Mails: England desperately need a Kante…

Sarah Winterburn

It can’t only be Wednesday. We need football. Thankfully the Mailbox is holding up well. Mail theeditor@football365.com

 

Stop being so bloody reasonable
The last few weeks have given us articles on football in pubs, streaming and now teams in crisis.
These well thought out, researched and coherently argued pieces do nothing for us knuckle dragging football fans. We would much rather know about player/managers latest hair style or car. Have you missed the memo we now live in a world were facts and research are not a match on hunches and hearsay.

We live in the world of 140 characters and do not wish for this reasoning, it may mean we may have to
reevaluate other areas of our thinking and you know that never end well.
Gary in Germany

How to crack Chelsea’s back three

Forgive me for going full Andy Townsend here, and I know you should never go full Andy Townsend, but today I’m going to discuss tactics. Notably the 3-5-2, 3-4-3, 3-4-2-1 or, just generally, variations of three at the back as mentioned in the morning’s mailbox by Peter in Andalucia.

This season we have seen Chelsea change to three at the back and have great success, with Spurs also successfully playing it at times. In the past it has been employed with mixed results. For instance, LVG tried it at United and failed miserably. Bobby Martinez, who was probably the PL trailblazer in recent times, with his Wigan team had sporadic (relative) success; ignoring that season they were relegated of course. I dare say that Bobby and Louis didn’t have the right personnel to successfully play three at the back; a quick look at Belgium under Bobby shows that he hasn’t lost faith in the system and perhaps he thinks he has the right players now. So with the top team in the league using three defenders I ask the question – is this the new dawn of a tactical shift throughout the league? Not for me Clive.

There is no doubt the system has advantages – five in defence can shift to five in attack with ease, offering both attacking options and defensive solidity. However it relies heavily on the wingbacks, who need to be good in defence and attack. As regards Chelsea, I like Alonso and he looks perfect for that role as his output this season has shown. Moses played the role of wingback at Wigan for Bobby Martinez I believe, so he has played there before but I am not convinced with his defending. Nevertheless Chelsea have been successful recently and, interestingly enough, the only two teams who have beaten them since the switch in tactics also used three at the back to do so (West Ham and Spurs). Does this show the best way to combat it is to go man for man with a similar formation? Not for me Clive.

I think the 4-3-3 can be effective against it but it takes pace, bravery and discipline. Teams need to be brave and prepared to leave their wingers high, forcing Chelsea’s wingbacks to defend more or pulling their CBs out of position to leave gaps. Furthermore, Chelsea are at their most dangerous when counter-attacking; their best wins have come when they have had less of the ball (think of the games against City, Arsenal and United). Give them the ball, concentrate, defend well then hit them on the counter with long quick diagonals. It is no coincidence that their two defeats since switching to three at the back came when they had more possession than the other team. Let’s see how they do when teams start nullifying their biggest weapon en masse.
Garey (mouth-breather and proud) Vance, MUFC

 

England should copy Spurs
Just wanted to respond to Peter suggesting England should go 3-5-2. I largely agree with the point he’s making, but I think Southgate should steal Spurs’ 3-4-2-1.

Kane up front alone, with Alli and one of the many AMs that England could field (Barkley, Lallana, Sterling(?) etc). The Spurs wing backs obviously start and the back three is probably the one he named (Jones, Stones, Dier), allowing Stones to play it out like Luiz at Chelsea. I’d probably stick with Hart, but Heaton and maybe even Foster at WBA should have a shout.

For me (Clive), the bigger issue is who plays in the centre of midfield? Henderson probably starts but who partners him? We don’t have an English Kante or Dembele that makes the Spurs and Chelsea teams well balanced. Maybe move Dier there and play Smalling at CB?
Tactics Bob

 

Media as fascinating as the football
Great article from Dan Storey on crisis at the top six and interesting email from Brad S in this morning’s mailbox. My initial thoughts when considering the state of the media is to despair, but it did get me thinking, is there actually more excitement and intrigue following the media than there is in following football.

