They aren't a poor team, they are a strong team... while we were having a lot of success down the flanks I wouldn't have minded seeing MH paired with TV - not one for the purists - but I've read the "art of war" and the quickest route to victory is to disrupt the opposition command & control, we never achieved that even when we were out-playing them.
Enzio certainly disrupted their command and control on their right side, it was complete panic and no.2 was only saved by a poor ref and Harry Kewell taking pity on him.
Sort of, he actually had three Vale players in or around him when he scored, he mugged them all with his brilliant movement and composed finish... brilliant...
..but we never gave their central defenders enough problems... I said we were dominating the flanks, bur the balls in invariably came to nothing... with MH alongside TV we could have made life very uncomfortable for them and forced them to change their shape - none of our changes had that impact, we didn't disrupt them - and that might also have given the likes of Enzio even more scope for success... but at the very least would have given them a taste of their own medicine.
As you state, removing the individual who was causing them the most problems was never going to assist our cause and as an aside was hardly fair on young Lewis, I'm not sure that Neymar would have welcomed coming on for Enzio on Saturday.
Enzio certainly disrupted their command and control on their right side, it was complete panic and no.2 was only saved by a poor ref and Harry Kewell taking pity on him.
Sort of, he actually had three Vale players in or around him when he scored, he mugged them all with his brilliant movement and composed finish... brilliant...
..but we never gave their central defenders enough problems... I said we were dominating the flanks, bur the balls in invariably came to nothing... with MH alongside TV we could have made life very uncomfortable for them and forced them to change their shape - none of our changes had that impact, we didn't disrupt them - and that might also have given the likes of Enzio even more scope for success... but at the very least would have given them a taste of their own medicine.
As you state, removing the individual who was causing them the most problems was never going to assist our cause and as an aside was hardly fair on young Lewis, I'm not sure that Neymar would have welcomed coming on for Enzio on Saturday.
finally someone else can see the beast and the king together may be best use of our squad. Long ball any ball pump the balls in and get young and enzio picking up the second balls get the ball wide too and put it in the air give defences something to think about.
Sort of, he actually had three Vale players in or around him when he scored, he mugged them all with his brilliant movement and composed finish... brilliant...
..but we never gave their central defenders enough problems... I said we were dominating the flanks, bur the balls in invariably came to nothing... with MH alongside TV we could have made life very uncomfortable for them and forced them to change their shape - none of our changes had that impact, we didn't disrupt them - and that might also have given the likes of Enzio even more scope for success... but at the very least would have given them a taste of their own medicine.
As you state, removing the individual who was causing them the most problems was never going to assist our cause and as an aside was hardly fair on young Lewis, I'm not sure that Neymar would have welcomed coming on for Enzio on Saturday.
finally someone else can see the beast and the king together may be best use of our squad. Long ball any ball pump the balls in and get young and enzio picking up the second balls get the ball wide too and put it in the air give defences something to think about.
I'm not suggesting it is the complete solution, I'd rather we had a pacy forward to stick alongside TV but on Saturday it really was the only option that would have compelled the opposition to re-arrange their setup.... isn't that what changes are all about, it would have had an impact that like-4-like substitutions never will.