Nice thread Mick. There is merit in a lot of what you say, but I'll play devil's advocate:
finally, belatedly, we appear to have arrived at a potential solution to bus parkers.... we've gotten there in the end and the future looks a lot brighter.
Lets look at the alterations and how they panned out:
1. Playing a proper striker.... Danny Sturridge is a PROPER striker, the only one in our squad arguably, and man did it show?.... And it wasn't a surprise that as a team we looked massively more potent, proper strikers do that.
What his cameo did yesterday though surely is demonstrate once and for all that a PROPER striker or two in the squad is a must, and having one on the pitch if fit equally a given.
Yes, we looked more potent with Studge, a natural #9, starting up top than we have in recent weeks. But if we think back to the first half of the season, we were regularly blowing teams away -- even bus parkers -- and scoring 4+ goals on numerous occasions. Was the team performance with Studge as the focal point better than we were seeing back in October/November with Firmino as the #9? For me, we would need to see more evidence than just 1 game to draw this conclusion.
As for Phil in midfield, he's a world class player who is capable of playing several positions to a high standard. I do recall one game earlier in the season (I just can't remember which game) when Coutinho started in a deeper CM role, and was moved to LW at halftime because he wasn't getting any touches near the opposition's penalty area. The switch helped free Coutinho of his defensive responsibilities and made us more threatening in attack. I personally agree with you that Phil is naturally suited to a more central role, but sometimes you have to move players around to get the best out of the unit.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2017 01:00:16 am by harrydunn08 »
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