Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mac Howard
I don't accept at this point that the loss was down to lack of fitness. The Chelsea play lacked any definitive shape and was only as good as it was because of the quality of the individuals. Was that 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-3-1-2? I'd go for the last with Robben having a free role to play on either wing or come through the centre but, in truth, neither he nor Drogma seemed to know what their roles were at all. Neither contributed much of anything to Chelsea's attacking play - Drogma went awol and Robben wandered around seemingly aimlessly.
I think it may take some time for Mourinho to sort out what his best eleven is and what formation to play. He does have the players to make a success of anything he chooses and can play several styles even during the course of one game - in one match last season he went from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 back to 4-4-2 and finally to 4-5-1 all in one game to win it. On the one hand you can see that as a proactive domination approach but on the other that it smacks of a certain desperation and confusion. With a less expansive squad and more conservative manager it would certainly be the latter but with Chelsea that's not so certain.
For the good of the Premiership I hope Mourinho continues to search for the right combination and a slow start to the season but not with any great confidence that that will be the case.
|
I think lack of fitness played a part - Liverpool really took control in the last twenty or twenty-five minutes, when they just had much more energy than us. That's just a quibble, though, as our formation was definitely the bigger problem. But that's also down to our preseason, at least partly; with just three matches it's more difficult to get players used to new formations (or, in this case, figure out that the formation doesn't work), especially when the timing forces your hand regarding squad selection.