Argh.. What a frustrating night.

Could have won the game if Crouch was more prolific. I wonder if Torres was on the field, would we have won the game? I really believe that we would have :(..
Skrtel

I have to comment on our new defender.

So far, he has been really good. He never, ever found himself stretching to intercept a pass or make a tackle. Skrtel anticipates where the ball was going, and would mop it up and pass it to a red shirt. I was very impressed when he’s gone into a heavy, sliding tackle against Alex, won the ball cleanly and kept it at his feet.

This has been a better performance all around and i hope that Rafa plays this formation (4-2-3-1) more often. It seemed to get the best out of every player including Kuyt *gasp*. I think the other reason is that we managed to play with a high line(with Skrtel and Carra) and it allowed the midfield to be more compact and thus, the defence managed to cut out launching the ball toward Crouch.

Anyway, rant time !

I don’t understand most people’s fascination with 4-4-2 formation. Nowadays, modern teams don’t exactly play with two out and out wingers anymore.. Man U has Ronaldo and Giggs cutting in while Evra and Neville will bomb forward.. Same for Arsenal with Rosicky and Helb cutting in while Clichy bombing forward. Same for Barca…

And that is the main reason why Rafa was so insistent on buying Mascherano and having so many CMs and i believe Rafa will move SG out to the flanks once he gets his fullbacks.

I believe SG’s best position is out on the right / left flank where he is free to bomb forward and cut into the box. Let Lucas, Alonso, Masc do the retrieval of the ball and passing. SG should just bomb forward, attack the ball and set up chances. That is what he is great at. If he ever wants to be the best player in the world, he needs to move past the CM role and move towards a AM role. The recent best players in the world were Ronaldinho, Zidane, Kaka and their roles are all similiar. They start off on the flank but they drift in to dictate play and create havoc. Once they drift in, the full-backs will bomb foward and provide the width.

Problem is that everyone in England is obsessed with a 4-4-2 formation and their insistence that it is the best “attacking” formation. Man U don’t play with 4-4-2 neither do Arsenal or Chelsea. Why are we still stuck and insisting that 4-4-2 is the best formation? Even Capello has changed England’s style of play..