I'd have any arguments about the pitch if it were kept under wraps for six months prior to the match, then in a grand unveiling ceremony ten minutes before kick off we all got to look at it. Then we'd go "oh f*** me all these fancy Dan ponces are going to be uselsss on this" and I'd be full of sympathy. I'd have similar arguments about the weather if we had to pick our team in June, only to discover that ("oh FFS") we're playing in December and it's a bit windy. Similarly, when we played WBA last week and they were good at set-pieces, if they'd never shown any evidence of it before I'd be full of sympathy.
As it is though we knew the pitch was bobbly, we knew because we'd looked at the pitch. We knew that they were going to press us high (or at least I assume we did, they do play two up top and they've pressed everyone else high so it's a fair guess). Not only that, but as we were doing our little warm up routines before the match, we probably noticed that "f*** me it's a bit windy (innit?)".
So given all of that I have two questions.
1. How come we selected the team we did? Admittedly nobody could have known they would be quite THAT gutless, spineless and embarrassing, but the game cried out for a more direct approach. We had two lads on the bench who actually are designed to play that style, why didn't we use either of them?
2. What did we say to the players before the game? What did we talk about? Did we not discuss the fact that Watford were going to have a right old go, were going to ask us a question physically and see if we were up for it?
To save further problems and time, I've had a look in advance at the Leicester game. These are my conclusions prior to the match:
1. They've got two blokes up front who are quite good. One of them is very fast, the other very skilled at slipping him in. If we defend too high when we've got the ball, we are absolutely asking to get caught with a ball slipped inside the centre halves to the one called Vardy. My guess is they'll reason our left back is a poor defender and they'll look to target him, both with Mahrez one on one and Vardy pulling over to his side and waiting for Alberto to drop off.
2. When they have throw ins, goal kicks, corners etc they take hours to take them. This does two things, it breaks the game up and it frustrates the opposition.
3. From corners (to them obviously) we might be advised to mark the big German centre half who comes up.
4. They work really hard but will probably allow the likes of Skrtel, Clyne etc to have the ball. Everywhere else they will snap into tackles.
5. They break fast, really fast.
6. The little black fella in midfield (F***** if I can remember his name) is also a good player and breaks up the play really well. the full-backs bomb on. They are a good team.
There, I think that's got things sorted. I don't know the state of the Anfield pitch but my guess is it'll be in good condition. Wind oughtn't to be too much of a factor.
Next up is Sunderland, away. We might be advised to consider that they might well defend a lot and play a lot of long balls. Call me mystic silly bollocks, but this stuff oughtn't to be too surprising.
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