Fans Comment: Brainless Blues

Yesterday was disappointing, to quote the blessed one, but I won’t go into a detailed analysis of the match as Staveros has already done it and done it well.

What he didn’t do was give the correct answer in my opinion. He hit the right targets, the selection of Tony Hibbert, Louis Saha and the tactical conservatism of the manager.

What he didn’t do was give the team enough criticism or the right kind of criticism.

Football is a team game; yes players make mistakes that can have a decisive effect on the result, but yesterday was a massive collective failure from all eleven players in the second half.

To put it simply they failed to assert themselves in the right way. They resorted to kick and rush as Wolves put them under pressure. This is a serious cause for concern, as McCarthy and other Premier League managers are following the Benitez Kick them off the park strategy (Anfield derby) and the teams only response is to copy them.

This is absolutely stupid considering that when they played to their strengths, a patient passing game (73% possession in the first half) a win was on the cards. When Wolves played a faster kick and rush game, they stupidly joined in, losing their composure and discipline in the process. If they played their first half game in the second half they would have won with ease.

What is needed is intelligence and discipline to counter such tactics, if they played to their strengths – and playing patient possession football is their strength – they will win. If they resort to kick and rush they negate their greatest strength. This team has a squad full of players that can play possession football, but they can’t seem to cope with a fast, physical, kick and rush opponent as yesterday has proven.