Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
I think at the moment we are perhaps the easiest team to defend against in the league. We have no pace, no width and no power up front. Teams can defend high up the pitch and be confident that we don't have the pace to expose that, teams can also push their fullbacks on safe in the knowledge that when we get the ball in wide positions we will take it back inside and not expose the gaps that their attacking fullbacks leave.
Succinct and unfortunately probably true. We need a functioning Adebayor back, scoring goals.
Teams don't defend high against us because they would be cut apart by our creative AMs and Soldado's movement. Teams defend deep against us to crowd us out and make it harder to thread balls. What we need to do is to improve our synchronised movement (Barca style) to pull defenders out and create space in the melee (alongside the quicker transitioning, which Mason and Bentaleb are now giving us).
We can't just give back possession because we can't cope with organised defences. We need to hone the art of breaking them down.
Isn't PL prize money about £500k per place?..... The difference financially between finishing 5th and 17th would probably be worth more money than profit made from a Europa league run to the last 16 or even quarters.... Especially now most fans cant even be bothered to go to the games even at the special low prices.
I can't see us finishing below 7th tbh, but I mean there will be no pressure to specifically get 5th or 6th (like the closing weeks of last season) if a non-CL team wins one of the domestic cups.
EL group games still get about 25k IIRC. And tickets aren't especially cheap - they went up from £20 to £25 this season