Our Biggest Problem

[brite blu sky]

A challenge for us is to develop one of the other midfielders into decent cover for de jong, unfortunately the best may be Kompany but he is busy elsewhere, Barry and Vieira haven't got the speed for 90 mins so that leaves.....................
Is it a waste of Milner but who else?

Yaya. He did that job for BArcelona, didn't he?

Indeed but so far he seems better going forward than defending for us.

Sorry but Yaya would be next to useless at playing Nige's role. He did play as the rear mid for barca, but there just is no comparison. As the two CB play so high up that usually it would be Puyol or Pique mopping up. When Barca didn't have the ball they all got stuck into getting it back. Yaya's role was more about sitting back a bit and playing back into the mix in the final 3rd if the ball came out.. or equally as a free player to play back to when no other options were available. Totally different role.

[Swales4ever]

Problem No 1 is that all the stuff Tevez does like dropping deep & twisting, turning (that some people were moaning about last season because that moron Ireland can't play with him) is sorely missed as none of the other forwards can do it properly. So when we lose Tevez, we're not as effective & Silva has to do it on his own.

Problem 2 is that nobody can do DeJong's job except DeJong.

Problem 3 imo is that the defence & defensive part of the team still isn't a unit. We bossed the game v WBA but as soon as we came under any kind of pressure, only luck kept them from scoring yet they didn't do anything special to create those chances, just obvious, run of the mill football.

Problem 4 is still that most of the players don't cross a ball properly & when they do, nobody gets on the end of it. If anyone but Balotelli had been playing, the 1st goal wouldn't have been scored as nobody would have been in that position. Add to that the fact that we were the only team in the country without a headed goal until Ade the other day.

Problem 1 play Milner in Tevez role. Not as good but at least a battler.
Problem 2. see above post.. Komps or Milner again.
Problem 3 only time together can sort that.
Problem 4 Slightly disagree. Ade might have been there. Tevez crosses, Silva does, Ade has, AJ sometimes gets a delivery right.. thats not too bad, but you do have a point.

Ade would be stood 8 yards deeper waiting for the ball to be pulled back. Ideally imo when a player gets the ball in a wide or wideish position, we should have a player attacking the near post, far post where Balo was, stood back wher Ade would be, & arriving at the edge of the box wher Scholes/Lampard would be. If that happened often the wide player would know which options he had to deliver the ball & as all defenders are stupid, one of those players will always be unmarked.

I am still convinced the final product will be 4-2-3-1 with 2 HM (out of YT, NDJ, GB, JM) 3 plays mainly AJ-CT-DS and Balo (Ade/Dzeko). That should solve the matter, leaving the 4-3-3 for the toughest clashes only.