Shelton was dreadful and Mcnamera was largely anonymous as well. Villa had a poor showing by his standards, but had at few fine passes. I often get the feeling that his role in our system needs to be more defined.
The importance of Mix + Mac (M&M?) to get forward has made Villa either come back and be the guy they play off of, or him going to the wing to link up with one of the wide men. It doesn't make sense to me when we have the best passer of the ball with a striker who is quick and knows what he's doing. He should be trying to run the CBs wild, not trying to post them up.
I love Poku, but everyone seems to think he's the savior - let's be realistic at least.
It's not he's the savior, it's the fact when we need goals, we know there's a solution on the bench. The coach isn't doing everything he's capable of doing. Although everyone's neglecting the fact Bravo was injured so the sub was a like for like as PV wanted to keep the shape.
Mata and Hernandez were great and even though Iraola had a number of give aways in the first half, he warmed up, made that great save, and seems like he can play out of the back.
I'm happy someone else has noticed. He seems to be a lot better with 3 at the back.
Given Orlando's penchant for crosses, I was surprised we didn't see Brillant at CB as he's much better in the air than anyone else we have.
We're playing with 1 traditional CB and we're prone to counters. If we played Brillant, it'd be a mistake waiting to happen. That's why some fans/media of John Terry coming here would be a mistake. We simply need people who can chase down defenders/loose balls if he insists with this system.
I think with a 3 man backline and Mata running up and down the pitch, Iraola had orders to hold his ground and help out Hernandez. I thought he did well with his role (aside from what the f*** happened on the Larin goal???)
You could see in the second half at every "injury" of Orlando's and during most of the subs, Iraola was running to the sideline to take instructions from PV. Then he started dribbling with the ball into the MF, assuming his old playing style if you will. I believe that's why we saw a better performance from him towards the end. He was playing the way he used to, not playing out of position.
I'm not sure why no one acknowledged Bravo's great performance. He played like a destroyer, intercepting, tackling, running around like a pitbull. If he continues to play like that, we'll see 60%+ every game home and away.
This is an acceptable loss for most of us IMO. It's early in the season, under a new coach and a formation literally none of our players have ever played before. Compared to the way we played last season, a moral victory can be claimed with this defeat. There are times when you're going to dominate the game and chances and still lose. I think it's good it happened early in the season while we're still learning how to play.
Unfortunately, I think the 343 square/361/3223 wtf you wanna call it, has to go. I understand why he did it vs Toronto originally, we had 4 CMs vs their 3, but it's effectiveness is solely based on Mix and Mac. They're the one's who are linking up with Villa in the middle of the field. Villa has essentially been playing as a target man the last 2 matches, letting those 2 run off of him as holds it up. And if Villa goes wide, it's their job to eat up the defenders in the middle. Let's face it. If it comes down to those 2 going up against CBs, they'll lose most of the time. They have to do all that work on the offensive side, constantly running. Now look at what they have to do when we're not in possession. They have to be the one's to press with Villa because our wingers have to stay back because they don't have fullbacks behind them. (Anyone who goes to the games, watch TT's work rate. He could easily be a traditional wide midfielder if needed to be).
Paying attention to Mix and Mac's running, it's so easy to understand why PV doesn't give minutes to Poku. Now I'm wondering. WTF happens when Frank comes back? We can't be at this tempo with him on the field, unless we switch back to a 4-3-3 (which I know a lot of us were calling for last season, including myself). With the way PV wants to press, it's the most practical. It allows for TT and Mendoza to press with Villa BC they'll have Mata and Iraola behind them, and whatever combination of CMs PV wants to play, they have fresher legs.
