Firstly, a few thoughts on 3-5-2:
- I recall Spurs had success a couple of weeks back matching Chelsea up and I believe Ranieri was trying to copy that tactic.
- It was a good way of shoe-horning the personnel Ranieri wanted into the system (specifically both Fuchs and Chilwell).
Yesterday also highlighted everything I don't like about the formation:
- It usually takes weeks for the defenders to get up to scratch with this formation as their positioning, roles and knowledge of other players' responsibilities are different.
- It's highly inflexible. If you want to change it then it's very difficult without either multiple substitutions or players playing out of position.
I know that some on here are a fan of the formation; but I'm not and, despite a reasonable first half display, I prefer Ranieri's tinkering abilities to be used with a solid base of 4 at the back and I hope that's the last we see of it.
Anyway, all that said...
Schmeichel: 5 - Suffered as part of the confusion from the new defensive system; the third goal in particular where he decided he had to react because nobody else had.
Morgan: 6 - Was often the one to stick his leg out and get stuck in within the confusion. Not bad.
Huth: 5 - Broke position regularly and committed a lot of fouls today.
Fuchs: 5 - There was a warped logic to his staying on the pitch, as someone who was better on the ball and could provide more of an attacking threat than Huth, but the reversion to 3-5-2 later on made a mockery of it. Reasonable as part of a back 3, not good as an outright centre half.
Albrighton: 6 - Diligent in getting back, tracking runners that might otherwise have been through on goal, while his crosses were probably the most dangerous thing we had for most of the game. Tried hard, but isn't really capable as a right back against the quality of Chelsea.
Drinkwater: 5 - Gave the ball away too much and continued in his recent struggle for form.
Ndidi: 5 - Decent first half and showed that he can play, but it was hard enough for a 20-year old to line up against Chelsea, let alone for him to him to play out of position in a back 3 that his teammates aren't familiar with either. Disappeared in the second half.
Mendy: 6 - Held his own. Another who had a good first half but struggled in the second.
Chilwell: 7 - Coped a lot better with Victor Moses than he did early in the season and kept on trying, running and asking questions to the end. Easily my choice for our MOTM.
Musa: 5 - Looked lively in the first half and tried to get involved. Couldn't find a way to get involved in the second.
Vardy: 4 - Arguably my biggest disappointment of the day. He was marshalled very well by the Chelsea back line and ended up cutting a very frustrated figure, more intent on landing nasty challenges on the opposition, particularly Kante. He lost his temper and was not far away from landing a red card challenge on someone. Didn't get much service but neither did he make anything happen.
Subs:
Okazaki: 5 - Another who came on to be played out of position on the left. Still has balance problems though.
Gray: 7 - Entertaining cameo when the match was already out of reach.
Simpson: 6 - A rather pointless substitution, but didn't do much wrong.
Chelsea will of course be happy with the way they played, but honestly I don't think they had to play anything other than standardly to win the match. If they are at all worried about playing without Costa, this was not the match to either confirm or alleviate those concerns.
One final note - I'm always hesitant to say things like this because of the likelihood of them coming back to bite me, but I think Andre Marriner has improved as a referee. Aside from arguably neglecting to book a couple of players from either side for diving yesterday, I thought it was a good performance; he let the game flow and kept his cards in his pocket.
Player ratings vs. Chelsea
posted on 16/1/17
posted on 16/1/17
Accidental push of the 'send' button (not for the first time).
posted on 16/1/17
Ledley - we had joy with it during the Great Escape a couple of seasons back with Morgan, Huth and Wasilewski in a back 3, so it can work. However, what people forget is that it was used for several weeks before it started working; during this time Pearson played Matt Upson, and if you think Huth and Morgan are slow then you'd think that Upson was actually stationary.
As such, I disagree with Mersey's statement that Pearson had instant success with it. It took a long time to register a clean sheet with it. Where I would agree with your (Ledley) statement is that the abilities and experience of the Spurs centre halves makes it easier for you to slip into on occasion. I also think that Spurs/Chelsea matches are a bit of a law unto themselves at the moment.
posted on 16/1/17
Couple of things I noticed that although we played a back 3 like the season before last they were all shunted along by playing Fuchs in there, as Was played on the right of a 3. We'd have been better playing Simpson to keep Morgan and Hugh in more natural positions. Think we needed to go 3 at the back but wished we'd matched Chelsea's formation losing a midfielder and playing either Okazaki or Gray to make a front 3. At least the midfield 3 should be getting to know each other for the next game, although drinky looks a little lost, he did when he played for England in a 3.
posted on 16/1/17
I think from memory the first game we tried it was away against Arsenal and they claimed we were the best team they'd played that season so from Mersey's point of view it could be called an instant success but from a winning/ not conceding point of view it wasn't.
