The Official Knee Jerk thread

[Jurgen the German]

I read your post, mate. I think it's a bit of an over-reaction. Redknapp's right to say that 4-5-1 is a formation that allows us control of the game; it does. Does it blunt out attacking edge? Absolutely, with current personnel. But it makes us solid and hard to beat as well. Now, we'v got three away games and three home games. I'm willing to wager he'll revert to a 4-4-1-1 for at least the home games. That gives us nine points. Now, assuming he goes with the 4-5-1 of doom that guarantees a 0-0 draw in all the away games, that means three points there as well, to make a grand total of twelve, leaving us on 71 points. Now, will that secure CL? I'm 99.999 percent sure it would. So chill a bit, mate. Have a bit of faith.

I'm inclined to agree with this.

We played Chelsea with 4-3-3 to match them and used the same formation against Swansea because Redknapp didn't want them to dominate the midfield.

 

[Rossi22]

Put Modric in the middle where he can influence the game and its a different story. With Parker and Sandro we are going to be dropping more points in painful nil nils

Modric was in the middle, he even had the freedom to get forward and create more and didn't, that's down to him, not Sandro.

After the game I thought exactly the same and was happy, but in his post match interview redknapp said he liked the formation we played which makes me suspect we will see more Lennon on the bench

Lennon is just back from a long injury, Harry said before the game that he'll only be playing in one of these two games, we have Norwich on Monday you know? It makes more sense to go away with a solid team and a more expansive team at home than vice versa. Since playing this awful, horrible formation, we've drawn away to Chelsea/Sunderland with us being the better side in both and beat Swansea at home. Did you prefer the previous 4 games where we'd been playing 442 and just about scraped a single point thanks to a 93rd minute VDV equaliser at home to Stoke?

 

[chicken_badge]

3rd.
6 games left.
Almost fully fit squad with a decent run in.
Just got a draw at one of the hardest fixtures for us.
And you post this?

Absolute crock of brick. And you have the audacity to claim its not kneejerk???

 

[Chase]

Modric was in the middle, he even had the freedom to get forward and create more and didn't, that's down to him, not Sandro.



Lennon is just back from a long injury, Harry said before the game that he'll only be playing in one of these two games, we have Norwich on Monday you know? It makes more sense to go away with a solid team and a more expansive team at home than vice versa. Since playing this awful, horrible formation, we've drawn away to Chelsea/Sunderland with us being the better side in both and beat Swansea at home. Did you prefer the previous 4 games where we'd been playing 442 and just about scraped a single point thanks to a 93rd minute VDV equaliser at home to Stoke?

Good post.

 

[Richie]

Modric was in the middle, he even had the freedom to get forward and create more and didn't, that's down to him, not Sandro.

Modric played further forward but nobody got the ball to him. All Sunderland had to do was put a man roughly on him to stop him getting the ball because Sandro and Parker aren't great passers. They didn't want to risk giving it away with a poor pass so just played it between themselves and the back 4.

What eventually ended up happening was Modric had to come pick up the ball from Parker/Sandro where he normally would when he plays next to them, but because he is supposed to be in front of them he had one less man ahead of him than he would normally have. Because Modric is deep, the Sunderland back 4 and midfield only have our front 3 to cover. It happened time and time again.

Once Modric came further back we played the way we had played earlier in the season. Parker wins the ball, gives it straight to Modric and allows him to create from there, and low and behold he picks it up and plays a great ball to Lennon.

The ball movement was so poor out of the middle that often both Modric AND van der Vaart would end up back in the center circle just to get on the ball and Sunderland comfortably had the numbers to deal with just Adebayor and Bale alone in the Sunderland half.

If we had Huddlestone in the middle with Parker we could play this formation because he could get the ball to Modric in the more advanced positions.

Lennon is just back from a long injury, Harry said before the game that he'll only be playing in one of these two games, we have Norwich on Monday you know? It makes more sense to go away with a solid team and a more expansive team at home than vice versa. Since playing this awful, horrible formation, we've drawn away to Chelsea/Sunderland with us being the better side in both and beat Swansea at home. Did you prefer the previous 4 games where we'd been playing 442 and just about scraped a single point thanks to a 93rd minute VDV equaliser at home to Stoke?

We only beat Swansea at home AFTER we took Sandro off and started playing Modric in the middle. In fact one of those losses came in exactly the same fashion, against Everton we played Parker/Sandro and again didn't create anything.

The game against United was IMO our best performance in those losses and shock horror, its when we played Modric in the middle and we dominated them

 

[AdamB]

I still think we'll get 3rd as today was the hardest remaining game which we have and I can see us getting 4 or 5 wins from our last 6 games.

However I've been saying for months that a midfield trio of Parker, Sandro and Modric is never going to work as you dont have enough attacking threat or goal threat in there. Same if you include Liverbore or Thudd. To play 3 in midfield you need one play like Scholes, Lampard, Cahill, Fabregas etc who will get 10+ goals per year.

