Evolution, Adapting and all that Jazz

[Sherwoodblade]

In the Premier League you have to evolve and adapt more than you would in just about any other league. Brendan Rogers worked out how to play against our system and notwithstanding his current woes, so did Steve Bruce. The three defeats on the spin at the end of last season was a warning sign. This stage of the evolution should have been finding attacking midfielders so that Sander Berge could play his natural position. Instead we spend money on other areas which was a mystery to me because unless you have a decent midfield then chances will not be created. You could have Kylian Mbappe up front in this team and he would be made to look ordinary.

The warning signs were misread. Yes, we are hard to play against but it is rather depressing to know that the opposition only has to score once and that's the game.

I know plenty of supporters from other clubs and all of them apart from one or two owls fans have stopped making fun of our situation. It has now gone beyond a joke.

 

[nopigfansintown]

In the Premier League you have to evolve and adapt more than you would in just about any other league. Brendan Rogers worked out how to play against our system and notwithstanding his current woes, so did Steve Bruce. The three defeats on the spin at the end of last season was a warning sign. This stage of the evolution should have been finding attacking midfielders so that Sander Berge could play his natural position. Instead we spend money on other areas which was a mystery to me because unless you have a decent midfield then chances will not be created. You could have Kylian Mbappe up front in this team and he would be made to look ordinary.

The warning signs were misread. Yes, we are hard to play against but it is rather depressing to know that the opposition only has to score once and that's the game.

I know plenty of supporters from other clubs and all of them apart from one or two owls fans have stopped making fun of our situation. It has now gone beyond a joke.

We haven't been playing the system of the last three seasons this season; therein lies the problem. We can't change to a different system due to a lack of alternatives in key areas: we can't play a back four due to no centre back partner for Egan; we can't play two centre midfields due to no Ndidi/Kante type midfielder who can cover space and have a modicum of quality on the ball. We tried this last night but couldn't feed Didzy as Osborn/Ampadu couldn't play him in with the frequency required. Fleck and Norwood aren't athletic enough in a two. Robinson is also just a head it and kick it centre back, so we're solely reliant on Bash, Stevens and Baldock feeding the centre midfielders.
There are valid criticisms re squad building: Why didn't we prioritise these two positions over the last four windows? We're completely snookered tactically unfortunately.