Lets be honest, the reasons we drew this match are twofold
(a) The failure to mark one of the most dangerous finishers from set pieces in England, (cahill)
(b) The inability to score goals, despite total domination of possession and territorial advantage.
Our main rivals also seem to have problem (b) but dont seem to concede goals in such a naive fashion. We could have won ugly with a scoreline of 1-0 in each of these matches and walked away happy, but for the naive defending.
To see this happen twice in a week against the same opponent is frustrating, but the main thing now is to learn from this experience and put it right in the future. We have that opportunity in the replay.
The inability to score goals is also a worry, and we are not alone in this regard. Having to penetrate the parked bus has almost become the norm, with teams one after the other getting better at defending and denying the top sides.
In this match Everton were almost completely clueless going forward, and posed absolutely no offensive threat going forward, other than a set piece of course. Without Arteta driving their midfield they truly are a team without ideas. I felt that our downfall was that we continued to pump balls into the box in the air, where clearly Everton had the advantage, and time after time the ball was swept away without threat. Instead we needed to hit the ball in low, and when we did do that we looked a chance, once with the goal when Torres flicked it thru to Gerrard, and the other notable time when Gerrard put it on a plate for Kuyt, who meekly passed it to the keeper.
The tactic of looping it into the box high was possibly effective in the Crouch era, but I feel that tactic needs to be abandoned, in favour of skimming it in low. The issue of who can partner Torres upfront is no closer to being solved, after Keane fails everyone calls for Babel, and after Babel fails everyone calls for Keane. The problem was tempararily put aside when Kuyt starting scoring, and resurfaces again when he seems to have lost all form in front of goal.
The bottom line is, we know Keane can do it, we know Kuyt can do it, and most suspect Babel can do it, but how does Benitez get all of them doing it on a consistent basis.? The answer to this I think lies in the type of delivery, avoid looping it in high, and then in the positioning of the players. We need to get more bodies into the box, particularly when we dominate matches like this one. To then still find ourselves hopelessly outnumbered in the attacking box time and time again is not good enough. Lets attack more!!!!
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