idontgetit
Well-Known Member
- Aug 21, 2011
- 14,541
- 31,109
There's been no end of discussion about our problems scoring goals and much of the talk has settled on our use of inverted wingers. I do agree that our problems actually are associated with us playing in that style but not like often mentioned because our wide men should be looking to go outside, give the side width and take the ball to the byline. The problem is that in a formation like ours the wide forwards are supposed act like 2nd and 3rd strikers when we have the ball, looking to support Soldado and making runs into space behind the back four. Instead they're acting like inverted wingers, treading on the toes of the number 10 or always looking to pick the ball up short of the opposition back four and run at them. This results in the midfield getting congested and the wide forwards constantly playing in front of the opposition defence.
The highlights of Townsend v Newcastle are a really good example of this. He's constantly picking the ball up in a pocket of space wide but short of the newcastle back four and then running at them. You'll see time and again that he often ends up being closed down by as many as four Newcastle defenders rendering him ineffective. There is however also one or two examples of how we should be using him, the best being a ball played to him in the 2nd half that he smashes at the keeper and Soldado make the tame effort of heading in the rebound.
Most of the build up play being done by Townsend should really be being done by Walker et al. With Townsend doing it down the right for us it's leaving Soldado very isolated. It probably didn't effect us so much last year because rather than playing a creative no.10 alongside the striker we played a world class goal scoring one in Bale. With Bale there it was ok having the wide forwards doing the creative work as Bale would be in the box to make something off it, now with Erikson and Holtby at 10 we can't be doing that. It's why despite Lennon looking dangerous yesterday we couldn't make anything off it, it's no good having a traditional winger creating chances for us if we're playing a system that doesn't put many people in the box.
This all requires the rest of the system to work properly with the central midfielders, DM and wingbacks etc but that's for another thread.
The highlights of Townsend v Newcastle are a really good example of this. He's constantly picking the ball up in a pocket of space wide but short of the newcastle back four and then running at them. You'll see time and again that he often ends up being closed down by as many as four Newcastle defenders rendering him ineffective. There is however also one or two examples of how we should be using him, the best being a ball played to him in the 2nd half that he smashes at the keeper and Soldado make the tame effort of heading in the rebound.
Most of the build up play being done by Townsend should really be being done by Walker et al. With Townsend doing it down the right for us it's leaving Soldado very isolated. It probably didn't effect us so much last year because rather than playing a creative no.10 alongside the striker we played a world class goal scoring one in Bale. With Bale there it was ok having the wide forwards doing the creative work as Bale would be in the box to make something off it, now with Erikson and Holtby at 10 we can't be doing that. It's why despite Lennon looking dangerous yesterday we couldn't make anything off it, it's no good having a traditional winger creating chances for us if we're playing a system that doesn't put many people in the box.
This all requires the rest of the system to work properly with the central midfielders, DM and wingbacks etc but that's for another thread.
