by rabidbee »
20 Oct 2007 19:16
Back from the game. I hope we never play 4-5-1 again. It's ok when we're at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, where we'll probably lose anyway, but it just did not work today. Listening to those around me as I left, I suspect that the finger of blame will be pointed at Faé, but to be honest, I think he did as much right as wrong today, and was certainly no worse than the other two midfielders. The key point was that in the first half, none of the three midfielders really knew where they were playing or who they were marking. Consequently, we were pulled all over the place during the first half. At the back, it was too easy for Santa Cruz to beat Murty to set up the first goal, nobody tracked his run for the second, and we had been scrambling all over the place before Tugay tonked the ball in from the half-way line.
Clearly, with a three goal lead, Rovers eased off in the second half. Nevertheless, we looked much sharper, much more solid and focussed playing 4-4-2. For all the abuse he has had recently, Gunnar looked good in midfield, and we were more balanced overall. Kitson looked really isolated in the first half, but much better with support. He and Lita linked up well a couple of times, and only failed to link up a few other times. Lita looked pretty bullish, and actually stayed on his feet. Two good goals by Doyle, flicking the ball into the net at the near post both times. Duberry hit the crossbar with a header, Tugay stopped Sonko';s header and Hunt's follow-up on the line, and Lita had a strong shot well saved, and Samba only just beat Hunt to the rebound. The penalty was something of a killer, we had built up good momentum and that killed it again.
We absolutely must stick to 4-4-2 from now on; I'd go with Sonko and Bikey at the back, Harps and Faé in midfield, Lita and Kitson up front and Doyle on the right (at least at home).
The other thing we need to work on is concentration, as there were far too many silly, unforced errors.
