Back off Andi!

[olaftab]

Andi has let himself down this season due to lack of concentration. If he can get that back he may well recover to be a useful top level player.

[Ads]

If I am Tony Pullis tomorrow and I see Andi in our line up, then I would be a lot happier him being twenty yards further from goal than in and around my penalty box where he becomes dangerous. Him picking up the ball on his own 18 yard line and running like Phoebe out of Friends isn't going to concern me.

[Monty]

If I am Tony Pullis tomorrow and I see Andi in our line up, then I would be a lot happier him being twenty yards further from goal than in and around my penalty box where he becomes dangerous. Him picking up the ball on his own 18 yard line and running like Phoebe out of Friends isn't going to concern me.

That's true, but we can't exactly have goal hangers any more. This is why I suggested the 4-4-2 diamond with him and Gabby - both mobile, both able to go to the wing and help provide a bit of width, but allowing them the chance to play mainly as strikers.

[Ads]

If we're going with the diamond, then I would have Bacuna at the tip. His pace in that area, coupled hopefully with his movement and that of Andi and Gabby could be difficult to stop. I mean this in the context of Andi dropping off the centre halves and Gabby goes wide. Its one of those strange pehnomena of defending, that centre halves look lost when they haven't got a man to pick up and it ends up creating a lot of space for the likes of Bacuna to run into.

[adrenachrome]

There has been much written of late a bout the tip of the diamond, and quite rightly so. What about the base of the diamond though? We don't got no one to play the base. Central midfelders, box to boxers , harriers,  pressers, water carriers, linkers we got.

Don't help if one of your central defenders goes postal when an  attacker get a run at him. If you are waiting to see Westy track a runner or get close to the person he is supposed to be marking, you will be waiting for a long time. If you think Delphy is going t hang around at the back for long, think again.

I was hoping Sylla might grow in the role, but it is the hope that kills you.

PL. Please buy one  in the summer.   

 

[Monty]

I'd prefer Albrighton at the tip. I thought he did pretty well as an attacking midfielder recently, especially his movement into space. I'd also have Westwood at the best - not the most physical, but he can read the game very well given the chance, and can certainly mop up with interceptions.

[Matt Collins]

Westwood is well suited to the base role provided Delph and KEA do a lot of harrying. Westwood gets so much unfair criticism

[danno]

Westwood is well suited to the base role provided Delph and KEA do a lot of harrying. Westwood gets so much unfair criticism

I think its partly because the rest of the team is bullied so easily.

From our outfielders I'm confident of us getting the ball when Vlaar goes into a challenge.

I think Westwood is a magnet for criticism because he's a deep lying midfielder who can't tackle.

Its unfair that people expect someone as physical as Viera or as good at tackling as Makele.
But it also explains why (limited as he is) Sylla got into the team last year.

[SoccerHQ]

Unlucky not to score yesterday, in fairness he's been denied by two brilliant saves, Speroni and the Cardiff one.

Still even if those two had gone in, 5 goals is a lot less than I was expecting this season. It's a toss up who starts him or Gabby as neither are providing as much as we need or what they were producing last season.

[onje_villa]

Well work-ethic is a given, and pace and speed are the same thing. But Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Fabregas, Coutinho, Pirlo, Gotze, Kroos aren't that quick and have no real 'power', while Messi, Mueller, Reus, Pedro, Suarez, Aguero, Neymar, Robben, Ribery are all quick enough - some of them very - but aren't exactly what you'd call powerful. Yaya Toure, Ronaldo, Bale, Schweinsteiger, Javi Martinez are all quick and powerful, sure, and it certainly helps them in how they play, but the real thing which makes them top players, which they have in common with all the others, is that they can kick a ball pretty well. Lambert appears to have overlooked this aspect, and sounds really MONish in that 'physicality above quality' soundbite there.

[martin o`who??]

Westwood is well suited to the base role provided Delph and KEA do a lot of harrying. Westwood gets so much unfair criticism

I think its partly because the rest of the team is bullied so easily.

From our outfielders I'm confident of us getting the ball when Vlaar goes into a challenge.

I think Westwood is a magnet for criticism because he's a deep lying midfielder who can't tackle.

Its unfair that people expect someone as physical as Viera or as good at tackling as Makele.
But it also explains why (limited as he is) Sylla got into the team last year.

I`ve been saying for some time now that we are puny as a side, just look at the Stoke Fiasco, before the game kicked off we went into a huddle while they took up their positions, it looked like a kids team about to play a pub side, they dwarfed us all over the pitch, first 15 mins we ran the game while they were sussing what they could get away with - then they just battered us. 

[brian green]

I commented on precisely that point at the time Martin.   We are a team of flyweights, if not by avoirdupois certainly by bearing and threat.   You are also right about the way teams feel out the referee and then go to town on the opposition.

[eamonn]

Those chances at Palace and Cardiff go in a d we are safe and Andy bas earnt his new contract.

[walsall villain]

From the Express and Stars report on the Hull game and Weimann's goal 'celebration'.....
From express and stars match report.....
He cupped his hands to his ears in a celebration after the first as if to admonish his critics but he is kidding himself if he thinks those supporters have been harsh to vent their frustrations at him personally or the team.

I completely agree and didn't like seeing him do that. He, as have others, has had a poor season. I have read it's because he has been played as a winger, actually he has been played as one of three up front. That means he is meant to link up with the others, be fluid in his positioning, create and take chances. All of which he did well at the previous season in the same role.
His fine performance Saturday only showed how crap he has been previously.
So no having a go at the crowd please Andi.

[N'ZMAV]

If he thinks the criticism has been harsh, then it shows even more so that he's not cut out for this level.
Were the crowd to blame for his total lack of effort at times this season? (since his nice fat new contract)