We just dont have that at the moment which means that playing 4-5-1 with our midfielders will result in us looking solid but unthreatening. Against chelsea away that is fine however against teams like Sunderland I think we should be backing our extra ability and playing two in the middle and going for the win

 

[DubaiSpur]

The game against United was IMO our best performance in those losses and shock horror, its when we played Modric in the middle and we dominated them

True, but we also played Sandro and Livermore...:-k

 

[THFC]

A classic Harry hoodwink, keeping the opposition guessing

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

we would already be there if it were not for foy

 

[Richie]

True, but we also played Sandro and Livermore...:-k

Actually thinking back I may have spoken too soon, its impossible to compare as we played a completely different formation with 2 strikers and actually Modric was more in the wide positions in that game

 

[Richie]

I still think we'll get 3rd as today was the hardest remaining game which we have and I can see us getting 4 or 5 wins from our last 6 games.

However I've been saying for months that a midfield trio of Parker, Sandro and Modric is never going to work as you dont have enough attacking threat or goal threat in there. Same if you include Liverbore or Thudd. To play 3 in midfield you need one play like Scholes, Lampard, Cahill, Fabregas etc who will get 10+ goals per year.

We just dont have that at the moment which means that playing 4-5-1 with our midfielders will result in us looking solid but unthreatening. Against chelsea away that is fine however against teams like Sunderland I think we should be backing our extra ability and playing two in the middle and going for the win

I agree with your post about the trio of Sandro/Parker/Modric, however I think if you put Hudd in there instead of Parker or Sandro you get a midfield pair who can defend well and Huddlestone can move the ball quickly and accurately to Modric further forward, something we don't have now.

I agree with your 10 goal/season midfielder needed, but could Bale be that guy?

 

[DubaiSpur]

Actually thinking back I may have spoken too soon, its impossible to compare as we played a completely different formation with 2 strikers and actually Modric was more in the wide positions in that game

Happens to the best of us, mate. I understand you're a bit worked up about the performance; it's a legitimate concern. But it's also a valuable point gained at one of the most formidable grounds in the country. So nit-picking maybe isn't called for all that much.

We WILL finish in the Champions League spots, mate. Believe.

Of course, Chelsea winning the CL and taking 4th place away from us is another matter entirely.

 

[DubaiSpur]

I agree with your post about the trio of Sandro/Parker/Modric, however I think if you put Hudd in there instead of Parker or Sandro you get a midfield pair who can defend well and Huddlestone can move the ball quickly and accurately to Modric further forward, something we don't have now.

This. We've missed Hudd this season. Far more than we sometimes realise.

 

[totman]

"We aren't making the CL"

We are 3rd but this strange thread has nothing to do with todays result? :ross:

 

[Modric THFC]

This. I don't like 4-5-1 and make no bones about it, but if Lennon isn't 100% fit then I understand why he isn't starting today. Against Norwich I fully expect to see a midfield of Bale-Modric-Parker-Lennon

Just because Lennon isn't 100% doesnt mean we had to play Sandro, Parker and Modric. We could have played VdV or Kranjcar out right with an extra striker up front.

 

[Richie]

"We aren't making the CL"

We are 3rd but this strange thread has nothing to do with todays result? :ross:

This is about Harrys comments after the game, which to me sounded like he likes the formation we started today (Parker and Sandro in the middle) and will continue to play it, which is a mistake IMO

 

[Park Lane James]

Away from home he doesn't want to lose, that's obvious to see. But against Norwich, Lennon will be unleashed. Harry wants us to win our home games and negotiate difficult away trips.

I think we're still best placed to get CL over the two scums.

 

[AdamB]

I agree with your post about the trio of Sandro/Parker/Modric, however I think if you put Hudd in there instead of Parker or Sandro you get a midfield pair who can defend well and Huddlestone can move the ball quickly and accurately to Modric further forward, something we don't have now.

I agree with your 10 goal/season midfielder needed, but could Bale be that guy?

Problem with your first suggestion is that Modric's best position it NOT further forward. Its deep, alongside someone like Parker who will do the defensive grunt work. Modric is not someone who plays off a front man - his game isnt best suit to that

Bale in as a 10 goal per season CM? Personally I dont like that at all - we have a limited number of genuinely top class players and we should play those top players in their best positions (ie Bale LW, Modric CM, VdV CF) and then fit the rest of the squad around them. Playing Bale centrally also (I think) negates his pace - there tends to be more space out wide and therefore thats where we can use Bale's pace better

 

[Richie]

I don't mean Bale as a CM, but he can compensate for a lack of goals from the central midfielders by chipping in 10-15

 

[colin fishwick]

We " controlled the game " [ which we didn't really ] lots of meaningless square and back passes ] , because Sunderland set out to play off counter attack.

The danger is , it slips away because we are too cautious.