- Oct 17, 2003
- 9,001
- 8
Yes, and that's precisely why I'm not worried at the moment. Ramos is clearly selecting teams according to what he perceives as the strengths of the squad he inherited. That means he knows we can't defend, so he's opted to start on the front foot with an attacking formation. I'm sure that if we'd gone 2-0 or 3-0 up yesterday, he'd have taken one of our strikers off and put the Hud or the Prince on in CM, reverted to his favoured 4-4-2, and shut down the game. I posted this is in a couple of threads yesterday.
I agree, it was obvious. Score early, then put the game to bed, take off a striker and go 4-4-2. Except it was also obvious to McLeish, who set his team up in exactly the right way. The same way most other teams outside the top 4 who visit the Lane do, expecting us to camp in their half of the pitch for 90% of the game passing the ball around in pretty patterns in front of their defences, knowing full well that we'll either leave a massive gap in front of or behind our defence to counterattack into. It's too predictable, and it relies on us being able to absolutely steamroller teams early doors, or we're left with a mountain to climb. Not that Ramos bears any blame for taking this approach. It was all Jol could do as well.
I will only be worried if, by the end of January, we don't have an experienced CB, an experienced C/DM, and another good LM/LB type added to our squad.
You're obviously more confident than me that we'll get them. I'm just praying to the football Gods.