funkyrobot

I think the point is it’s either one or the other. Mavididi and Ayew or Fatawu and BDCR. At home, against a side like Bournemouth, play with your best attacking width and that should be BOTH Mavididi & Fatawu.

10 responses not 10 posts tbf. It’s even more strange to die on the Ayew has been great hill too. For those on that hill I’d suggest cutting down on the beers.

Where have I stated that Mavididi played well today? He didn’t. If you want my thoughts on him in this Ayew thread though, I’d say Cooper’s system doesn’t help him as he plays as the only wide winger, making it easier to mark him out of the game. I’d still select him over Cooper’s other fave left sided player (BDCR) every day of the week though.

I’ve not, I’m just responding to some of the remarkable praise he’s had on here today. He played well against Palace, but today he wasn’t outstanding, he was pretty average, didn’t look dangerous and he didn’t press well. I don’t dislike the guy, he’s miles better than BDCR for a start!!

I think there’s a very large number of Premier League footballers who would say they offer significantly more to their team than the your definition tbh 😂

Okazaki pressed and pressed, defended from the front and ran himself into the ground. Ayew does not press.

Isn’t a number 10 expected to create and have chances then? I’ve always thought that’s exactly what they should be doing-particularly at home, particularly against a team like The Cherries. I didn’t realise that the main aim of the number 10 was to win free kicks in non dangerous positions. If that’s what a number 10 does now then yeh well done Jordan!! 👍🏻

You think he pressed well then? Did he have a shot at goal playing as our second striker? I just saw a player who can look after the ball but is mainly happy to win free kicks. That’s great but we aren’t very good at doing anything with free kicks. We usually win a free kick and shuffle the ball backwards with the stoppage having let the opponents reset their cover.

I’m not pinning it all on Ayew, I was responding to the people who somehow thought Ayew was an 8/10 today. He certainly wasn’t. As a striker he offered zero threat. He won a few free kicks and at times he looked after the ball BUT he offered minimal (dialled in) press. That’s not great when the other team is dominating like Bournemouth did for the majority of the 2nd half.

He was part of the reason we barely had a sniff of the ball in the 2nd half. Looked knackered and no closing down.

He looks after the ball well and can win a free-kick or 3. Sometimes he wins them when actually trying to stay on his feet and play might be more beneficial to us though! - We aren’t particularly good at attacking set pieces! He doesn’t press well though. He goes through the motions at times, as if his closing down is blocked by a lorry load of spilt syrup.

Seems to suffer with the same heading issues as Vestergaard. Gets beaten aerially a lot despite being tall. I’m also not convinced with his passing. He’s obviously faster than Vesty but certainly not at the same level as the Dane with the ball at his feet. He’s miles ahead of Coady though! Tbf it should be Vesty competing with him when fit but I’ve heard on the grapevine that Cooper doesn’t get on with Vestergaard.

He looked slow and lacked physicality, two flaws that don’t help a player when their touch deserts them like it did with Edouard today 😂😬

The depressing thing for me is Cooper will only ever play one winger. His obsession with his method of creating the central box of four has to include a wide player so he’ll go with Buonanotte or Ayew as the non winger when he plays Mavididi or BDCR or Ayew as the non winger when he plays Fatawu. They’ll very rarely play together. For me, this system makes it easier to defend. You know where the wide danger is and can overload in this area as the spare attacker becomes one of the the two fullbacks and neither are usually likely to have a day like JJ did last week. This is in part because neither are particularly skilful attackers and also because they have significant defensive duties as they play in a flat back 4. Today he seemed to play a 442 but even then preferred a non winger and a pragmatic 2nd forward foil in Ayew. This when we are at home against Bournemouth. He could’ve played Fatawu wide right, with Buonanotte central behind Vardy.🤷🏻‍♂️

Surprised by the ratings. I thought Ndidi was better than Skipp today. Skipp was less effectively defensively and bar a nice run in the second half didn’t offer the creativity that you’d hope he would offer.

Love to see the stats that show Reid did well. He lost the ball twice trying to do a silly turn in dangerous positions and didn’t offer the threat going the other way that Fatawu did.

BDCR walks into the Rhodri or De Bruyne position at Man City for starters. 👀

How long is Cooper going to stick with this lob sided system? Marks Mavididi out of the game, putting the entire creative onus on a young number 10 and our extra attacking player is a fullback playing in a back 4 who is expected to be able to cover defensively and be an attacking wingback. Justin isn’t going to score worldies week in week out. Most of the time he’s going to be stuck running his arse off between two roles. He shouldn’t be one of our main attacking hopes, nor should Kristiansen when it was his turn at the start of the season..

Aren’t all strikers better when they are played in a front two though? There’s another player closer, occupying a centre back and providing a foil. It invariably means though that there are less numbers in the key midfield area and this compromise seems to be generally not risked anymore. The best strikers can step up and make it work as a single striker. If Daka can only play in a two then he’s not got the attributes to ever be a good striker in the Premier League or even in The Championship.

Daka’s mainly mythological pace is continually pulled out as a reason to hope he’ll come good. Whilst it’s clear that he’s been rapid during games from the Google evidence etc, it’s very very rare that we actually see it successfully used in a match. He rarely seems to outpace his centre half, maybe because he’s easily physically bullied or because his movement always seems to put him step behind his opponent- or maybe it’s the fact that when he runs with the ball it’s like watching someone trying to dribble a balloon at a party.

Not sure what authority you’ve got to tell us Moyes doesn’t want the job tbf. Are you a Moyes ITK specialist? Personally I’m not sure he’s the best option when Cooper is inevitably sacked anyway

It’s all very well praising Cannon for scoring 4 goals tonight but could he do it on a cold wet Wednesday night in Stoke? 👀

I just don’t get Cooper’s system. It requires an almost superhuman fullback who is both able to defend in a 4 but also vacates this position and suddenly attacks like a wingback! Seems much more of a stretch to ask a fullback to perform this role than it was to ask a fullback to slot in as a deep lying centre midfielder in possession like Enzo had Ricardo playing last year. Certainly way more yards to cover, and much more likely to be exposed when the opponents counterattack. Enzo’s system allowed two wingers and still employed a midfield box using 2 number 8’s. Cooper’s system uses only one specialist winger and makes our attack lob sided and our defence lob sided too. The lack of 2 number 8’s also makes the team very reliant on a number 10 and unless they are top level players in that role (e.g. a Maddison) they again can be targeted as opponents know they are the only midfield creative source. I’d argue that we do have creative midfielders (El and Buonanotte) that much more fit the profile of number 8’s. Busy and creative but not yet at the class that they could dominate the game like a true 10 at premier league level.

By all accounts Ian Holloway is one of the nicest guys you could meet tbf. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Mavididi as a wing back? 😬