Josep Dowling
Full Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2014
- Messages
- 7,681
I see so many suggestions as to why we are failing and there is always constant comparison with Manchester United of yester year by pundits and fans a like. I even see such things as we need to play 4-4-2 again, when this formation hasn’t been used for about 20 years by the elite clubs.
The reality is football evolves and we must evolve with it or otherwise be left behind. How many times did Sir Alex change his system to keep ahead of the rest? In the 90s we used a 4-4-2 system to great success. This changed when Jose Mourinho arrived in England in 2004. He introduced the regular use of a 3 man midfield and dominated the league for two seasons. Sir Alex and United adapted and changed their ideas to what a rival was doing in order to win. We must do the same now.
There is only one way to play football in England at the moment. Guardiola and Klopp play high press, high intensity football with lots of width. Yes they have quality players but Liverpool haven’t done everything we could have done in the transfer market. The big difference is they had a plan and knew what they were trying to achieve. Those two clubs are so far ahead of the rest I don’t think I’ve ever seen such disparity in the league. That is clearly the current way to play and so far we haven’t appointed a manager that wants to play that style of football. I’m not even sure what Solskjaer style is to be honest.
We don’t have the players to compete with those two clubs at the moment or even the likes of Tottenham. But look at Liverpool. Klopp joined and slowly there was progress and evolution in their style of football every season even if results weren’t. I haven’t seen that under any manager we have appointed since Ferguson. Under Mourinho we started to get results in his second year but most can agree the football was dire.
Adapt or die, we are certainly dying at the moment.
The reality is football evolves and we must evolve with it or otherwise be left behind. How many times did Sir Alex change his system to keep ahead of the rest? In the 90s we used a 4-4-2 system to great success. This changed when Jose Mourinho arrived in England in 2004. He introduced the regular use of a 3 man midfield and dominated the league for two seasons. Sir Alex and United adapted and changed their ideas to what a rival was doing in order to win. We must do the same now.
There is only one way to play football in England at the moment. Guardiola and Klopp play high press, high intensity football with lots of width. Yes they have quality players but Liverpool haven’t done everything we could have done in the transfer market. The big difference is they had a plan and knew what they were trying to achieve. Those two clubs are so far ahead of the rest I don’t think I’ve ever seen such disparity in the league. That is clearly the current way to play and so far we haven’t appointed a manager that wants to play that style of football. I’m not even sure what Solskjaer style is to be honest.
We don’t have the players to compete with those two clubs at the moment or even the likes of Tottenham. But look at Liverpool. Klopp joined and slowly there was progress and evolution in their style of football every season even if results weren’t. I haven’t seen that under any manager we have appointed since Ferguson. Under Mourinho we started to get results in his second year but most can agree the football was dire.
Adapt or die, we are certainly dying at the moment.