I think we are still good defensively. Dawson and Lescott work well together, Pocognoli at left back is as solid as ever but at right back is where we are below standard. Wisdom is not a right back and his positional sense isn't up to scratch as a right back. Gamboa is a natural right back who is good in both attack and defence and is a much better choice.
Ahead of them we have Gardner who is very solid and composed but I think we need a defensive minded partner for him. A player who will sit in the midfield, stop opposition attacks and keep the sides possession play ticking over. Yacob does that well and could be the solution but his overall game in the past year has been below par. I think that we should look at signing a new defensive midfielder in January. Someone in the mould of Stefan Reinartz from Bayer Leverkusen.
The pressing side of our game is still OK but I would like to see us press a bit higher at times because too many times over the past 6 weeks, we have been sat way too deep. Defending deep is all well and good but we don't have to defend that deep all the time. There are matches where pressing high up the pitch can work to our advantage because it doesn't give the opposition any time and space. Against Sunderland the players showed that they can press high up the pitch. (The same players who couldn't hack pressing high under Pepe)
Drewks, I also believe that Pepe would have had us in a good position if he was still in charge. The one thing that continues to bug me is that the club's hierarchy didn't want to buy into Pepe's philosophy yet they still signed players who would fit Pepe's philosophy for a coach whose previous managerial work resolved around defensive minded football.
Speaking of Pepe, for anyone who is interested, he is set to return to Real Betis. The club's President and it's board have been replaced (they were the guys who chose to sack Pepe nearly 12 months ago) and the new President has already relieved Julio Velázquez of his duties as Head Coach. This means that Pepe has a great chance of returning to the club whose fans love and idolise him.
Ahead of them we have Gardner who is very solid and composed but I think we need a defensive minded partner for him. A player who will sit in the midfield, stop opposition attacks and keep the sides possession play ticking over. Yacob does that well and could be the solution but his overall game in the past year has been below par. I think that we should look at signing a new defensive midfielder in January. Someone in the mould of Stefan Reinartz from Bayer Leverkusen.
The pressing side of our game is still OK but I would like to see us press a bit higher at times because too many times over the past 6 weeks, we have been sat way too deep. Defending deep is all well and good but we don't have to defend that deep all the time. There are matches where pressing high up the pitch can work to our advantage because it doesn't give the opposition any time and space. Against Sunderland the players showed that they can press high up the pitch. (The same players who couldn't hack pressing high under Pepe)
Drewks, I also believe that Pepe would have had us in a good position if he was still in charge. The one thing that continues to bug me is that the club's hierarchy didn't want to buy into Pepe's philosophy yet they still signed players who would fit Pepe's philosophy for a coach whose previous managerial work resolved around defensive minded football.
Speaking of Pepe, for anyone who is interested, he is set to return to Real Betis. The club's President and it's board have been replaced (they were the guys who chose to sack Pepe nearly 12 months ago) and the new President has already relieved Julio Velázquez of his duties as Head Coach. This means that Pepe has a great chance of returning to the club whose fans love and idolise him.