I ask again: Was your impression from the West Ham game that we were pressing with a high line throughout the game?
Most managers rotate. Most managers find ways to rest their top players. We're not Real or Barca, we don't regularly get 3 or 4 nil up and can coast for the last half an hour.
You feel we need to start with a strong spine? I take it by that you mean starting the same key players every game? Poch feels that giving players some rest and rotation is more important than you seem to think. I think he knows more about their fitness levels than you do. By the way, have you noticed that we've struggled a lot less with injuries this season than most seasons? It seems to me that Poch and his fitness coaches know a thing or two about what they're doing. Very easy from the outside to just say "play this player more".
First you say that you want us to not press high and expel energy. Just sit back and defend deep, counter attack. Then you say that we should be daring enough to go for the goal first, and set the tone for the match. I struggle to see consistency in what you write and I think you're ignoring some key factors.
What I see is a need for stronger players competing with our first choice players. The step down in quality from Bentaleb, Mason, Eriksen and Kane in particular is just too damn high. Poch is forced to manage with a squad that isn't well balanced, isn't perfectly suited to his style and that is very much still a work in progress. I think he's doing very well managing that squad on multiple fronts with a very packed fixture list.
At the end of the day there's a lot of ways leading to Rome. You can be annoyed with the approach Poch chooses, but so far I struggle to see how you can complain about his results or the entertainment all things considered. You prefer something different, he prefers what he does. There's probably not just one thing that will work, but his approach is what we'll have for a while.
the point is about being creative to start each game with the strongest eleven, to set the tone and intent early. in the west ham game, it looked like we were trying but were constantly being beat back by the equally fit and physical players, who only had kane and dembele to take care of. Without Eriksen we looked poor, unable to hold on the ball in a way that put the defence on the back foot.
beware the tyranny of "or"! the game doesn't have to be played in extremes. it takes a mature football team to know when to turn the pressure on, and when to kick back and relax. the key factor here is a nuanced approach to the game, not just pressing all the time. being daring to play the suckerpunch once in a while.
i see nothing wrong about releaseing townsend down the wings and watching 50% of his crosses end up in the stands, 40% to a defender and only 10% to spurs attacker ready to pounce? 5% we get goals, but 95% of the time we have traded the physical expense of one flying winger to at least 3 backtracking defenders - to me that's a pretty good trade off. again, of course, not all the time, but at a strategic part of the game, before we make a final push and revert back to a high pressure game through the centre approach.
no issues with rotating - its just that i don't think that poch has approached it rather wishfully - assuming that you can change 3-4 players in key positions and hope that we continue to kick on as before, is unlikely as you need time to build understanding between players.
finally the point about needing better players - i'm sure you will agree with me that once the transfer windows are shut, Poch's role is to make the best of the players he has. no point harping about how better players will make us a better team. better ask harder questions such as: what's the next phase in poch's system to be more effective? how do we keep our key players fresh while starting them regularly? tactical subs - how can we use individual player attributes to bring a game-changing plan to the table?
i think that poch is a good manager but he is still young and learning. if he carries on just sticking to his guns i also think that he will see limited success because of the sheer intensity of games at the turn of the new year.