You’ve got stories exciting young talent, established names under threat, challenges of ownership and strategy. The ‘big clubs’ of the mainstream media that are having to adapt to the challenges of the newer digital outlets. Corruption, greed in fact it’s got it all.

As an Arsenal fan, I’m not sure which media outlet best equates to my club. Perhaps the Daily Mail, a profit-making machine, often criticised by the rest of the media and also run by someone who has been in role for an age and is struggling to let go of the reins.

I can see it now, marching down Fleet Street waiving our newspapers and ipads in the air singing, “We’ve got more clicks than you” at the Daily Express.
Rich (DMFC)

 

Football discussion without history or results? Hmmm…
Interesting mail by Raman. One to file in the Arnold folder from Different Strokes, ‘Watchu taking bout Raman’? You can’t restrict people talking about certain things when they are discussing football, I’m not sure that’s possible. You want to try and stop Liverpool and Man U fans talking about titles and trophies when discussing football? You’d have more luck nailing jelly to the wall, and think of all the fun you would miss out watching them

As for having writers sitting and writing about a match without knowing about the goals?, well that’s just madness. Imagine this report from the recent Man City v Swansea game (Very vague commentary warning). ‘Pep played for the first 10 minutes with his players high up the field, pressing the penalty area via quick whipped in crosses from both flanks. However, on 12 minutes Pep decided to play with slightly less urgency, a decision he seemed to adopt for the majority of the rest of the match. However, Pep, on the 80 minute mark, made a surprising move and decided to go batsh*t mental again, neglecting the more conservative play he had adopted for the majority of the match and throwing the sink at Swansea for some reason.’ Eh?

Moving on to the results based reviews and conclusions, well the final table is constructed in its entirety on the sum of all the results that occurred throughout the season. Had the Agueroooo moment not happened then the result would have been different, and the conclusion at the end of the season would have been had THAT result been different then the table would have been different. That would have been the conclusion. Based on the result that didn’t happen. You see? I’m not sure I do reading that back.

As for removing statistics from footballing discussion?, somewhere in Pennsylvania a glass of full bodied claret get spat across the room.

I think the idea was admirable, but what you are effectively removing from the footballing discussion are the things that make it contentious, but it is those very things that make discussion so very frustrating sometimes and therefore enjoyable. You may as well just say 22 people ran about for 90 minutes chasing a ball, but we’re not entirely sure what they were trying to achieve.
Chris ITFC, Liverpool

 

…Lovely mail by Raman this morning on football debate. I’ve also thought about the idea of analysts/writers et al watching recorded matches with the goals edited out in order to gain a fair understanding of how each team played. It would be interesting, but ultimately I don’t think it would be practical because goals change the direction of matches. For example a superior team might score a couple of times without getting out of second gear and then sit back for the rest of the match soaking up pressure. The losing team has a real go in the last 30mins and force some decent chances but don’t get anywhere, losing 2-0.

Without the goals it would look like the winning team is not really doing much and then massively under pressure towards the end of the match, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the losing team “played better”. And there are a thousand of these kind of permutations that could be interpreted differently.

You’d also be able to guess who was leading in the last 10mins by the approach by the players/manager. For example, if Drogba is lying on the floor a lot, Chelsea are winning. If Mourinho is in the stands, Man Utd are losing. Would still be interesting though.
Kevin G

 

Genuine questions
I have a bit of a cold but am struggling on, through the head fog I am struggling to answer the following questions and wondered if anyone could help;

1. What happened to the six-second rule? I have googled this in case of a rule change but the law still states that a goalkeeper can only hold the ball for six seconds. This seems to be one of the least applied rules in the game. I can only recall Simon Mignolet being pinged for this (in a Europa league game) since it was introduced. This is not a timewasting affair, rather a routine occurrence. Very few goalkeepers release within six seconds (oh-er) but they are never picked up on it by the ref. Does anyone know why?

