2020/21 James Rodriguez

[Barnfred 55]

Me and my son were just having a chat and I was saying "would you bring him back for utd or not" He looked at me with disgust and said "of course you play him, he's our best player and can turn a match with one piece of skill".

He's correct of course so where do we play him tomorrow? I still think he's better coming off from the right myself as he definitely doesn't seem to come as deep as when he has a central free role.

Can Holgate be strong enough to deal with Utd attacks down the left as they will probably double up on him if Rodriguez plays?

You need your best players on the pitch and this is true of Rodriguez though I wouldn't be surprised if Ancelotti picks the same side that beat Leeds.

I hope Allan is fit but I wouldn't want him thrown straight in either if there's any doubt whatsoever he can't last the full match.

In theory we may have a bench that looks like

Pickford
Coleman
Keane
Davies
Delph
Allan ( or Gomes )
Rodriguez ( or Iwobi )
Bernard
King ( or DCL)
that we played against
It starts to look a lot healthier once all of our players are back along with the arrival of King ( who btw will score his 1st of 13 goals tomorrow )

I think we'll revert to a 4411 with James in the 10 role, like we played against Leicester. Could be any combination of players within that system. Plenty of options. But we'll be hard to beat and dangerous from set pieces.

I think this is the framework for how we're going to approach the games against the better teams for the rest of this season. Not pleasant to watch but effective.

 

[Toffeelover]

I think we'll revert to a 4411 with James in the 10 role, like we played against Leicester. Could be any combination of players within that system. Plenty of options. But we'll be hard to beat and dangerous from set pieces.

I think this is the framework for how we're going to approach the games against the better teams for the rest of this season. Not pleasant to watch but effective.

I hope we do not, that will be inviting them to come at us, we need to be forward and go for them to keep them on the back foot.

 

[Barnfred 55]

I hope we do not, that will be inviting them to come at us, we need to be forward and go for them to keep them on the back foot.

We came unstuck playing that way against Newcastle and United are a far superior team to them. They are also a team that like to play on the break. Carlo will be aware of that.

Not keen on the system myself but only because it's negative and it's not something I like to see. But it's also percentage football and we are extremely difficult to beat when we play it.

 

[Guru888]

I hope we do not, that will be inviting them to come at us, we need to be forward and go for them to keep them on the back foot.

‘Going for them’ probably isn’t the right tactic to use against a team that excels on the counter attack, we need to build into the game and frustrate them

 

[marcus]

‘Going for them’ probably isn’t the right tactic to use against a team that excels on the counter attack, we need to build into the game and frustrate them

Yes I think we need a balance between the two...

We can sit back & frustrate but we also need to be effective when we have the ball & press forward with positivity when we are able to...

 

[Sheedy's right knee.]

Yes I think we need a balance between the two...

We can sit back & frustrate but we also need to be effective when we have the ball & press forward with positivity when we are able to...

I agree mix it up press when required but also frustrate them with men behind the ball. We need to be effective breaking out and we’ve got some quality which can hurt them.

 

[Jokerdan]

It's s big pitch...or always seems to be...so fully expect Jamo to, hopefully, have the time and space to pull a few rabbits out of his bag

 

[TheBigIguana]

We came unstuck playing that way against Newcastle and United are a far superior team to them. They are also a team that like to play on the break. Carlo will be aware of that.

Not keen on the system myself but only because it's negative and it's not something I like to see. But it's also percentage football and we are extremely difficult to beat when we play it.

You want a take? We were way worse defensively against Leeds than Newcastle. This probably is the wrong thread for it but people are way to eager to look at small samples and no deeper than if the ball went in to decide how our defense is doing.

 

[Barnfred 55]

You want a take? We were way worse defensively against Leeds than Newcastle. This probably is the wrong thread for it but people are way to eager to look at small samples and no deeper than if the ball went in to decide how our defense is doing.

What's Leeds got to do with it?. I never mentioned Leeds. We played the same system against Leeds as we did against Newcastle, just different personnel.

