07-14-2019, 11:00 AM
(07-14-2019, 08:08 AM)Atomic Wrote: I can't criticise Slaven's team selection because he had to start somewhere. This is the first chance he's had to see players in a matchday environment.
There are a few things Slaven needs to realise very quickly though:
1) 4-4-2 No, no no! In the modern game there's a reason teams don't use it and it doesn't suit us in any case.
2) We need to bring in two good forwards, Kanu isn't good enough and Phillips isn't a striker. Burke to be fair to him had absolutely nothing to work with yesterday.
3) We need to bring in at least two defenders. We have Hegazi to come back in thankfully. O'Shea may be OK as third / forth choice this season. Bartley cannot start every game we need better. We need a right back, Nyom is shocking. Townsend I genuinely believe should challenge Gibbs for left back this season.
4) Midfield - We need three in the middle NONE of them can be Livermore. I just do not see what this guy does to warrant his constant inclusion. Krovinovic, Field and Brunt would be my choice at the moment. All are better than Harper and Livermore.
5) Leko is fucking shit!
Those are the basics Slav, digest these points quickly please.
Results in pre-season don't matter, and performances are relatively meaningless too. This was our first run out in very warm conditions and Bilic's first opportunity to see the players in a match environment.
I'd imagine we went 4-4-2 for ease - Slav will want to see every player, and that's the easiest way to get 20-odd players on the pitch doing fairly basic roles.
Phillips has been suggested as a striker several times on here, and has done it for Scotland, imagine we were seeing if this was an option going forward.
Livermore and Leko have roles to play, but not in a 442, and in Leko's case, probably not as a starting player.
No point jumping to conclusions after one game with a first XI that will hopefully be much different to the one we'll see in 3 or so weeks time.