27 Oct 2019 19:15:04
Frustration and disillusionment amongst the posters is both understandable and warranted and no matter what valid points and suggestions are made on this site unfortunately, as has been proven, it will make not a jot of difference.
Despite who has the say in who we sign, Silva must take responsibility for team selection and tactics.
IMO the deficiencies are obvious.
We have little or no pace throughout the team resulting in a fragile defence and midfield which give too many needless free kicks away, i.e Gomes and those who have speed have the no footballing brain i.e Walcott and the
We are desperately slow in our build up play which makes it very easy for the opposition to organise and defend.
Our movement off the ball and support for the player with the ball is poor resulting in most of our passes going either sideways of backwards.
We are one dimensional in our tactics and seem to lack fitness.
All of which can and should be addressed during training.
You only have to look at City, Liverpool and Leicester to see the style and tactics which bring success.
All move the ball quickly and attack and defend en bloc with pace continually stretching the opposition and forcing mistakes.

1.) 27 Oct 2019
27 Oct 2019 19:49:04
Are we criticising his team selection? Almost everyone on here said he must not change from the West Ham game, but for a Mina injury he kept it the same. Why is he being criticised for that?

I don’t think he’s a manager for our present or future but he wasn’t to blame for poor team selection. The team that started the game didn’t play to the standard they did the previous week. They are to blame for any poor performance, but let’s also not forget the shocking use of VAR and an OG scored by an almost blameless left back.

2.) 28 Oct 2019
28 Oct 2019 21:59:54
Toffee ace,
The post was not a criticism of team selection based on the premise that you shouldn’t change a winning team but an overview of the real problems within the club.

Football coaches who have real tactical knowhow select their transfer targets to suit a specific style of play and who have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances encountered in the course of the game.

We in the past couple of years have bought adhoc without any idea how each player fits within a particular preferred style of play.

We are woefully short of pace throughout the team but especially in midfield and defence which makes us very vulnerable to teams with pace particularly on the counter attack.

It also results in a slow and ponderous support to the attack which again allows opposition defenders the time to effectively counter.

We need players with pace to burn at the right side and centre of the defence and a pacey creative midfielder to transform the playing style.