Midfield to blame for the goals
2 min read
Midfield must take their share of the responsibility
Replying to @BenPearceSpurs
Yep. We all thought this would be the turning point. We seem to save defensive errors for these big games away too
The above quote is the generally perceived view, but it is wrong.
The first goal was not because we committed a foul outside our own box that we didn't need to make perhaps. That was not the cause.
As a coach, I have talked before about finding the root of a problem and solving that. What happens after the root of the problem is the effect of that so solve that any the problem doesn't arise.
The problem was on the edge of their box where we gave the ball away with a weak pass, something we did several times and something which I am constantly showing we do wrong. Passes should be zipped, not rolled so opponents do not have that chance to steal the ball.
I'd have to check but if I remember right the same thing happened for the second goal, so while the defence made mistakes (no excuse for Son's tackle), the root cause was in midfield outside their box. That is where responsibility initially lies. Had those errors not been made then players would not have been in the situations they were and would not have had to make the decisions they made.
Yes, decision making at that point wasn't of the standard we need, but we put them in that position by giving away the ball easily with an unforced error.
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But what chance is there of this changing while Levy controls the purse
Well probably the most important point is that Poch is still learning.
One only had to look at Sonny’s first half performance to deduce that this was a player who had little confidence in his new role, and the way in which he was ignored, for the most part, by his team simply reinforced that view!
Then, if that was not enough, Victor, who just grew and grew as the game progressed, is subbed (late on) to be replaced by N’Koudo! This is the player who’s going to change the game? Why not throw Janssen up front with Kane for the last 10 minutes?
Sorry Posh but yesterday you did not help the cause.
Result not withstanding though, I can still appreciate the manner in which the team responded throughout the match.
Let's face it, we came up against a very strong Chelsea side who had been configured to thwart us. Even under those conditions we had a fantastic game. Chelsea struggled to keep us from scoring and didn't manage to stop us dominating (Ten corners to one is just one indicator). Not perfect, obviously. There were mistakes, and the original setup may have been questionable, but the approach of everyone out there on the pitch was exactly as we'd want it to be. There was a never-say-die attitude that stopped only when the final whistle went.
All of that was in spite of a poor ref who allowed them to kick us numerous times without proper punishment (Marcos Alonso & Ngolo Kante being the most numerous of those.), and often without even a free-kick, or penalty in the case of bringing Dele down in the box before contact with the ball. A bit like the Stamford Bridge debacle of las…
Why was Walker on the bench ?
Why was was Son used as a wing back as Davies has been doing better in recent weeks ?
We are told you win your place in training, Walker is the best right back in the country and as a wing back one of the best in europe.
It seemed like he was trying to fit players feelings at the expense of the tean.
I really hope this never happens again, I can except it once but never the same mistake again.
My preference would have been the latter so we are no longer playing with wingbacks but we have not used a substitute and the Chelsea defense, and David Luiz in particular, has a lot more to think about.
We would have to use more of the longer ball in transition but can apply more pressure to the Chelsea back three when we lose possession, and, in all probability, will force Conté into making a defensive change.
It’s easy in retrospect but why put Sonny in that dilemma in the first place?
For example Verts could have played the wingback position and Wimmer could have come into the back three?
I do believe we have to accept that MP's thinking was probably more complicated overall than just those points though. I generally find he makes good decisions and am happy he's the manager. Maybe he got it wrong this time. Maybe the puzzle was more complicated than we appreciate without being privvy to all the details. I don't know.
I do know that we've progressed enormously in the time he's been with us, and I also know he has a character type that has the honesty to learn from mistakes. he's put steel and backbone into the team. Even with all the problems I feel we showed up very well on the day. Certain things didn't go our way. In spite of that we were very close to winning that game. Chelsea hung on for a …