sunderland game sat

mickman

does anyone know why king was taken off??

Hatch99

therecklessone wrote: »

We become a long ball team when we play with no width and an un-natural shape, as witnessed vs Arsenal and for 70mins yesterday, as we have no wide options in midfield and the full backs are afraid to push up. Thus, when BAE or Corluka receive the ball they are left with the option of launching long to Crounch or go back across the park.

Playing Crouch does not require long balls, in fact he is a relatively poor header of the ball and seems too easily muscled out by defenders. BAE's cross yesterday for the Crouch knock down was exactly what we can and should be doing with him.

Playing with shape and a proper gameplan will deliver with Crouch on the park, and he should be in the team based on the current form of Keane.

Nicely Put.
Hopefully, we will have a full squad to pick from in 2 weeks with the likes of Lennon and Modric available, and we can see a better performance.
3 points there would set up the Villa game nicely.

Hatch99

mickman wrote: »

does anyone know why king was taken off??

Not sure, I assumed he was injured but there's no mention of it on the website from what Iv read.

therecklessone

mickman wrote: »

does anyone know why king was taken off??

He has looked unfit the last two games, I'm assuming Harry was worried that he was struggling to cope.

StillRickyVilla

therecklessone wrote: »

We become a long ball team when we play with no width and an un-natural shape, as witnessed vs Arsenal and for 70mins yesterday, as we have no wide options in midfield and the full backs are afraid to push up. Thus, when BAE or Corluka receive the ball they are left with the option of launching long to Crounch or go back across the park.

Playing Crouch does not require long balls, in fact he is a relatively poor header of the ball and seems too easily muscled out by defenders. BAE's cross yesterday for the Crouch knock down was exactly what we can and should be doing with him.

Playing with shape and a proper gameplan will deliver with Crouch on the park, and he should be in the team based on the current form of Keane.

It is possible to resist the temptation to 'go long' to Crouch & play through midfield to advanced wing positions. However probably easier said than done in the helter-skelter of the PL!

Ironically Crouch would be much more effective if we played with wingers who constantly whip great balls over like Bentley used to do and someone like Downing does and maybe Bale could for us.

However our main wingmen are Modric, who comes inside playing sharp 1-2s and thrives playing with Defoe &/or Keane and Lennon who uses his pace more than anything to create panic in defences with strikers feeding off the confusion rather than quality crossing.

The point is, Crouch is quite unusual in that his style does require quite a lot of team-tinkering.

RichMc70

4-4-2 is definitely the way to go but who plays as the front two.

Based on Robbies recent form some will argue that it should be Crouch and JD but let's not forget that our great start to the season was with Robbie and JD as the starting two and Crouch generally coming on late in games.

Certainly on what I've witnessed, there is a tendency to play a more aerial attack when Crouch starts. I would'nt define it as 'long ball' in the crude Wimbledon style, however a definite reliance on 'aerial attack' and to the detriment of our other attacking abilities.

There has been significant disruption to to team from our excellent start, most notably the loss of Modric through injury but also JD's stupid suspension and Lennon's injury.

We are going through a patch of poor form, but hopefully when Lennon and finally Modric return to action, then I think we'll get back on track. In the meantime if we can dig out results whilst playing poorly (like yesterday) then it will give us a shouting chance of achieving something nearer the season end.

COYS

mickman

we need to acknowledge that we are in 4th position with 12 games played. thats fantastic for spurs.

modric is starting full training monday so he and lennon will be back for the home game against wigan. king is about to be dropped i feel along with keane. woodgate and bassong will be our CB's of choice, dawson will play until bassong comes back

at home i still think defoe and keane will get the nod but away games pav and crouch should be used

pav and bentley to leave in january for 25 million hopefully. sandro and van nistelleroy to come in for 15. another 10 in the bank for the summer.

we are still doing very very well people. modric and lennon will improve us massively.

StillRickyVilla

mickman wrote: »

we need to acknowledge that we are in 4th position with 12 games played. thats fantastic for spurs.

modric is starting full training monday so he and lennon will be back for the home game against wigan. king is about to be dropped i feel along with keane. woodgate and bassong will be our CB's of choice, dawson will play until bassong comes back

at home i still think defoe and keane will get the nod but away games pav and crouch should be used

pav and bentley to leave in january for 25 million hopefully. sandro and van nistelleroy to come in for 15. another 10 in the bank for the summer.

we are still doing very very well people. modric and lennon will improve us massively.

Pretty much agree with the whole of that! COYS!!

Van Nistelroy's an interesting one - if he regained form & fitness could make the difference in the run-in!

Hopefully the Scousers can drop more points tomorrow..

mushykeogh

mickman wrote: »

we need to acknowledge that we are in 4th position with 12 games played. thats fantastic for spurs.

very true, just remember this time last year, what a contrast. I honestly thought we would go down for a while last year and it was fairly late in the year when we finally managed to get a few wins clear of the drop zone. If we could still be in 4th or 5th come christmas would be great.

mickman

there is no reason why we cant be. wigan at home we should win in fairness. then we go away to villa which will be the acid test in november for us. if we are 4th in january we have to believe people

by the way as much as i dont like saying it , i would back arsenal for the title this year.

mickman

also dont forget if we had beaten stoke which we all agree we should have then we would be level on points with united

would we have taken that in august before the season started, you bet we would

everdead.ie

The stoke game is definetly the most dissapointing game so far but I was very happy with a 2 nil v sunderland what makes utd,chelsea so good is that they win when playing badly

RichMc70

Originally Posted by mickman
does anyone know why king was taken off??

therecklessone wrote: »

He has looked unfit the last two games, I'm assuming Harry was worried that he was struggling to cope.

According to the London Evening Standard............

King was taken off after an hour of Saturday's 2-0 win over Sunderland with discomfort in a hamstring, meaning the 29-year-old has now suffered four injury concerns in as many months.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23766513-yet-another-injury-threatens-ledley-kings-future-with-spurs.do

keane=cock

mickman wrote: »

does anyone know why king was taken off??

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11675_5685445,00.html

golfball37

Atmosphere was excellent, I was right behind goals where Gomes made the save from Bent. When Huddlestone scored he jumped into the crowd too [Gomes]

All our problems stem from playing in the wrong way or playing too narrow, it’s as simple as that. On Saturday we hadn’t a clue what to do once we crossed halfway so looked up to see a tall man and presto ! It never worked, in fact the only header Crouch won was for Keane’s goal. If we don't play with wide men than Modric is an absolute must to open some doors. Keane literally got in the way all day.

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again but Pav would be on my 1st choice 11, Crouch should be used as an impact sub, Keane should be an out and out sub. We need to start 2 of Lennon, Modric and Krancjar when they are available. Last Saturday should be the end of the Keane/Crouch/Defoe experiment hopefully.

mickman

i love the way gomes gets so involved. he is good for the team in my opinion

Hatch99

mickman wrote: »

he is good for the team in my opinion

Thats when he's not dropping crosses left right and centre