Not worried about the possession stats, we score goals when we transition the ball to attack quickly - home or away. Rolling it backwards and sideways in our own half just lets the opposition set up with 11 men behind the ball. I know Roy and Ray are vastly experienced, but if I can see that, surely they can. It is not about playing on the break, but moving it forward with pace.

Couldn’t agree more. No other club at this level does what we do. When the opposition are vulnerable or somehow caught with a few men outnumbered or in front of the ball or whatever it is, we go sideways or don’t hit the ball in front of one of the players who will more often than not get to it first with a chance to improvise when he gets it. No, we think the ball and possession is most important, but when you can’t create anything and they’re happy for you to have it in that scenario then it’s really difficult to take watching it over and over.

One thing though. There is nothing wrong with counter attacking, even if you’re trying to be possession based. You won’t see a top side going, ‘no we won’t take that opportunity of 5 on 3 because we’re a possession based team so here you are Mr Right back, we’ll start again from here.’ No, they’re ruthless. We can punish teams but don’t. We should and can. Zaha and Ayew are fast enough.

COYP

Camarasa passed the ball about well for Cardiff last season.

What we all have to acknowledge is that 90% of the time Hodgson will prefer Schlupp over Meyer and McArthur over Camarasa.
Results and performances such as yesterday will only confirm his views in this regard and in a sense you can’t blame him.
I think Hodgson has a fundamental distrust of flair players as he’s not sure they’ll confirm to the rigid team shapes that he likes to lmpose.
Meyer has tried to conform but most of the time has looked like a fish out of water and in the system Hodgson plays Schlupp is a more reliable bet than Meyer.
When Hodgson discusses forward players Townsend and Ayew the first attributes he usually mentions are their defensive qualities which gives a clue to his thinking.

A bit like Max he doesn’t really fit the mould of Roy’s type of midfielder. He could be the creative spark we are all hoping for from midfield but I just think it’s going to take Roy a while to warm to him. I think his deals based on PL appearances so hopefully he’ll get enough opportunities.