After that game and until the great escape began Pearson made the mistake of using 352 purely defensively ( similar to Saturday ) and it was only when he got to his last ten game strategy and let the players off the leash it began to really be effective.
No reason 352 can't be the same now but it has to be used aggressively attacking wise, let them go for it and don't shackle them down is the answer.
posted on 16/1/17
I see Geoff Peters has claimed we have had an £18million bid accepted by a Club but it's stalled on personal terms.
No clue to who it is but I Hope its not Saido Berahino!
Sounds like who ever it is knows what Vardy and Co get.
posted on 16/1/17
comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 45 minutes ago
Ledley - we had joy with it during the Great Escape a couple of seasons back with Morgan, Huth and Wasilewski in a back 3, so it can work. However, what people forget is that it was used for several weeks before it started working; during this time Pearson played Matt Upson, and if you think Huth and Morgan are slow then you'd think that Upson was actually stationary.
As such, I disagree with Mersey's statement that Pearson had instant success with it. It took a long time to register a clean sheet with it. Where I would agree with your (Ledley) statement is that the abilities and experience of the Spurs centre halves makes it easier for you to slip into on occasion. I also think that Spurs/Chelsea matches are a bit of a law unto themselves at the moment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I seem to remember that when Pearson started the 3 at the back experiment he had Konchesky and Simpson as the wing backs. It ended up a back 5 with the attacking potential of those two. We only really got some success with it when Albrighton and Schlupp took over the wing back roles.
It’s all about balance isn’t it? Albrighton and Schlupp aren’t the best defenders in the world, but the opposition had plenty to worry about from our attacking threat so were more defensive themselves. Also we only had two sitting central midfielders and a proper link to the front two. I just think that we’re stuck in that rut at the moment where the balance just isn’t quite right. If you play a containing team (ala the 4-3-3 against Middlesbrough) then you eventually just invite the opposition to come at you, which is what Middlesbrough did once they realised we weren’t offering much going forward.
There is a strong case for sticking with the flat back four after what we achieved last season. They know their roles well and the space they need to cover. But if we play 4-3-3 then the full backs need to provide the width and one of the midfield three needs to be comfortable dropping back when necessary. If they don’t provide that width (which if it’s Fuchs and Simpson then they probably won’t) then the onus is on the wide players in the front 3. So it’s not really a 4-3-3 at all, but 4-5-1. Then the front man is isolated unless one of the midfield 3 is prepared to do the Dele Alli role. That doesn’t suit the current 3 and the most obvious choice would be Andy King who isn’t really good enough for this level.
As I’ve said quite a few times now I don’t favour any formation just for the sake of playing a certain formation. The balance of the team has to be right and, at the moment, it’s erring on the too defensive at the moment for me.
posted on 16/1/17
Thanks for the clafication TB and Joby. I meant that when Pearson adopted my strategy of playing Albrighton and Schlupp as wing backs we had instant success. In essence when we had to "go for it".
I agree fully with Joby (obvs). We need to find the right balance. We are way too defensive at the minute and are just inviting teams on to us. We have to find a way of putting pressure on the opposition. Making them think.
I think DD can play the role at the head of a midfield 3. His passing range is excellent when he's afforded the space to get on the ball and get his head up. If he has 3 runners ahead of him and 2 people doing the donkey work behind him, I think that could work. Surely we can make a front 3 work with the talent we have (Vardy, Gray, Mahrez, Slimani, Okazaki..... even Musa!).
We need to stop inviting teams on and start defending from the front like we did for our whole title season and our successful great escape.
Let's set the tempo again.
posted on 16/1/17
“We need to stop inviting teams on and start defending from the front like we did for our whole title season and our successful great escape.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amen
posted on 16/1/17
Someone mind posting this to Blackstarrs thread, he rightly blocked me a while ago.
I know I have given you grief in the past dude, it is easy to get wrapped up in the BS on this site at times and just pile on the wind ups for no reason other than to be a dic and for that I apologise.
Depression is no joke, I know from experience, have had some dark days myself, even since leaving the UK, it seems a very very lonely suffering at times, just being able to talk openly with people is a great help so make sure you don't bottle it all up from those close to you.
Good luck dude and take it easy