I didn't think we would make 4th place a couple of months ago, our form was so terrible from January onwards but credit to Jürgen, he seems to have put an emphasis on winning ugly and grinding out results and that is exactly what has happened for the most part barring the odd glitch. So FairPlay to him for that. Also it's never easy to reverse a tail spin like the one we were stuck in from January to early March. That s a sign of a good manager in my book. I also think that if we had a half-decent centre-forward, someone who could at least lace the boots of some of the greats we have been lucky to see in the 9 or 10 shirt over the years then we would be putting a good number of these bus parkers to sleep and I'm quietly confident that Jürgen will bring someone in over the summer.
However, I can't help but have some doubts about Jürgen from a tactical perspective. It's tough to see a team like Saints roll out the exact same gameplan for the 4th game in succession and for us to approach the game in the exact same way with virtually the same result. The only difference today is that they didn't catch us on the break (they should have put us away with that 2 on 1 in the 80th minute). We've all been saying the same thing for ages now, no width, front three are too narrow, Origi is hopeless (how bad was he again today? He was simply terrible), Milner and Clyne can't do it all from wide positions etc and yet Jürgen doesn't seem to see it.
I wish we'd change the shape. Milner is getting a bit of a rough ride of it, I actually think he has been doing pretty well at left back for most of the season but it can't be easy for him. The lads in front of him all play so narrow, it's very rare he is on a genuine overlap so he doesn't see many 2 on 1s and of course he is a right footer which compounds things. Same goes for Clyne on the other side of the pitch, he isn't e most dynamic player going forward but he is alright, problem is Jürgen asks so much of them and without Mane there is no help out wide. We don't do enough to spread teams out, they just sit compact on the edge of the box and watch us try to thread the needle or chuck in a few hopeful crosses (despite U.S. Not having anyone who can really attack a cross).
There's so much to like about the way we have performed against the big sides, Jürgen really has found a recipe to succeed on that front BUT there is major work to be done if we are to regularly turn over the smaller sides next season. I'm sure the answer is to bring in a couple of truly outstanding players but I strongly suspect that Jürgen will have to do without that luxury so he will IMHO need to develop some new strategies rather than playing he tried and tested way week to week.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2017 09:54:58 pm by Scottbot »
Logged