One of our biggest problems yesterday was mccarthy's passing, continually played loose balls or passes with no pace. This didn't allow us to build properly in midfield and instead we were constantly on the back foot because of it.
Lukaku doesn't have a first touch so play to his strengths and give him balls to run on to, it's also pointless playing long balls to him. If he wins the header there's nobody in a 30yard radius to retrieve the ball.
Galloway, not blaming him for the result but we had an attacking left back on the bench, why isn't he starting. Barry then got switched there, I know this allowed kone to come on but it should have just been a straight swap in both instances at the same time. oviedo for Galloway and kone for Barry, at least then the formation is getting played with the correct players for each position for as long as possible. But Galloway did look lost and the ball was getting played in behind him quite a lot.
Haven't felt right about Ross since his comeback last season, today was no exception. Anybody can what he does, gets the ball spins around 3 times and passes back to macca or Barry. Yes his goal was good and we can expect that for the rest of his career. However, is all round play has stagnated, we shouldn't be talking about his potential anymore, he's had 2 seasons (apart from 2 months) in this team and league and he still hasn't got to grips with the pace and how quickly defenders and midfielders press and close down, he still hasn't made the switch from reserve team standards, I hope he proves me wrong.
So much better with 2 up top, it's just obvious and I don't know why we don't revert back to it permanently. Teams aren't expecting 2 strikers anymore with all these fancy pointless formations. Go old school, exploit the space with two natural wingers and get balls into box. When kone came on this worked, we were throwing crosses into the area, kone and rom both nearly scored from it and Ross's goal came from a cross to kone that he laid off.
Not gonna berate the players or manager to the point of vitriol some have used here but I am disappointed that we haven't learned from last season. If we bring in Austin and xaquiri we'll look a lot more positive going forward. If it happens I'd set up like this. Left Baines out cos if his longer injury than del boy's.
Howard
Coleman Stones Jags Oviedo
McCarthy
Deulofeu Mirallas
Xaquiri
Austin Lukaku