2. Why is it only players on the team in the lead who get cramp? And why only in the 89th minute?

3. Why do birds suddenly appear, every time, you are near?

4. Why do commentators refer to conceding a goal in the first minute as the ‘worst possible start’? Surely having a player sent off and conceding a goal is worse?

5. Why do the media refer to teams winning a ‘major trophy’ (‘Liverpool have only won one major trophy since 2006’) – what minor trophies are they chalking off? Surely no one is going to pipe up with the Reserve Division One Winners 2007/08 to dispute that claim?

6. Why did Stoke pay £12m for Saido Berahino when his contract was up in the summer? Berahino turns 24 on 4 August 2017 so would arguably not be in scope of a tribunal fee. Even if he were to be liable for a tribunal the highest fee ever was Danny Ing’s £6.5m. Danny Ings was out the outskirts of the England squad at this point while Berahino was coming back from the drug ban and hardly played for two years.
Micki Attridge

 

How good would Sancozi be for Arsenal?
If Wenger suddenly turned Arsenal back to the Invincibles ‘Arsenal Fan TV’ & Shout-Sport would have nothing to shout about?

Sanchez cannot pass, but has great drive.
Ozil great passer, no drive.
A cloned Sancozi would be one hell of a player.

Why does everyone who gets published have to show they are a liberal leftie tree hugger?

I’m Anglo-Asian, voted Brexit, lived 10 years in US and would vote Trump & agree with his ban!

Thank You!
Jas, Northampton

 

Clubs complicit in social nonsense
I think EM from Boston might have not been watching the football game the other week where a certain Paul Pogba played somewhat atrociously while #pogba plus accompanying Paul Pogba emoji spun around the outskirts of the pitch on advertising hoardings. If you’re looking for the real moment when the use of a footballer’s social media really changed then there it is and you can blame your own club for it.

Also, I think this is not the first time Lingard has come in for criticism over his use of social media and the broader reason for this, I feel, is that he seems like a bit of an idiot. Even if he is a listener of music.
Kevin Walsh, Luimneach

 

And so are players
I think EMUFC, Boston, is missing the point of social media. It’s posted by people and available to all, it’s “social” not private.

If Paul Pogba, or any other Twittering, Instragramming, footballer past or present, doesn’t want the world to know what is going on in their private lives or their opinions on all things football and more, they wouldn’t post these things.

In a similar way to newspapers garnering clicks a footballer posts “interesting” things in their lives for followers.

No different to us regular people posting a picture of their dinner or their new car/dog/underpants, really.

Yours socially,
Ben, The Bournemouth Red (please can people stop using “for me, Clive”, thanks)

 

Don’t expect us to love your players
Just a note on City fans feeling their players are underrated by fans of the “big clubs”.

When United gave you the privilege of watching Cristiano Ronaldo – objectively the greatest player to have ever played in this country – did you thank us? Did you turn on the TV to watch? Where were your emails about how brilliant he was?

I never enjoyed watching Suarez play for obvious (Liverpool/biting/racial abuse) reasons, but Jesus (no, not that Jesus) he could play.

Equally Aguero is fantastic – he’s been the closest thing to a superstar this league has had recently, pre-Zlatan of course, and it’s a terrible pity your demented manager is pushing him out.

But, unless prompted, I’m never going to write into the mailbox and say it because I really, really hate him.

It’s unfortunate your title wins coincided with that Van Persie scoring run and Gareth Bale becoming the most expensive player ever, but it happens. We won the treble and PFA award went to Ginola! And the Balon’Dor to a Rivaldo hat-trick.

You haven’t had remarkable players before now – and tbh you’ve only really have the one that makes that grade – but don’t expect any fawning.
Simon (Forever bitter?) MUFC

 

And definitely not Nasri or Hart
Agree with SM in the main about City not getting enough credit, but bear in mind that a) fellow pros decided those teams of the year so don’t blame the rest of us, b) Nasri was/is a complete tw*t so no-one probably voted for him because of that and c) Joe Hart simply isn’t very good and has never been.

