(Note, when I say 'better', I don't mean 'good enough', I just mean 'better').
We play better with the ball on the floor and passing it through midfield. Getting Pierera and Diangana on the ball in attacking areas is much more productive than them sitting 40 yards from our own goal. In Robinson and Grant we have players who prefer the ball in front of them to run onto. The defence is better when the ball isn't coming back at them constantly.
Watch all the games on TV and show me which teams set up as deep and defensively minded as we do. Spurs are 'defensive' but they still average 40% possession and don't sit as deep as we do. We're getting around 30% possession in games - I can't believe that anyone thinks that's the right thing to do with a squad that performs better with the ball than without.
I've said it a million times - the way Sam sets us up to play is the absolute worst tactic you could use for this squad of players - and the results agree with me. This is why I believe pretty much any manager who plays a more progressive style of football than Sam would get more out of this squad than Sam is.
And yes, I agree, that Sam could improve things (and I pray he does against the Dingles), but his improvement will come with changes to the squad that sacrifices the quality of the football and seeing as we're going down anyway it seems completely pointless.
Last year we certainly did play better when the ball was on the floor, I will agree with you there. Pereira and Diangana played the ball brilliantly at times last year you can see that they were on the same page and could read each others game. Unfortunately Grady has not turned up this year and Pereira is looking bang average at the moment. Our midfield is being torn to shreds for fun.
You may think that I am being negative for the sake of it - I'm not. When I first considered your point of playing to their strength, my only thought was Johnstone who has been very good this year, after him I was stuck. However, I believe that we do have some good players and I firmly believe that all we need are two or three 'key' players to make the whole thing work. We need a 'Roy Keane' to be honest.
We cannot play through the middle as we are being out played on a regular basis. Pointless playing long ball as we don't have the pace to compete [although I am mindful of the recent Sawyers 40 yard pass that Grant got onto and passed to the goalkeeper]. Our 'strength' at the moment appears to be defending in numbers and the occasional contribution from Ajayi on set pieces. After that then I am stuck, but with a few new players with different skillsets.....
That's why I am pleased we have Snodgrass. Forget his age and resale value in 2 years, what can he do this weekend? Hopefully he will add some grit and determination in our midfield and shout at a few of them.....
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