A few words about tweaking and team balance.
Before that, a word on The Return of the Big Four.
Last weekend was just like the old days, like the last two years never happened.
Arsenal thrashed Wigan 3-0, Liverpool won 3-0 at Wolves, Manchester United hammered Birmingham 5-0.
And last night dodgy old Chelsea went to the Reebok and smashed Bolton 4-0. It wasn’t like 2010 at all. It was more like a flashback and Roberto Mancini will be hoping it’s not a flashback that previews the next 14 league games.
Aston Villa had slipped towards the relegation zone but bounced back to beat the sheikh’s Manchester City with an early goal by new centre forward Darren Bent. Before that, Citeh had looked nailed-on for the Champions League. Are they having a wobble?
Looking at Liverpool and Man City, I began to consider the eternal conundrum that all coaches face.
How do I maximise what I’ve got? How do I make one part of my team stronger without making another part weaker? Rhythm can be elusive, it comes from shape, good habits, playing together, skill, confidence, lots of things.
I thought that Mancini should put David Silva into his creaky midfield and use his vision and quick movement from there. However, putting David Silva in central midfield, in a floating Fabregas role, is tweaking your team. Buying Dzeko AND putting Silva in midfield is changing your team.
It didn\’t work. City\’s shape was terrible and Dzeko hardly kicked the ball, and left back Kolorov was their best forward. City’s shape was totally, totally wrong: their players filled up every space, so there were no spaces to run into.
This season Liverpool have been setting the wrong kind of records, so they need to improve rapidly.
A defeat at Wolves would have been the first time since 1954 that Liverpool had lost six away league games in a row.
I didn\’t think Kenny Dalglish should come back. Now that he has, I remember how much I love the guy. The club needed to be unified and Kenny can do that better and quicker than any man alive. He makes me laugh and talks more sense than almost anybody in football and he doesn\’t run off at the mouth. He\’s very Glaswegian. He says a lot with few words.
He\’s bigger than Gerrard and I wonder how Stevie feels about that. I hope he enjoys working with Kenny. And I hope Kenny plays him deep, in the Poulsen position, letting him raid occasionally, switching him forward as needed.
Maybe Liverpool\’s improvement has been due to the absence of Gerrard. His absence has allowed more teamwork, more harmony, sweeter passing, a better shape : 4-2-3-1 with Kuyt, Meireles and Maxi making runs to join Torres.
Despite the fact that seven of the players are not good enough to play for Liverpool, the teamwork has been improved by Dalglish and Steve Clarke, his assistant.
I think Kenny has switched Glen Johnson to left back to signal that he’s for sale. Maxi is a joke, a passenger, but he combines with Torres at times, so he has been retained. Meireles is the key man in that 4-2-3-1 formation. He’s made the machine start to purr. He timed his run perfectly to set up the first Torres goal at Wolves and volleyed in the second from 25 yards, and FT scored his second after a 31-pass move .
If Meireles’s main talent is for shooting, let him get further forward and shoot. As we all know, Lucas couldn’t hit a barn door with an AK-47 from inside the barn.
BTW, Ian Holloway is right: Charlie Adams has the range of passing to replace Xabi Alonso. Olly has turned down Charlie\’s transfer request. But that doesn\’t mean he won\’t go.
Could Spurs finish below Chelsea?
They lost Gareth Bale early at Newcastle, a recurring back injury. Then they conceded a goal by Coloccini and needed a very late saver by Aaron Lennon to get a point.
Last night Bolton started very well against Chelsea.
They played a high line for ten minutes but suddenly there were three white shirts on Anelka, leaving Drogba in a big pocket of space. At first, shooting looked like the decision of an old warrior who could no longer run. But Drogba\’s 30-yard thunderbolt swerved right and then swerved left and then dipped over keeper Jaaskelainen. It was the kind of shot that make you think the ball should be examined in a ballistics lab. A wonder-strike which damaged Bolton severely and they were beaten 4-0.
Amazingly, Arsene Wenger says he doesn\’t need a defender.
Yes, all managers are liars because they have to be liars. If you plan to buy a defender, you don\’t say : I must buy a centreback in the next seven days, we really need somebody.
Myself, I think he\’s serious. Wenger said: “Our defensive record has been good of late. Our fit centre-halves have done well and will hopefully get through this period without problems. If needed I can put Alex Song in there and there is also Ignasi Miquel,who has been in a couple of squads recently.
“So, transfer-wise, I am happy with what I\’ve got and I don\’t want to harm the progress of our current defenders. We have top quality in that department. People always say you must buy, but the players here must have a chance to play if they are to establish themselves.”
That\’s ridiculous. Utter bollocks! Song is no centreback ! Who is Miquel?
What’s he talking about? Has anybody seen Miguel play? Can he mark Drogba in an FA Cup semi-final?