Where it’s going wrong for the Irons

Former WHUFC DJ Leon Hyde has more strings to his bow than many realise and one of them is his life as a football coach.

Currently he is taking his taking his UEFA A licence and asked ClaretandHugh if he could give his thoughts on the Irons pre-season and in particular the game against City. 

We are happy to give him the opportunity

By Leon Hyde

Hernandez is different level

From the Man City game is was clear 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 doesn’t suit us as we are a counter attacking team and in the first half we struggled to press and keep the ball.

And when we looked for the killer ball it was long or down the channel for Toni Martinez to chase. Essentially, we didn’t pass though the lines at all.

Without Manu Lanzini it’s clear we don’t have a playmaker who can get get on the ball or create chances. Mark Noble is too slow on the ball, turns too slowly and can’t find the pass from deep.

Marko Arnautovich and Andre Ayew were told to stay wide and didn’t contribute which feels as though we haven’t learned from last season. We stand off rather than press or play with real tempo which is worrying as it appears there is no Plan B.

The second half saw Bilic make three changes with Declan Rice coming into midfield but within 20 minutes we went to a 3-4-3 which meant Rice played in his natural position as a centre back and we started to look better going forward and passing through the lines which suits us far better.

Chicharito is of course different level  but my worry is that without Lanzini we will struggle unless Arnie takes the No 10 shirt to link up with Little Pea.

He’s a waste in a 4-2-3-1 where the full backs become big for us. For me Marko or Lanzini are totally key in the 10 shirt.

The alternative is to find a player who loves to look after the ball as in Mata, Barkley or Wilshere and move Marko and Lanzini to inside wingers in a 3-4-3 and have two holding midfielders.