - The usual Rose smorgasbord that divides opinions. Lots of chutzpa, lots of waste, some poor defending.
Sissoko - Really terrible first half, more involved offensively when pushed up to ARM second half, but incongruous in any team that wants to play football through it's midfield and surely the penny's dropping for Poch and his fan club?
Winks - I thought he was our best player first half and was amazed he was the one hooked, when there were three or four more deserving candidates to be hauled off. Played some nice football today, was the one introducing what tempo there was first half, played some nice passes and played vertically more than any of our other midfielders generally.
Ndombele - he can't have dreamt he'd scored a cracker last night, he was not exactly prolific for Lyon, but it capped a very quietly impressive debut, which saw some much needed control and composure return to a midfield that had become a quality vortex last season.
Lamela - Pretty poor and ineffectual first half, like others, he improved slightly when we switched to a 4231 and Eriksen came on. Did well to press and win the ball for the second goal.
Kane - Not great all game, but like others, this diamond just does not help him, too often him, Lamela and Moura were bumbling around the same piece of turf getting in each others way and runs. But did what he invariably does, kept at it, enjoyed having the 9 zone all to himself more once we went 4231 and came up with the goods in the end.
Moura - Not a great day, but he's not suited to playing this CF role, there's no space for him to open his whizzy legs and he isn't composed enough to operate in the tight spaces.
Eriksen - It was like a light was switched on as soon as he came into the game and that light made it easier for the likes of Ndombele, Lamela and Kane to see angles. I think we will still (have to) evolve into a different beast without him soon enough, but he showed today why he has been so important to us over the last few years, even when not scoring or assisting.
MOTM for me is tough. Winks first half, Eriksen second half, but the two halves amalgamated - I’ll give it to Ndombele for rounding off a quietly decent 90 with a superb debut goal .
This game very much had the feeling of 16/17 to me. Obdurate bus parker - check. Lots of control - check. Territorial domination - check. Lots of bumbly wastage of good situations - check. sucker punch goal - check. 4231 (eventually) - check. Better pressing (especially second half) - check. Strong finish to overcome the bus park - check.
The diamond vexes most of us, for a variety of reasons, and it's really hard to understand why Poch persists with it, after so many insipid performances with it last season. I don't mind the 3CM part of it myself (possibly because it's as close as I get to seeing the pure footballing format - 433 - but I hate the front two part of it, Moura's not a CF, he hasn't got the hold up play, he just whizzes around in areas too congested for him, it's like watching a pin ball machine. It makes us very narrow and easy to funnel us into areas that the opposition want us to play in.
Poch clearly switched us to a 4231 second half, and this almost certainly did change the dynamics, did give us more impetus in forward areas, but with the same personnel out there we were still looking offensively inept - just more frequently - in fact, shoving Sissoko up into the ARM position just added to the forward malaise and he wasted a guilt edged chance second half to match the one he dithered on first half. He wasn't alone though, everyone was bumbling about up there until Eriksen came on, and though I don't think he was "brilliant" enough for sammyspurs to lose his bet, he made a vital difference, bringing some much needed, and previously pretty deficient composure, focus and direction where previous it had been fleeting moments of Ndombele and Winks.
This was never a bad performance, not even the first half, we were thoroughly dominant, and again this felt like "vintage Poch", getting back to controlling games. With that type of control will always come the risk of the odd break, and they will always look like you are more exposed, that's the nature of a break-away goal, and by and large we barely allowed Villa a sniff throughout the 90 minutes, much different to last season where nearly all our games feature phases of losing control.
It has to be said Rose didn't cover himself in glory for that goal, and was generally his usual mixed bag of crowd pleasing gusto, a couple of midfield dribbles, one great cross, lots of careless passing, some stupid fee kicks given away, played there guy onside for another great chance for them, and plenty of forward wastage. Its not that he got caught out buy the long ball, the way play that can happen, but the way he commits harry carry and dives onto his arse was schoolboy stuff.
