fernadez
Dean Austin
Does anyone else ever wonder why full backs are seemingly never encouraged to try and take on a man when they get forward? It's weird how a right back like Trippier is always looking for the ball, bombing forward into the space in the opposition half but when he receives it and doesnt have a chance to whip in a cross he stops, looks up and simply goes back again just to keep possession, losing the momentum of the attack. On other occasions Trippier would do the obvious right thing and try to lay it into Son (Who then quite often has 1 or 2 defenders on him and has to lay it straight back). I understand the overall benefit of keeping possession and wearing down the opposition or probing for better opportunities but how scary would it be if every time the full backs received the ball early and were 1 on 1 if they just tried to go directly past their man once in a while.
I would never complain if possession ends with Rose trying to get past his man but ends up over dribbling it, or losing possession etc. It's actually refreshing to see sometimes and it gives the opposition defender a tough time and makes them less likely to get forward.
One of the most annoying aspects of our play and why we rarely open teams up. We'll counter attack, spread it wide and then stop and start going sideways and backwards. The problem is the full backs never even pretend they're going to try something else so defending against them had no fewer for the opposition, just stand your man up and wait for him to pass it backwards.