…you might be asked to play!
That’s an old phrase I’ve heard said to fans many-a-time when playing personnel become a bit ‘thin on the ground’.
Am I allowed to say it?
 |
| First to arrive? Your kit & boots are under your seat... |
Few people like it when people say, “I told
you so” and I’m not exactly saying that…but I did, at least, express fears only last Sunday about John Stones breaking down.
Even with a club as rich as ours and with arguable
the best manager in the world – these are the times that test all resources.
So, with the likes of Pep Guardiola and his very experienced staff left
to properly sort it out; what can a mere fan like me do to contribute? Well,
instead of the usual pre-match blog-posting ahead of tonight’s Champions League
game against Shakhtar Donetsk, I’ll just run
through the options and likely solution our manager may have at his disposal / eventually choose.
1:
____________________Rodri____________________
___________________Ederson___________________
A simple 'inputting of' Eric for John;
causing as little disruption as possible and showing faith in Nicolas,
Oleksandr and Kyle to sort ‘emselves out. Pep has already said that he will not
doubt his players and, so, I can see him sticking to that principle. Having said that, it’s not always
easy to guess what the Spanish boss is going to do next…
2:
____________________Rodri____________________
Zinchenko_____________________________Cancelo
___________Otamendi_______Walker_____________
___________________Ederson___________________
I have to agree, to some degree,
with those who say that Pep doesn’t often show a lot of faith in the youth unless
he feels he can, “get away with it”. Eric has some first team experience but
only in the domestic cups and, even then, often in the earlier rounds, from
memory at least. So, option ‘number 2’ is simply asking Kyle to 'step inside' and
give Joao his shot at what he came here in the summer to do. As for Kyle, he
has played more centrally at times where we’ve changed the tactics ‘in game’
but it’s usually on the right-side of 'a 3'.
3:
Zinchenko___________Rodri_____________Cancelo
_____Otamendi____Fernandinho____Walker_______
___________________Ederson___________________
So…here it is, with Kyle on the right of a ‘back
3’. Ahead of this, then, is open to more debate as, should Pep go with ‘option
3’, it could mean that we’d have 3 centre-backs, 2 attacking wing-backs
(pushed further up) and a defensive midfielder all on the pitch at the
same time; reducing our outright attacking numbers by one in some kind of…3-6-1
formation; with a narrow attacking midfield 3 behind 1 striker and the
wing-backs providing the width.
There are more options of course, such as…
-
A defensive partnership of Otamendi
and Fernandinho, although to me that leaves some question marks about pace at
the heart of our defence.
-
When fit again, playing Mendy instead of Zinchenko or, indeed, keeping
Walker on the right and using Cancelo on the left-side of the defence.
-
He could even pitch Rodri in as
a central defender with (whoever) and then there’s the young Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who looked good in
pre-season.
So, yes…on the side of those who are not
supposedly panicking there ARE, indeed, options aplenty and I’m betting Pep was
half-working on these in his brilliant head before we-even lost Laporte.
But let’s have it right, we’re not a Championship side nor a mid-table Premier League side hoping to grab as many points
as possible each season and hoping, also, for a “good cup run”. We’re at the TOP
now; have to compete at our very best all of the time as teams in our own
country line up to ‘have a good crack at us’ and attempt to ‘shoot us down’. And
then, in Europe, we have to ‘go again’ against some of the very best!
THAT’S why losing Kompany, Laporte and
Stones within just a few weeks of each other should be seen as a big concern
and although we do have those options that I’ve listed above - and perhaps more
- they are all ‘sticking plaster’ solutions and
anyone who thinks otherwise should, in my opinion, NOT be expecting us
to-even attempt to bring in another specialist, central defender in January.
I hope those highly paid and experienced players
I’ve mentioned can ‘step up’ and adapt as Pep will, no doubt, be asking
them to-now-do because if they don’t, it’s gonna be an interesting 4 months
ahead [to January] to say the very least!
I do, of course, have faith in Pep and most
of the players and I’m sure we’ll find a good solution or two. It’s just a case
of finding that solution and settling things down before too much damage
is done…
No comments:
Post a Comment