That's just the same as

when people say 'OK who would you get in to replace him?'

McNally earns ?1m plus to sort things like that out.
Hughton's paid a huge salary to be tactically aware.

I just pay for my season ticket.

But for what it's worth I could see fairly early on in the second half that Welbeck was starting in a far more advanced position than Giggs (whom he replaced) almost playing in a two up front with Hernandez but dropping deep constantly between our back four and our midfield 3/5 (depending on whether or not you count the wingers as part of that unit). The problem seemed to me that neither Bennett nor Bassong went with him meaning that he was regularly picking the ball up and turning with it in that area in front of our back line.
In fact, it didn't result in them creating that much but it did give their midfield players an option which they used throughout the second half whereas before the break we had been able to press them far more effectively in that area. This, I think, made us less effective as an a attacking unit in the second half.
The solution would have been for one of the back four to push up when Welbeck dropped in to that space, though if that had been a central defender then either of the full backs would have had to 'tuck in' to prevent Hernandez being 1v1 with the other centre back.
Presumably whoever was marking Giggs in the first half was 'available' to cope with the Welbeck threat in the second, either directly or by fulfilling another role; they still had the same number of players on the field.
Effective communication is clearly crucial in situations like that.

Posted By: BillySteele on January 3rd 2014 at 12:36:09

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