* I did not see the whole of either game.
Man Utd vs Swansea:
- The exaggerated talk of Man Utd’s ills is quite unreal. They had many injuries, in key positions when you play a back 3. Add Shaw, (potentially Rojo as a LCB), Valencia and Van Persie (perhaps with another more combative central midfield player), and the squad looks far better.
- Tactically, the back 3 functioned interestingly. Smalling was in the centre, but seemed unwilling to track Bony up the pitch (perhaps being told to sweep behind). Jones as the RCB made sense, he played out fairly well, and is mobile enough to cover RB spot. Blackett made several costly errors. For the first goal, he got dragged across far too early in the move, Smalling had to cover late, meaning no-one could close the late run of Ki. Darren Fletcher was conspicuous by his absence in this case, Utd in general failed to press the ball high, nor drop into a compact enough shape.
- Rooney’s free-kick was so nearly wonderful, not his usual kind, which usually possess a vicious spin across goal, this was a far quicker effort which was unstoppable.
- I think the defence misses Jonny Evans (a player I have a dislike for, mainly based on his penchant for thuggery), but he does possess genuinely good anticipation of moves, in a way that I doubt Smalling will ever develop.
- Lingard’s crossing was genuinely appalling throughout his brief appearance, couldn’t do it on the run, it seemed.
- Montero was a really clever substitution, get wide of a non-natural full back and whip a ball to the far post. Looked highly impressive, though likely to be inconsistent, wide players of his ilk can easily be squeezed out of the game, and his end product looked poor throughout (you won’t see many defenders misjudging aerial balls as badly as Young did). Shelvey really likes playing direct balls from deep. Unsure of the value they possess, to be honest. Swansea are really lucky to have two strikers of similar style in Gomis and Bony, both of whom will score goals given a sufficiently direct supply line.
West Ham vs Tottenham:
- West Ham caused Spurs all sorts of problems from corners. Doesn’t surprise me, very little height in Tottenham’s team, Adebayor, Kaboul and Capoue the best in the air.
- Eriksen and Lamela got a surprising attack on MoTD. Personally thought it was harsh on Eriksen, whose final ball was somewhat off, but his movement into either half space was superb. Always feel that Adebayor isn’t the striker to make runs in behind though, seems redundant currently.
- Lamela has superb ball skills, do wonder about how deep he is receiving the ball though. His only successful dribbles were deep inside his own half, which isn’t really how he wants to play.
- Absolutely no penetration from Tottenham, no movements in behind, especially with Lamela nominally behind the strikers. Would like to see him start as the identifiable inside right, could offer some shooting from better areas. Pochettino has real depth in the midfield.
- I do wonder when the high pressing game will begin to be implemented, perhaps when Paulinho comes in. He has the natural energy to suit Pochettino. Perhaps alongside Bentaleb, perhaps Capoue. Can’t see Dembele being suited, Sandro is good in very specific circumstances.
- Talking of the pressing, it was totally absent. You feel that quicker it comes in the better, getting Lamela and Eriksen more turnovers is key. Problem is, will Lamela be willing to press as high, will Eriksen by capable of it (you would hope so, he played for Ajax).Worth noting that Lamela made his name at Roma under Zemen, whose brand of relentless, direct and highly open football suited him, gave him ample opportunity to run at defenders. Pochettino should be good for him for this, he is no possession freak, and likes direct wide attacking players.
- I don’t agree with Sam Allardyce often, but he was right to say Kouyate was brilliant, One sloppy pass out from the back, kept it simple, won the tackles he needed to. My worry is about the players ahead of him; Cole, Nolan, Downing and Vaz Te don’t exactly inspire confidence. Enner Valencia has much pressure upon him.
- The diagrams for passes received and for passed completed are very interesting in this match. Eriksen received most of his passes in the right of centre zone, playing as a narrow right sided player, often interacting with Lamela, who received the ball predominantly in the central areas, but also in a right sided position, always receiving the ball from a player in a central position (unlike Eriksen, whose passes came from the right side (perhaps an indication of the positional changes that after the sending off)). Lennon despite playing on his wrong side, received all of his passes in more natural wide areas. Eriksen’s passes made chart shows most passes being made infield, with many more direct attempts at killer balls, nearly all of the failing. Lamela was not involved, made only 25 passes, misplaced several of them, including a square pass inside his own half.
See all the chalkboards at: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2014/matches/755312/summary#tabs-wrapper-anchor
Match of the Day:
- Having Shearer and Gullit in the same studio really doesn’t work. They still have animosity towards each-other, while allowing Shearer to attempt a tactical analysis (which he did wholly unsuccessfully) just seems wrong. Ruud just seems to make points about passion, with no real insight.
- Van Aanholt really switched off for Sunderland, let Berahino run off him. Not the first time, he did it for Chelsea in a CC match vs Newcastle, and is generally positionally awful. He did however, contribute a much needed burst of verticality for the 2nd goal, great spot from Gomez, good cut-back, Larsson demonstrating his technical proficiency with a nice side-footed finish.
- McGeady’s goal has to be one of my favourite kinds, the hard hit slow curler that just clips the inside of the post, wonderful finish from a highly talented (yet disturbingly one dimensional) player.
OW, 16/8/14