There's more than one way of outfighting the opposition. The problem was when we went away, we didn't get as much time on the ball as we did at home. Whenever our players came under pressure, we almost always lost the ball. That's what I mean by ball retention. Having a combative midfielder won't help in that respect. There's a reason why we laud players like Iniesta and Xavi who can operate in those tight spaces.
Very true, and that would undoubtedly help. But consider this scenario, say we had Iniesta in our team paired with Carrick away at Wolves. Who do you think McCarthy would tell his players to target? Obviously Iniesta, o who do we have to combat that, where is his protection coming from?
The reason Xavi and Iniesta are so effective is because there are more than one player in the midfield who are comfortable receiving and distributing the ball under pressure. Our problem is at OT we get space to play, but away from home, we give the opponents too much room, we have no-one to get in anybody's face, and put them under pressure. It's for this exact reason i saw no need for Sneijder, he would be great at OT, but it's away from home where we need to improve.
I understand that but the way Fergie sets up the team, I dont think we're going this route. When you've got forwards like Welbeck, Hernandez and Rooney, I think you can see why the boss decides to go 4-4-2 more often than not.
We don't go this route because presently adding an extra midfielder, takes too much from the attack. We play 4-3-3 to cover deficiencies defensively in midfield, rather than changing to 4-3-3 because it offers a different and still effective team dynamic.
I argue that they can become good defensively. Although they still have much to learn in that respect. We still have a potentially very dangerous system now too. The problem is the consistency. It seems that Fergie might be playing the waiting game and just let our youngsters improve and stake their claim in the team. Whatever midfielder he's looking for, he's definitely having bringing him in.
It's not that dangerous without Clev and Ando, we looked really dangerous when they were paired together. Without them we are dangerous because we have great striking ability, but we are looking more for moments of genius, than cutting through teams with imaginative one touch play.
You kind of contradict yourself there. Because we were able to keep the ball better with Ando and Clevs, we were able to hurt the opposition more. By that I mean, when we actually had the ball we did something with it. So basically when I say better ball retention, I'm referring to the incisiveness of our play. If you don't have good ball retention you can forget about being incisive with your play. I'm not talking about overall possession. I'm talking about ball retention in the middle. Being able to navigate and pass through tight spaces, gave us a different dimension. We try and do that now and most of our moves just break down.
No it may have appeared a contradiction only because i misunderstood your meaning of ball retention, we are actually in agreement now you have better clarified your position. I thought you meant longer periods of possession by ball retention, but you actually meant the increased capacity to create something when we do have possession.
This has been my point all along, that system looked great and imo showed us the way forward. But any pairing in the modern game will struggle against decent opposition playing a trio. My point is we need a proper DM to compliment the attacking capabilities, we cannot play 4-3-3 at present because we have to play more than one defensive player and it takes too much from the attack.
Remember i have on this thread never once said we should have signed Parker. What i have done is used his regular contributions to a team as an example of how our set up would benefit from similarly reliable levels.
4-4-2 is a pretty dodgy formation in the big games, so i would expect SAF to want a change at some point. We now have the strikers/wingers for it, but not the right blend in midfield. I say ideally we need 2 players, one technical offensive player and one defensive. As you suggested Banega would have been ideal.
Let me ask you something though, you say we need players with better ability to keep the ball and do something worthwhile with it. Considering how well Clev and Ando played together, and how effective that pairing made the team, who do you realistically believe we could get who could offer more than they did within a 4-4-2 system, as you would obviously have to drop one of them to integrate the new guy?
I cannot believe Fergie is buying anybody to continue to play only a pairing, he surely must have his eye on a 4-3-3 of some kind. Which makes me go back to my original thinking, Clev and Ando, with a DM behind them.
