Eddie is hurt

What hurts Eddie the most is that some, not all, of these players are not rewarding Eddie the Loyalty he has put on them. Yesterday there were too many sub standard performances that Eddie was unsurprisingly upset and angry. He kept his cool in front of the camera. However I'm sure some sort of rollicking off Eddie or Jason would have materialised.

Those who he has singled out are undoubtedly fighting for their careers here and potentially Premier League football as some will find it hard to find it elsewhere
 
I sometime's wonder why we haven't tried this magical three in midfield while we've been in the Pl...then i remember that yes of course we have.
I'm not suggesting it would be a fix all, play week in week out system.

But it would be nice to see it a little more often, especially in games against sides where we would look to boss possession and be a little less gung-ho and susceptible to the counter attack.
 
Like you i'd like to see us boss possession like we used to DJ...but i'm not sure it would change much...once teams sussed us out we struggled to break teams down with a 3 man midfield...even with Wilshere in there....game after game of endlessly passing the ball from side to side in front of a packed defence....absolute torture.
It certainly didn't stop us conceding goals....we have always been susceptible to a counter attack whether we play a midfield 2 or a 3 because our midfielders are so bloody slow.
 
I don't for one minute think that Eddie is the sort of person who would blame his players for his own failings. We don't know what he told them to do before the game, but they obviously didn't do it, hence the anger. Every player needs putting in his place and told, do what you're supposed to do, or there's the door! It doesn't help having to play players out of position and some appear unhappy at doing this, but they should still put in a decent shift and give 100%. This is not happening. Two games to get it right!
 
One thing for certain is we will know by his team for Swansea. Arter, Surman, Boruc, Steve Cook, Murray have all disappeared in the past after not doing it in a game.

Yesterday he twice went ballistic at King, once throwing his water bottle to the ground when he lost the ball cheaply. He was also visibly unhappy with Mousset for the same.
 
One thing for certain is we will know by his team for Swansea. Arter, Surman, Boruc, Steve Cook, Murray have all disappeared in the past after not doing it in a game.

Yesterday he twice went ballistic at King, once throwing his water bottle to the ground when he lost the ball cheaply. He was also visibly unhappy with Mousset for the same.

I re watched the game back as it was shown in full on Sky. Mousset lost possession about 7/ 8 times in the first 30 minutes yet he looked our most dangerous player. It says plenty about the overall team performance.

Personally I'd bring him off the bench in future.
 
Like you i'd like to see us boss possession like we used to DJ...but i'm not sure it would change much...once teams sussed us out we struggled to break teams down with a 3 man midfield...even with Wilshere in there....game after game of endlessly passing the ball from side to side in front of a packed defence....absolute torture.
It certainly didn't stop us conceding goals....we have always been susceptible to a counter attack whether we play a midfield 2 or a 3 because our midfielders are so bloody slow.

This is exactly what happens in a 2 man midfield. In fact more so with 2 in the middle because you don’t / can’t have anyone running between the lines in that system. Look at the start of the season. WBA and Watford camped in their final third and all we could do was pass along a straight line infront of them.

Of course playing a 3 isn’t a magic fix. But if you do have that extra man, and importantly have the right players, you can allow them to run beyond the strikers and add variety to the attack.

I’m not saying we should copy how other teams play, but I’m struggling to think of another successful side who play with the same philosophy as us, but with a rigid 4 across the middle.
 
But Tinpot....it's not like we haven't tried 3 in midfield is it....probably more than any other system in our time in the PL in fact.....we dumped it last season after a really poor run of form where we couldn't buy a win.....we conceded exactly the same sort of goals with a 3 as we do with a 2....look at middlesbough away last year...a carbon copy of yesterdays opening goal with Harry...Surman and Jack in midfield.....it doesn't matter how many midfielders a team plays if they are as slow as ours.
 
I’ve not checked the stats but I’m pretty certain we’ve played a 2 man midfield at least 60% of the time. We’ve never played a 3 with the one player who would make it work - Lewis Cook.

I’m also struggling to remember the really poor run of form which led to us ditching it last season too. Everton and Spurs at home were 2 of our best ever PL games.

Regardless of how what our form has been like in the past with either formation, to progress as a possession based team we cannot continue with 4-4-2. Top level football all round Europe shows why, and the type of players we need to recruit to take us forward, will almost certainly have been brought up playing in a 3.
 
I'm not suggesting it would be a fix all, play week in week out system.

But it would be nice to see it a little more often, especially in games against sides where we would look to boss possession and be a little less gung-ho and susceptible to the counter attack.
It's ok for us to boss possession, but what we need to do is add move movement up front as the players don't move to create space for others
 
I’ve not checked the stats but I’m pretty certain we’ve played a 2 man midfield at least 60% of the time. We’ve never played a 3 with the one player who would make it work - Lewis Cook.

I’m also struggling to remember the really poor run of form which led to us ditching it last season too. Everton and Spurs at home were 2 of our best ever PL games.

