Captain
Established Member
Every midfield in the world makes alot of mistakes. That's football and is why you shouldn't micro-analyse every detail. It's easier to ignore them when you win but just as a recent example, Scholes and Carrick gave the ball to Ronaldinho allowing him a free run at their central defenders 2-3 times in the first half alone against Milan but they managed to win the game 3-1. I don't really want to talk about mentality and whatever else, I'm just pointing out that even the top teams make mistakes.
What you can question is why we are so easily stretched when one of our players does make a mistake and it's because a number of players, from front to back, aren't concentrating and aren't taking up their correct positions on the pitch to at least stem the tide a little.
You can say that Denilson isn't tracking back but why is the oppositions striker standing free in a 20 yard gap from defence to midfield. Diaby is getting caught square but why when that happens isn't anyone even remotely close enough to put the player carrying the ball under pressure (although to give Song his due, he does try but he can't everywhere by himself).
A large factor, in my opinion, is that we are stretched to the limit by the fact that one of our midfielders is going awol and the wide forwards aren't giving the opposition anything to think about. Too much reactive rather than proactive defending all over the pitch.
There is also an element of stupidity and in this case I'm going to mention something that Cesc does because he is supposed to be our most intelligent player; why on earth does Cesc make a strikers movement when the opposition holding player recieves the ball? 8/10 Cesc will make a run to the opposition goalside of the player as if a top level midfielder is going to make a blind pass back towards his defence. At least give us a chance by putting some proper pressure on the guy receiving the ball. Give himself a chance by being in front of the play rather than behind it.
I mentioned yesterday that I don't like Nasri and Rosicky both playing because even though in theory they do alot more running and do make the occassional tackle, again it is reactive. Neither press, neither stand in particularly good defensive positions and they aren't really asking the opposition any questions with their movement. It goes even further when you then have Arshavin getting bossed all over the place by two blokes twice his size in the middle of the pitch.
Football is a simple game, you don't need world beaters in every position (although that is nice too) and you can't expect even the best players to be perfect in every way but you can expect them to perform their most basic functions on a pitch to a high level.
Throw in some kamikaze goalkeeping and some horrid defending from the back line and these things all start to add up and create situations that are practically impossible to defend against. It's not just the two guys in midfield making a few mistakes here and there that is killing us even if that is the engine room.
For what it's worth, I don't believe that we have played well since VanPersie went down and I would have made him captain ahead of Cesc.
(some of this will be jumbled as I typed it from the hip in the **** little box at the bottom).
What you can question is why we are so easily stretched when one of our players does make a mistake and it's because a number of players, from front to back, aren't concentrating and aren't taking up their correct positions on the pitch to at least stem the tide a little.
You can say that Denilson isn't tracking back but why is the oppositions striker standing free in a 20 yard gap from defence to midfield. Diaby is getting caught square but why when that happens isn't anyone even remotely close enough to put the player carrying the ball under pressure (although to give Song his due, he does try but he can't everywhere by himself).
A large factor, in my opinion, is that we are stretched to the limit by the fact that one of our midfielders is going awol and the wide forwards aren't giving the opposition anything to think about. Too much reactive rather than proactive defending all over the pitch.
There is also an element of stupidity and in this case I'm going to mention something that Cesc does because he is supposed to be our most intelligent player; why on earth does Cesc make a strikers movement when the opposition holding player recieves the ball? 8/10 Cesc will make a run to the opposition goalside of the player as if a top level midfielder is going to make a blind pass back towards his defence. At least give us a chance by putting some proper pressure on the guy receiving the ball. Give himself a chance by being in front of the play rather than behind it.
I mentioned yesterday that I don't like Nasri and Rosicky both playing because even though in theory they do alot more running and do make the occassional tackle, again it is reactive. Neither press, neither stand in particularly good defensive positions and they aren't really asking the opposition any questions with their movement. It goes even further when you then have Arshavin getting bossed all over the place by two blokes twice his size in the middle of the pitch.
Football is a simple game, you don't need world beaters in every position (although that is nice too) and you can't expect even the best players to be perfect in every way but you can expect them to perform their most basic functions on a pitch to a high level.
Throw in some kamikaze goalkeeping and some horrid defending from the back line and these things all start to add up and create situations that are practically impossible to defend against. It's not just the two guys in midfield making a few mistakes here and there that is killing us even if that is the engine room.
For what it's worth, I don't believe that we have played well since VanPersie went down and I would have made him captain ahead of Cesc.
(some of this will be jumbled as I typed it from the hip in the **** little box at the bottom).
