- Sep 2, 2004
- 9,398
- 14,078
We've read in the last few days that Poch has said we need to be brave and take risks in order to take the next step up and today we hear about how Guardiola felt Spurs made City suffer last year and we pushed them more than any other team. But where does this leave us in practical steps to future success?
We've been arguably the most consistent side over the last 3 years whilst coming up empty-handed. Yes, we want to win the league and trophies and there have been many potential solutions as to how we should do it but which one will guarantee success?
Paying more money to and for players?
Well whilst getting the top brass players will require more in salaries and transfers we've shown that even with a fantastic first eleven and a solid squad we still fell short at times. Both Chelsea and Utd have shown that spending silly money doesn't mean you'll trot out a Man City style season so the money thing is not the be all or end all for me.
More physical intensity?
We've had a great season (all things being considered) though I feel that our physicality wasn't on par with what it was last year when we were pressing teams off the park. It may be because of the bigger Wembley pitch but are we able to turn it up another notch next season? Or would we burn out too soon playing an ultra-physically dynamic style of football. Would we be able to compete on more than one front? Probably not. Would it remedy problems we have against teams that sit deep or park the bus? Maybe not, but i do think we certainly need to increase the speed of our attacks rather than slow passing (which serves its purpose of maintaining control and pulling the opposition out to create gaps, playing with more speed would create an air of panic in the defence, create situations where mistakes would happen, create more goal scoring opportunities.
Do we need technically better players?
I look at Man City and I think "where are they better than us?" and to me the answer is first touch and passing. Every player on the ball has A* first touch and has at least 2 passing options the moment they look up. That's how they get around our press and hit us on the break. They also have an attack that plays with greater speed. Whilst we don't have a fast attack I don't think we have slow players just a team that plays slow. Although the solution of signing better players sounds like quite a glib thing to say, its still our players that are being linked with those bigger sides when they look for their own missing pieces - Kane to Real, Toby to Barca, Walker to City, Dier to Utd; with exception of Kane we could argue that each of these players could be dropped and someone else come in and do the job with the same effect.
Do we need to improve mentally?
“It is not tactical, it is not philosophical, because we know very well how we need to play. It is here in our heads that we need to improve.” Those were the words uttered by Poch in August 2016 after our first tilt at the title came up short. But how do you fix this unless you win trophies? and how long does it take to fix?
Where do you guys think we can improve in practical terms and what would take us to the next level?
We've been arguably the most consistent side over the last 3 years whilst coming up empty-handed. Yes, we want to win the league and trophies and there have been many potential solutions as to how we should do it but which one will guarantee success?
Paying more money to and for players?
Well whilst getting the top brass players will require more in salaries and transfers we've shown that even with a fantastic first eleven and a solid squad we still fell short at times. Both Chelsea and Utd have shown that spending silly money doesn't mean you'll trot out a Man City style season so the money thing is not the be all or end all for me.
More physical intensity?
We've had a great season (all things being considered) though I feel that our physicality wasn't on par with what it was last year when we were pressing teams off the park. It may be because of the bigger Wembley pitch but are we able to turn it up another notch next season? Or would we burn out too soon playing an ultra-physically dynamic style of football. Would we be able to compete on more than one front? Probably not. Would it remedy problems we have against teams that sit deep or park the bus? Maybe not, but i do think we certainly need to increase the speed of our attacks rather than slow passing (which serves its purpose of maintaining control and pulling the opposition out to create gaps, playing with more speed would create an air of panic in the defence, create situations where mistakes would happen, create more goal scoring opportunities.
Do we need technically better players?
I look at Man City and I think "where are they better than us?" and to me the answer is first touch and passing. Every player on the ball has A* first touch and has at least 2 passing options the moment they look up. That's how they get around our press and hit us on the break. They also have an attack that plays with greater speed. Whilst we don't have a fast attack I don't think we have slow players just a team that plays slow. Although the solution of signing better players sounds like quite a glib thing to say, its still our players that are being linked with those bigger sides when they look for their own missing pieces - Kane to Real, Toby to Barca, Walker to City, Dier to Utd; with exception of Kane we could argue that each of these players could be dropped and someone else come in and do the job with the same effect.
Do we need to improve mentally?
“It is not tactical, it is not philosophical, because we know very well how we need to play. It is here in our heads that we need to improve.” Those were the words uttered by Poch in August 2016 after our first tilt at the title came up short. But how do you fix this unless you win trophies? and how long does it take to fix?
Where do you guys think we can improve in practical terms and what would take us to the next level?