When patient football becomes pointless football
Certainly it’s an awful lot better than hoofball which in the context of yesterday’s match against Southampton would have served us no better than the pass and “probe” (I use the word carefully) approach we adopted against a well drilled defence.
Yes I understand the team is learning a new way which involves finding a man rather than blasting the ball forward in hope rather than with any real confidence.
But both styles can be taken to the point of overkill and that was our problem yesterday in a match which demanded a combination of styles. At times it wasn’t so much patient as pointless.
With Dimitri Payet off his game again the skill and invention was missing and instead we at times watched the Irons passing the ball relentlessly sideways and backwards against ten men. They went nowhere in a hurry!
On one occasion we went from just over the halfway line back to Adrian who immediately rushed from goal determined to find a player who could get on the move against a team which, as the game progressed, was clearly on the ropes.
We showed last Tuesday that we are not a one man team who needs to have Payet on his game to find a a way through. However, it’s as well to remember that we were playing the worst team in the League.
Every team has key players and I have written consistently that I believe Diafra Sakho is ours alongside Payet simply because – as repeated many times – he creates the gaps into which the midfielder operates.
We were also a different team when Lanzni came back for half a game before getting injured again. With those two back the patient passing game will have an end product – of that I’m certain.
In the meantime we have to beat Liverpool and that won’t happen with a sideways and backwards passing game which really did bore the life out of most for a long time yesterday.
Not unhappy, not moaning – just saying. And there has to be a change for Tuesday night or I fear it could be a long night