Maybe start Eze or Olise instead of Wilf. He is very sensitive at the moment. Ten men would not help.

Not sure we are ready for it yet. In two seasons if we build the squad and the juniors big up then bring it on. Now we are just a bit thin.

Funny how we all see things differently. Did you switch off 2 nd half. Ayew was immense all game. Never stopped.

Combined really well with CG all game: the one without the ball consistently runs beyond the one with the ball to 1. get the return, or 2. pull the defender away to let the one with the ball cut inside. I think Olise is a cracking player and love watching him play, but this is what he doesn't do. When he hasn't got the ball he stands still on the touchline next to the player with the ball.

Ayew's little dink over the top for CG was sublime, and CG had more time than he thought and should really have done better. If that had been Bernardo Silva playing the pass, commentators would have oozed superlatives.

Edited by antipodeagle (13 Dec 2021 8.43am)

Any idea what happened with TM? He didn’t seem injured but completely switched off in the last 20 mins. Thar Gordon break could easily have cost us. So bad that Clyney had to come on a LB.

Think our lack of cover at full back needs to be addressed next month.

He seemed to be holding his hamstring but did still play on for a good amount of time. He eventually asked Ward to let Viera know there was a problem and went off. We may see Clyne on Wednesday night.

I do agree we need to address cover at left back but I think the issue with Mitchell is not of his making.

If you watch carefully when we attack we change to a back 3 with Tomkins in the middle, Ward on the right, Guehi on the left. Mitchell pushes high up the left touchline almost as a left sided midfielder. This creates an overload on our left, and prevents defenders from doubling up on Zaha without using a central midfielder (which in turn creates space for one of our midfielders)

When we're defending we revert to an orthodox back four.

However this creates issues for Mitchell.

Firstly he needs to expend a lot of energy pushing forward and then dropping back. This might explain why he looked so tired towards the end of yesterdays game.

Secondly it creates a hole behind him, that should be filled by either Geuhi as the left sided central defender or one of the midfield three dropping in. If our attack breaks down and the opposition breaks quickly in transition (as was the case with Gordon yesterday) they can exploit this space. This is not Mitchell's fault. It's a fault of the tactics. It's a risk I think Vieira is prepared to take because of Guehi's recovery pace.

In the case of the Gordon chance, which came from a quick Everton break after one of our attacks, Mitchell (who looked knackered at this stage) was caught up field, Guehi and Kouyate were sucked into defending Townsend and the ball round the corner exposed the space behind Mitchell. On another day we may have conceded but we didn't so you could say the risk was worth taking.

I think this in game flexibility (defending 4-3-3 and attacking 3-4-3) also explains why Ayew is preferred on the right to Olise.

At the moment Ayew offers far greater protection on the right wing by virtue of his work rate and defensive capabilities when we shift to back a 3 when attacking. Ward does not have the recovery pace of Guehi or attacking potential of Mitchell so we need a player to hold down the whole of the right wing almost on their own - something Ayew did really well yesterday. It will be interesting to see what happens when Ferguson is fit and whether this will allow Vieira to play Olise knowing he has Ferguson sat behind him as cover.

Edited by Skinnii (13 Dec 2021 10.16am)

"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make some other b*stard die for theirs" - General Patton