Bluelladevil
Player Valuation: £750k
Unsworth tried to address the deficiencies within the squad. He brought Lennon and Mirallas into the team to bring pace into the attack. He brought Holgate into the centre of defence.
He found a team shape to accommodate Rooney, namely playing him in centre midfield with Gueye and Davies. Notably he dropped Schneiderlin.
Allardyce initially kept with that shape and obtained results in first few matches. There is no reason to suspect that Unsworth would not have kept that team shape once he found that it worked after thrashing West Ham.
Since his first five matches Allardyce has brought his own brand of magic to the team. He has played Schneiderlin and Gueye in the centre midfield which is inexplicable given the number of disastrous performances they have had earlier in the season. He has played Rooney up the pitch on occasions which has failed. He played Coleman for a full match on his first game back and no surprise that he has been injured since.
He has dropped Holgate for no apparent reason. He brings in Mangala on loan who gets injured but he doesn’t bring back Holgate. Again we now have the problem of no pace within the centre of defence.
He has had a transfer window in which he failed to bring in left back cover which was the most glaring weakness that we have. He sold Lennon but that is understandable given that he bought Walcott. He brought in Tosun at £27 million – seems to have very little pace and even he doesn’t play him. He sends Lookman and Mirallas, two of our fastest players, out on loan.
Two wins in the last 11 games tells its own story.However, none of this is his fault of course. It’s all the fault of the players. Never should we question his tactics and the way the team fail to keep hold of the ball after months of his wonderful coaching.
You could see under Unsworth there was an intention on his part to make the players pass the ball forwards and through midfield (not hoof it!) and play with pace in attack and defence. There seemed to be some thought process to make us better as a team and be competitive. Competitive and attractive that is, not utterly dour and dreadful to watch ;trying to get a 0- 0 draw at Watford is a disgrace to our club. It’s a real shame that the senior players didn’t give him a chance.
He found a team shape to accommodate Rooney, namely playing him in centre midfield with Gueye and Davies. Notably he dropped Schneiderlin.
Allardyce initially kept with that shape and obtained results in first few matches. There is no reason to suspect that Unsworth would not have kept that team shape once he found that it worked after thrashing West Ham.
Since his first five matches Allardyce has brought his own brand of magic to the team. He has played Schneiderlin and Gueye in the centre midfield which is inexplicable given the number of disastrous performances they have had earlier in the season. He has played Rooney up the pitch on occasions which has failed. He played Coleman for a full match on his first game back and no surprise that he has been injured since.
He has dropped Holgate for no apparent reason. He brings in Mangala on loan who gets injured but he doesn’t bring back Holgate. Again we now have the problem of no pace within the centre of defence.
He has had a transfer window in which he failed to bring in left back cover which was the most glaring weakness that we have. He sold Lennon but that is understandable given that he bought Walcott. He brought in Tosun at £27 million – seems to have very little pace and even he doesn’t play him. He sends Lookman and Mirallas, two of our fastest players, out on loan.
Two wins in the last 11 games tells its own story.However, none of this is his fault of course. It’s all the fault of the players. Never should we question his tactics and the way the team fail to keep hold of the ball after months of his wonderful coaching.
You could see under Unsworth there was an intention on his part to make the players pass the ball forwards and through midfield (not hoof it!) and play with pace in attack and defence. There seemed to be some thought process to make us better as a team and be competitive. Competitive and attractive that is, not utterly dour and dreadful to watch ;trying to get a 0- 0 draw at Watford is a disgrace to our club. It’s a real shame that the senior players didn’t give him a chance.