Keeping clean sheets behind a very good City team doesn’t put him remotely near De Gea, Lloris or even ultra reliable keepers like Jaaskelainen, Friedel or Schwarzer. F365 routinely and correctly states that the value of a keeper is highlighted by the high profile errors he makes (or does not make). Errors like the ones Hart is prone to spread panic, they usually always seem to cost City or England big time, and his insufferable “big man” persona does him no favours either.

I agree on the rest of the mail but Hart and Nasri both, in different ways, get the plaudits they deserve. However, if there was a “most stereotypically 80s lesbian lookalike” award, both would be in with a shout.

Lastly, you forgot to mention Zabaleta, my favourite City player of the last five years by some margin.
Jonny, MUFC

 

Keepers!
Just reading through your ‘Benched Players’ article!

Given Liverpool’s “troubles” regarding their goalkeepers – why have they not unleashed Alex Manninger?
I am fairly he can stand unaided and therefore rates as highly as either of the two alternatives!
Wilf (Finally hanging up the boot – due two restimonials though) Smith

 

…Players with Experience = Managers ‘Knowing the League’.

From the piece on eight players Liverpool could use:

‘Liverpool would be keen to bring in a goalkeeper that is not so error-prone if they look to replace Mignolet and Karius, but Hart’s top-flight experience would be a boost.’

After pointing out that Joe Hart has made 3 errors causing shots this season, the third highest in Serie A, the paragraph on Hart ends with the above. I’m not specifically calling out the writer for using the phrase but what good is Joe Hart’s experience if he gives up chances so often? (relatively speaking). He can give the bus driver directions on away match days maybe? Or he could show the young lads how to ‘front up’ and shout and stuff. I’ve never considered Hart to be outstanding goalkeeper, he’s been making high profile mistakes for years so he’s hardly worth the money if he’s going to drop clangers like the current pair of Mignolet and Karius.

It reminds me of all the hullabaloo about Marcos Silva. He doesn’t know the league is an absolutely baffling argument, as is the league experience thing. Anyone remember Nigel Quashie? Loads of experience, once got stuck in an endless loop of relegation with five (I think) clubs.

In closing, experience may be useful but as a small part of a larger whole. Joe isn’t head and shoulders above other options.
Alan (not sorry for the pun), Córdoba

 

Love for Smyth and a question for Peter G
I wrote an email a few years ago exploring the F365 contributor v commenter relationship/hierarchy. It was an ‘in vain’ attempt to connect the then old school contributors to their now ‘old school’ F365 usernames, such as Hump3, TK421 and the die hard Liverpool troll ‘……’.

So, you can imagine, when I read yesterday’s last mail breaking down the new school of commenters in such an accurate fashion, my interest was firmly piqued (relax). I read through some brilliant descriptions of the contemporary commenters thinking ‘this is great and all, but who the f**k is this?!’.

Of course, it was the one and only Smyth. Absolute mailbox legend.

For all you newcomers, Smyth was the reasoned voice of us United supporters when we didn’t have the power of hindsight to know how good we had it. In the days of Dimiflop Hattrickflop, alongside Ronaldo and Rooney, Smyth was in his prime. Those were the days, maaan.

Anyway, to the pose a question to the mailbox, has anyone ever seen a card rescinded? Every game, players hound the ref in an attempt to influence a decision but it never seems to make a difference, especially when it comes to cards. It seems like protesting a card is completely in vain, yet players do it incessantly.

I’m sure Peter G could research this for me, but I actually remember one instance where Brad Friedel was shown a red during a Concacaf world cup qualifying match for the US, and as it turned out to be the wrong decision, the ref held the red card up in the air, ran his finger across it, and held up a yellow instead. Peter, was I hallucinating?

Please help.
DS United