So if we were to play 4-4-2

does this mean lose our most creative player in Wes? Not sure that would make us more attacking.

On the flip side, Becchio had no chance against two defenders today - was crowded out almost every time. Yet when Jackson came on the defence had something else to worry about and Becchio did more in those few minutes than he had for the rest of the game.

Lambert had the same Wes problem, and he employed the diamond. Score more, concede more.

The only other option is to put Wes nominally on the left, but with the freedom to roam - but that exposes Garrido.

I think the mindset of the team is more important than the formation - Southampton tonight often had five or six players in the Man City half when the City back four had the ball. Today, against a side much worse than Man City, we often only had one and we mostly retreated to defend from the halfway line when their back four had the ball. Pochettino said in the paper this morning that his plan was to press high, win the ball near to the opposition goal, and play their football from there. Tonight, they did that perfectly. He also did that at Espanyol and Guardiola was a fan of his style.

What really puzzles me is that against Swansea, Arsenal and Man United - all games we won - we *did* press higher up the pitch as a team, so we're perfectly capable of doing it (as we did often under Lambert last season).

So I don't really know why we can't do it all the time. And I'm puzzled at the current tactics.

Posted By: duke of york on February 9th 2013 at 19:49:29


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