It may have been a slip of the tongue or talking in an unguarded moment but Robert Snodgrass may well have put his finger on a problem with Manuel Pellegrini’s management technique.
Mind you, the point he made hasn’t been lost on the fans who were discussing the same problem throughout pre season where the team managed to concede 12 goals in six games.
It’s not rocket science working out the problem yet another five went into the back of our net in the game with City.
Many reasons and justifications have been put forward about City’s quality and the rest of it but Snodgrass clearly isn’t happy about the defensive frailties.
And it’s not even necessary to read between the lines as the forthright midfielder discusses the problem and how it was there from the start of the summer campaign.
Let’s hope lessons have been learned ahead of Brighton.
“The thing is we were conceding goals in pre-season as well,” Snodgrass told whufc.com.
I get sick & tired of the club wheeling players out to state the bleedin’ obvious.
We all know that we concede far too many. Snoddy says that the mindset has to be right. Correct, but it is also about performing at 100% for the duration of the match however good or bad the opposition.
Until we replace the weak links at the back we will continue to ship goals regardless of the tactics employed.
Pellegrini had a record at City, Malaga & Villarreal of just over a goal per game conceded which kind of proves the point regarding his tactics.
The problem is not just in both full back positions we don’t have a ball winner in midfield who can get around the pitch, a player who can go box to box typical 8. We need to fix this problem for the weekend. I would play Fornals in along with Rice as he is not a winger. Despite what some people say on this site I have nothing against Wilshere, it is just he has been given so many chances in PL and he has not performed for a long time and yet people still want to give him more chances – at the expense of the team. He went to Bournemouth on loan and they did not want to sign him permanently – that said everything to me. If Pelle plays Wilshere again at the weekend in CM we will lose to Brighton irrespective who we play at the back.
As every year, West Ham are simply not fit enough for the start of the season
The team need to defend the same way they attack in numbers, I think MP will get it right but it will take time. He wanted another body in midfield that can defend but the Celta Vigo guy was too expensive and Gomes chose Everton as he couldn’t get his targets he decided what we have is better than what he could afford. Probably Noble comes in for Wilshere or Wilshere starts playing like he used to and flies when not a few tackles.
There is a definite Need to concentrate more on defensive tactics , something Pelligrini seems reticent to address . With this high press system we won’t climb out of mid-table this season . Brighton are ready and waiting for our all too obvious tactics . It’s a shame because after the summer transfers we are still playing in a style that will lose more than win . We need too beat Brighton 3 nil ., but can’t see it happening . A win yes is imaginable but clean sheet !! . We should forget the 5 nil trubbing by Man City . City will do that to lots of inferior teams this season . Our season begins with Brighton . There were a few teams that got a thumping on the first day of the season apart from us , so it’s not all doom and gloom . We need a run of wins . A repeat of last season’s first four games will see us playing catch up forever .