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After watching the two non-displays against Everton I must admit I’m now a little worried about the direction that the club is heading in, I think most will be with me on this? Let's face it, performances so far have been unacceptable this season. No part of the squad functions and it's painful and worrying to watch.
It’s the most unbalanced and unsuitable squad I’ve seen in many a year at the club and the attempts to rebuild it have maybe been way too simplistic and optimistic in my opinion.
The overreliance on “senior” players at NUFC has been our Achilles heel ever since Eddie Howe took over. Every CEO, DoF, and manager we’ve had has dropped the ball on this and it’s all coming home to roost. I’m going to be brutal here but there is not one of the senior players who were on the books at the time of the takeover that should still be here now, not one. Schär, Jacob Murphy, Willock and Joelinton should have been moved on when the chance was presented. The fact that they are still mainstays in our squad speaks volumes really. They’ve all contributed in periods but are well past where we want to be. The fact that they have all been elevated to regular starters when we’ve brought in replacements for all of our premium players tells you how much we’ve dropped a bollock here.
The real worry is not just that we don’t have the squad to compete in the top half of the table - it hurts but it’s obvious is the truth - it’s that Jaissle doesn’t seem to have grasped that his “vertical” football just isn’t going to work with the players at his disposal. It looks very disjointed, unlinked and terrible to watch. Trying to be a player in this system just doesn’t seem like fun. So much so that the senior players in the side, Schär and Burn, seemed to abandon his game plan and thought it would be best to just lump the ball long in the vain hope the Everton back line might struggle? Given they started with three CBs in a four man back line shows just how ridiculous the tactic was. If players won’t play the manager's chosen system, then he really is in trouble.
The talk coming out of the squad is that the players don’t want a change of coach? Really? Only time will tell but he needs to stamp out the dissent quickly or he’s toast.
Here is where my football and tactical expertise comes into play, I’m genuinely not applying for the job but…
I’d keep Horníček in goal, he has been a bit gaff prone but given the shambles in front of him I don’t blame him for being a bit jittery.
Full-backs pick themselves, even when or if Livramento returns. However I don’t think you can pair Schär and Burn together long term. Their lack of mobility as a pair is a struggle and especially as the full-backs always seem to be advanced, they aren’t quick enough to recover so pairing of Burn and Thiaw would be by first choice. Botman can’t cope with Burn or Schär because he's just as slow, so it’s Thiaw with any of the other three.
Midfield needs the biggest change. Currently it seems he likes one as DM and two more advanced, with one more like an attacking midfielder and the other a box to box runner. Sadly that just means we get overrun and also lose any control we might get in midfield, also that we are neither a threat going forward nor solid in defence. Jaissle has said many times that Steur doesn’t play because Gonzalez does and I understand that, but if he wants to get some control and quality in the middle then he needs to bite the bullet and revert to a double pivot in midfield.
Steur is the one quality operator we have in there at present. He has that calm about him, he just does. He came on against Everton and every time he had the ball, he looked in charge. He wants to progress the ball forward, but when he looked up the strikers were static. This lot never knew how to break a low block and nothing’s changed. They aren’t smart enough to move in places where they create space, but Steur will definitely find anyone in the right areas when they move. His one weakness is defence. He looks easy to bypass at the moment and that will improve with time on the pitch and in training.
Nico Gonzalez concerns me. He just doesn’t look top drawer. He can’t defend. I’ve watched him closely and he doesn’t read the runs and is easily turned by average opponents. He’s averaging a 42.3% duel rate this season which is pretty poor compared to the best who average 55% or above, and he also averages only 1.2 attempted tackles per game. It should be 6 or 7 at least for his position. I reckon he’s much more of an advanced midfielder although not an attacking one. With that in mind I would give Aladji Bamba a chance, or Lewis Miley, as the guy in there to do the destructive work. Just break the attacks up and then progress it forward from there. Bamba has better defensive stats than both of the other two, and having three solid midfielders would give the side a much more solid look and hopefully reduce the risk of us conceding too many.
This is very important because we don’t really look like scoring much. We can create half chances but our forwards are awful at finishing apart from Harvey Barnes. That being said I’d pick a winger who can create assists first and foremost, so I would say to Barnes he must learn to get the ball in quicker and more often. A lot of our attacks die at his feet. His obsession with turning in around the edge of the box brings him some lovely goals, but it really drives down the chances of others benefitting. As defenders know that’s his choice of attack 9 out of 10 times, it’s easier to defend against. Let's be honest, Barnes is no Gordon or Yamal when it comes to beating defenders, is he? In fact if Jaissle wants to persist with the AM in a four-man attack then he would be my preferred choice. He’s our best finisher and is much more of a threat centrally than when out wide.
That leaves the central attacker, which, given he’s the only one we have, has to be Osula. If he gets a run in there I think he will get goals. He needs a run of games to get sharp in my opinion. Amazing how the club has gone from him being third choice at the start of last season to being our only option this season. It's criminal. If he’s not available, then I would promote either Ca or Sahlia. Both have had good seasons so far and would be worth promoting to the bench to get minutes in games, especially as Sean Neave is now at Wolves.
The right winger spot is a real challenge to fill. Elanga or Murphy? I’d pick neither. They offer very little and are players we need to move on. Pardo doesn’t seem to like the right, so he’d be my choice to go wide left. I’d play Touré on the right and add young Kyran Thompson to the senior squad, as well as Mathios Ferreira who both would be better options than Elanga, Murphy or Willock.
I’ve not even spoken about Wissa, but in all honesty I don’t see anything other than a lad who’s won the lottery with him. I don’t doubt he desperately wants to succeed but he just murders us whenever he's near the ball. I've seen him miss the ball on several occasions when bang in front of the goal, putting it wide when it was easier to score, or just wasting opportunities because he won’t pass when it's necessary.
The squad players I’d retain short term are
* Goalkeepers - Horníček, Jaouen
* Full Backs - Hall, Dedić
* Centre Backs - Burn, Thiaw,
* Midfielders - Gonzalez, Steur, Bamba, Miley, Ramsey (one last chance)
* Attackers - Osula, Pardo, Touré, Barnes
That’s 15 players to retain and at least 8 that can be moved out starting in January. Replacing some will be more difficult than we think, but at least six can be upgraded simply and if we sell them, then as they are senior pros, their wages should be easy to roll onto the new players keeping us well within our SCR range. We desperately need a couple of older heads to alleviate the young nature of our squad, but needs must and if Jaissle can avoid being the Geordie Amorim and cuts his cloth accordingly while he constructs a squad, I can see us picking up results.
We’ve been in games most of the time and if we stop the individual errors and start converting a few chances, then results could suddenly improve. The style of play might be a bit hard to watch, but if the results are ok then I can live with that. This is a league that will mirror last season and a lot of clubs only need a half decent record to be looking at a top half finish.
I’m hoping that Wilson and Amaral have plans at the ready to be moving a lot out and others in. That way we can continuously progress forward. Fingers crossed that Jaissle has the gumption to turn it around and progress to his preferred system while adapting the system to what we have now.
**Les Cash**