19-03-2015, 19:40
Agree with Saft. TP is not adapting to fit our squad, but adapting our squad to fit with his own style. It's not just the full back situation, but also his predilection for a rigid 442 when we only have two fit strikers, but an abundance of decent central midfielders. This means we can't make an attacking change from the bench, and also means the two strikers are running on fumes at the end. I think we can get away with this in the games where we score first as we can just bring defenders off the bench, but it makes us incapable of chasing a game.
Rather than looking at the half a season he had at Palace, let's look at the 8 or so years he had at Stoke. He crafted them (at great expense) into a team of very tall plodders who fouled and time-wasted from the first minute and who relied predominately on set pieces for their goals. I honestly think he will do the same with us given time. Thankfully we haven't started breaking legs yet, but I wasn't happy to see Foster's blatant and excessive time-wasting in recent games. I hope I'm wrong about this, and if we sign a bunch of 5'6" soft-footed maestros from the continent over the summer I'll concede I'm wrong.
Rather than looking at the half a season he had at Palace, let's look at the 8 or so years he had at Stoke. He crafted them (at great expense) into a team of very tall plodders who fouled and time-wasted from the first minute and who relied predominately on set pieces for their goals. I honestly think he will do the same with us given time. Thankfully we haven't started breaking legs yet, but I wasn't happy to see Foster's blatant and excessive time-wasting in recent games. I hope I'm wrong about this, and if we sign a bunch of 5'6" soft-footed maestros from the continent over the summer I'll concede I'm wrong.