Another frustrating match with Brentford playing the same way Everton did and we did not have an answer to open their defense. Our wingers are not able to do anything but pass it back to the centre, unable to run forward. Everytime the ball goes wide, it is a certain inevitability that nothing is going to happen, but go back to the centre. Simply our wingers could not find the answer against a low block.

If Gabriel Jesus was playing this would not have been the case as he would take down a couple of defenders, opening space for Saka and Martinelli to come to play. But Nketiah is not capable of what Jesus can do and is a different type of a player. We have City next who would not use the tactic, but Villa, Leicester and Everton before Jesus is going to get back are going to deploy the same tactic after seeing how we are struggling.

We need to change to a midfield diamond with Jorginho sitting back, Partey, Xhaka and Ødegaard completing the diamond. With this formation we can have more players through the center and we can penetrate through the center more effectively. If they are smart we need to be smarter to counter their tactic. Their full backs will have nothing to do, and we will take their 4 wide players out of their game and we can overload more attackers against less defenders through the center.

I believe we need to do this to ensure we will have a perfect run till Gabriel Jesus returns.

Vinod  (Greenlantern67)