We played the 4411 I'm talking about against Leicester and would have come away with 3 points had it not been for a series of bad errors by our keeper. Leicester are a far better team than both Leeds and Newcastle, and are arguably better than United too.

When we play a flat back 4 we concede less clear chances, and against decent teams too. When we try and open up with attacking full backs, we leave ourselves open at he back by doing so. That is not me looking at small samples. We conceded an average of 2 goals a game for the first 10 games. That falls to 1 goal a game for the second 10 games, and fewer than that for those games we actually played a flat 4. Go figure.

 

[TheBigIguana]

What's Leeds got to do with it?. I never mentioned Leeds. We played the same system against Leeds as we did against Newcastle, just different personnel.

We played the 4411 I'm talking about against Leicester and would have come away with 3 points had it not been for a series of bad errors by our keeper. Leicester are a far better team than both Leeds and Newcastle, and are arguably better than United too.

When we play a flat back 4 we concede less clear chances, and against decent teams too. When we try and open up with attacking full backs, we leave ourselves open at he back by doing so. That is not me looking at small samples. We conceded an average of 2 goals a game for the first 10 games. That falls to 1 goal a game for the second 10 games, and fewer than that for those games we actually played a flat 4. Go figure.

Oh I get what you're saying clearer now. I disagree, but I get it. I don't see any argument for leaving Lucas Digne out or not having him at LB aside from "I'm ok with drawing every game 0-0." We have nothing going forward. Leicester is a good example. James scored a worldie. Nothing else happened.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Oh I get what you're saying clearer now. I disagree, but I get it. I don't see any argument for leaving Lucas Digne out or not having him at LB aside from "I'm ok with drawing every game 0-0." We have nothing going forward. Leicester is a good example. James scored a worldie. Nothing else happened.

Never said I enjoyed it or that its pretty to watch. Just second guessing what Carlo will do.

 

[Ivo]

Best player at the club. End of.

 

[Goat]

Best player in the world. End of.

 

[AlE]

We'll play defensively tomorrow and he'll do f all. Vault me

 

[Zatara]

Me and my son were just having a chat and I was saying "would you bring him back for utd or not" He looked at me with disgust and said "of course you play him, he's our best player and can turn a match with one piece of skill".

He's correct of course so where do we play him tomorrow? I still think he's better coming off from the right myself as he definitely doesn't seem to come as deep as when he has a central free role.

Can Holgate be strong enough to deal with Utd attacks down the left as they will probably double up on him if Rodriguez plays?

You need your best players on the pitch and this is true of Rodriguez though I wouldn't be surprised if Ancelotti picks the same side that beat Leeds.

I hope Allan is fit but I wouldn't want him thrown straight in either if there's any doubt whatsoever he can't last the full match.

In theory we may have a bench that looks like

Pickford
Coleman
Keane
Davies
Delph
Allan ( or Gomes )
Rodriguez ( or Iwobi )
Bernard
King ( or DCL)

It starts to look a lot healthier once all of our players are back along with the arrival of King ( who btw will score his 1st of 13 goals tomorrow )

Start him in front of the Duke and Allan. Bring Gomes on for the last 30.

What's Leeds got to do with it?. I never mentioned Leeds. We played the same system against Leeds as we did against Newcastle, just different personnel.

We played the 4411 I'm talking about against Leicester and would have come away with 3 points had it not been for a series of bad errors by our keeper. Leicester are a far better team than both Leeds and Newcastle, and are arguably better than United too.

When we play a flat back 4 we concede less clear chances, and against decent teams too. When we try and open up with attacking full backs, we leave ourselves open at he back by doing so. That is not me looking at small samples. We conceded an average of 2 goals a game for the first 10 games. That falls to 1 goal a game for the second 10 games, and fewer than that for those games we actually played a flat 4. Go figure.

With Allan only just back in training, i think we go with 2 banks of 4 sat deep:

Olsen
Holgate Keane Mina Godfrey
Richarlison Doucoure Davies Digne
James
DCL
​

Then 4231 in attack...