More than a few times last night I saw examples of poor decision making that put us under pressure. One of our defenders has the ball, sees a midfielder coming short for the ball but with an opposition player bearing down on him. What would you do, pass it sideways away from danger, back pass to the goalkeeper with plenty of time to do so or pass to midfielder who is under pressure. So they pass to the midfielder who let's face it isn't Foden or Rodri. All they can safely do is pass it back under pressure to the defender who just gave it them. The opposition player carries on his run and now the defender is under pressure and is playing a panicky back pass to the keeper. At some point this will cost us. So, why do they do it, not thinking, not seeing how it will play out, playing to orders?
There's a stigma in today's game in pumping the ball long away from danger when there are no constructive options open, despite it sometimes being the pragmatic option. 'If in doubt....' etc disappeared from the coaching manual 15 years ago
I have to believe they're playing to orders. Keeping possession at all costs is a philosophy that now riddles the game. Two defenders in the six yard box for a goal kick and then trying to pass their way the length of the pitch. It's ludicrous and usually ends up with them being pressed and passing back to the keeper who ends up lumping it anyway. Mael was caught messing around on the halfway line last night. Either that's under orders or he should get a rollicking and dropped.
I don't disagree but there are different ways to look at this. The opposite side of your argument is that when the midfielder drops deep, it creates a gap behind him to allow space for the striker or another player to run it to. In theory, the defender plays a one-two with the midfielder, it should give them time to scan where other players are within that space and play the ball there. Alternatively, defender plays to midfielder who should then go wide to a fullback for example. The problem is, like you say that in practice the quality of our players isn't the level of Foden and Rodri and it's a time bomb ticking until we concede.
MDG made an absolute howler caught in possession on the half way line as I recall, luckily the keeper made a good aave but should really have been a goal to them.
Yeah MDG made a couple of big profile mistakes when in possession yesterday, he made a couple of nice tackles and defended well in other areas but he seriously needs to stop faffing about like he did against Wigan, as I mentioned in MDT about him... I still think his best games for us have been in the middle of a back 3 by far, but no way can he start there over Roberts and or Pines so he needs to adapt, and quickly
Bit like when wide midfielders get 1 on 1 they used to try and beat them and get a cross in. Now more often than not they hold up and wait for a team mate to pass rather than taking the risk.
It's a risk worth taking if back up is available. None was in said incident, and we got away with it in the end. One of Russell's best traits is awareness of who is around him. Summat he could teach others.