Regardless of how what our form has been like in the past with either formation, to progress as a possession based team we cannot continue with 4-4-2. Top level football all round Europe shows why, and the type of players we need to recruit to take us forward, will almost certainly have been brought up playing in a 3.


We took 3 points [3 draws 5 defeats] from 8 games from january to the beginning of march ....i'd call that a poor run of form tbf....a look at this forum in that period will tell you how poor it was!....Eddie then dropped Wilshere and played a 2 for the rest of season and never looked back.
We all know the benefits of a 3 but you need quick powerful runners from midfield in order to make runs beyond the strikers....we don't have them.
I mean why would you think that Lewis Cook could make all the difference to that system when Jack Wilshere didn't?
 
We took 3 points [3 draws 5 defeats] from 8 games from january to the beginning of march ....i'd call that a poor run of form tbf....a look at this forum in that period will tell you how poor it was!....Eddie then dropped Wilshere and played a 2 for the rest of season and never looked back.
We all know the benefits of a 3 but you need quick powerful runners from midfield in order to make runs beyond the strikers....we don't have them.
I mean why would you think that Lewis Cook could make all the difference to that system when Jack Wilshere didn't?

I’ve had a look back at our lineups over the run you mention and I think your memory is playing tricks on you. Three home games in a row during Jan and Feb we played a 2 and the result was just a single point.

Lewis Cook would be different to Wilshere anyway. We played Jack as a 10 so pretty much the same position and formation we’ve been using King in this season. I’m talking about playing 3 conventional midfielders in deeper positions and allowing a player to break forward. Lewis could do this but Arter and Gosling have done that in the past. Of course we’d need an upgrade long term on those two.

BTW I’m not opposed to playing a 4-4-2. I’m just saying that to play the way Eddie wants us to do that it’s not the ideal formation. By all means play with a 2, but if we do, then sign a ball winner and a physical striker and get the ball forward quicker. It seems obvious to me that if your formation is weak in midfield, you choose a style of play to bypass rather than play through the area of the park you are weakest. At the moment Eddie seems stuck between two trains of thought rather than fully committing and the result is wishy washy.
 
I’ve had a look back at our lineups over the run you mention and I think your memory is playing tricks on you. Three home games in a row during Jan and Feb we played a 2 and the result was just a single point.

Lewis Cook would be different to Wilshere anyway. We played Jack as a 10 so pretty much the same position and formation we’ve been using King in this season. I’m talking about playing 3 conventional midfielders in deeper positions and allowing a player to break forward. Lewis could do this but Arter and Gosling have done that in the past. Of course we’d need an upgrade long term on those two.

BTW I’m not opposed to playing a 4-4-2. I’m just saying that to play the way Eddie wants us to do that it’s not the ideal formation. By all means play with a 2, but if we do, then sign a ball winner and a physical striker and get the ball forward quicker. It seems obvious to me that if your formation is weak in midfield, you choose a style of play to bypass rather than play through the area of the park you are weakest. At the moment Eddie seems stuck between two trains of thought rather than fully committing and the result is wishy washy.

Brilliant analysis.
 
I’ve had a look back at our lineups over the run you mention and I think your memory is playing tricks on you. Three home games in a row during Jan and Feb we played a 2 and the result was just a single point.

Lewis Cook would be different to Wilshere anyway. We played Jack as a 10 so pretty much the same position and formation we’ve been using King in this season. I’m talking about playing 3 conventional midfielders in deeper positions and allowing a player to break forward. Lewis could do this but Arter and Gosling have done that in the past. Of course we’d need an upgrade long term on those two.

BTW I’m not opposed to playing a 4-4-2. I’m just saying that to play the way Eddie wants us to do that it’s not the ideal formation. By all means play with a 2, but if we do, then sign a ball winner and a physical striker and get the ball forward quicker. It seems obvious to me that if your formation is weak in midfield, you choose a style of play to bypass rather than play through the area of the park you are weakest. At the moment Eddie seems stuck between two trains of thought rather than fully committing and the result is wishy washy.

Like i said we dumped the 3 in midfield after that run of results.....Lewis Cook is a defensive midfielder for a reason btw Tinpot....he hasn't got the pace to make runs beyond any striker...anymore than Arter, Surman and Gosling ever have.
 
....one option is to play Ake as a ball winner in midfield, maybe giving Simpson or Mings a chance in the last few games at Centre Back with Steve Cook?

We are not going to be relegated so Howe has a few competitive games to try Simpson or Mings in defence.

If Adam Smith is fit then I would play him at RB, give Brad Smith a couple of matches at LB to see if there is any potential there?

Ake has such good composure on the ball too, alongside Lewis Cook he could benefit the side with his ability.

Eddie really has to look beyond Francis,Arter,Gosling Surman and Daniels for next season.

We have enough in attack with Wilson, King, Mousset and Defoe.

The wingers look okay in Ibe, Fraser and Stanislas.

It is the back line and central midfield that he needs to remedy IMO
 

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