First half Winks was easily our stand out performer, I criticised him last week for playing too safe at times, but today he was spraying balls out to flanks and played some really zippy vertical passes (Winks forward passes 33, Sissoko 22, Ndombele 21) and that moment in the first half where he tears back, slides in ferociously, wins and comes away with the ball, then drops a shoulder and dummies their second fella and goes past him and passes it forwards was fucking gorgeous football. He also stayed on his feet when Trezuguet went through the way Rose should of, and forced him into a weaker shot.
It was absolutely baffling that Poch took him off before Sissoko, I can only assume that he was maybe feeling his previous injury and Poch was protecting him? because when even Bazali is calling for Sissoko to go off, you know he's having a mare. He was atrocious first half. When Lo Celso gets up to speed, and the emerging Skipp, surely his days are numbered. I think his best phase was that 20 or so minutes as an ARM second half when we switched to 4231, he was involved and could bare down on defenders, but as ever, his composure in forward areas let him down badly. His little run and pass to Kane at the end didn't disguise what had been a tough day. He was OK when pushed back in the two with Ndombele, but by then we were in total control and had them penned in their third, and there was nothing defensively for him to do.
Ndombele didn't set the game ablaze, but clearly showed glimpses of why we bought him, composure, vision, and scored an absolute pearler. He showed that he is good in both the CM3 and CM2 systems - in the same game in this case, played a couple of lovely passes, and when Eriksen came on you could see the interchange between two clever footballers and how they can bounce off each other and the whole dynamic improves, when Lo Celso comes in that midfield will have another bright, sure footed addition.
All in all this was a decent performance, not a scintillating one, but a welcome return to some of the old values for me. I like to see us control games through midfield, which we did, and once Eriksen came on that control turned into a stranglehold which eventually wrung a thoroughly deserved win out of the mangle.
Individual
Lloris - fuck all to do really.
KWP - A really solid game. Hard to get in behind when the game is compressed deep, but he was bright and confident on the ball, and contributed to our game play throughout. Be nice to see him get a run of games now.
TA - Solid.
Sanchez - Good game. I don't mind seeing more of him this season, I know he's not a Rolls Royce, but he's quick, tenacious, allows us to play high and pressure, and he's better on the ball than some give him credit for.
Rose - The usual Rose smorgasbord that divides opinions. Lots of chutzpa, lots of waste, some poor defending.
Sissoko - Really terrible first half, more involved offensively when pushed up to ARM second half, but incongruous in any team that wants to play football through it's midfield and surely the penny's dropping for Poch and his fan club?
Winks - I thought he was our best player first half and was amazed he was the one hooked, when there were three or four more deserving candidates to be hauled off. Played some nice football today, was the one introducing what tempo there was first half, played some nice passes and played vertically more than any of our other midfielders generally.
Ndombele - he can't have dreamt he'd scored a cracker last night, he was not exactly prolific for Lyon, but it capped a very quietly impressive debut, which saw some much needed control and composure return to a midfield that had become a quality vortex last season.
Lamela - Pretty poor and ineffectual first half, like others, he improved slightly when we switched to a 4231 and Eriksen came on. Did well to press and win the ball for the second goal.
Kane - Not great all game, but like others, this diamond just does not help him, too often him, Lamela and Moura were bumbling around the same piece of turf getting in each others way and runs. But did what he invariably does, kept at it, enjoyed having the 9 zone all to himself more once we went 4231 and came up with the goods in the end.
Moura - Not a great day, but he's not suited to playing this CF role, there's no space for him to open his whizzy legs and he isn't composed enough to operate in the tight spaces.
Eriksen - It was like a light was switched on as soon as he came into the game and that light made it easier for the likes of Ndombele, Lamela and Kane to see angles. I think we will still (have to) evolve into a different beast without him soon enough, but he showed today why he has been so important to us over the last few years, even when not scoring or assisting.
MOTM for me is tough. Winks first half, Eriksen second half, but the two halves amalgamated - I’ll give it to Ndombele for rounding off a quietly decent 90 with a superb debut goal .
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