FIF
There is no doubt we are playing deeper and our wingers are sitting deeper and playing more defensive than last season and to make a comment that King is just as good at passing is total Bollocks! the fact he is as fast as an asthmatic grannie it makes counter attacking football useless with him in the midfield. Cante was the one who drove us forward last season it also provided space for DD to spread the ball.
Teams have realised that they can over run our midfield because DD partner is simply championship standard and Armartey is not a CM
Although you claim that there is no doubt about us playing deeper, I don't think that it's accurate. We're actually deliberately trying to play a higher line than we did last season. It's been pretty obvious to me in our games to date - anyone else?
There is a clear desire to push our team further up the pitch, get Drinkwater on the ball more and try to work our way through teams more. It's almost like we're embarrassed about how we bypassed 'normal' ways of playing football last season and are trying to be more like the rest. For me, it was the very fact that we ignored the traditional 'rules' that set us apart and it's a bit bizarre that we've abandoned what worked.
People say that the opposition have sussed us out and are playing differently against us. I don't buy this either. Were it the case, they'd have done similar in the second half of last season. We've changed our approach, we're persisting with it, and we're suffering as a result.
In terms of Kante, of course we miss his presence. However, the Kante that is playing for Chelsea this season wouldn't make much difference to our team and style of play this season. Last year, he was playing differently and we were playing differently.
Drinkwater is being set out to fail by making him play in some weird 'quarterback' role for us. It's not his game and he's not very good at it. Just because he's on the ball more than anyone else, doesn't mean he's doing a good job. Most of his passes are pointless and he plays so deep that it exposes our midfield as pretty much empty. Drinkwater is at his best as a box-to-box midfielder and we'd do well to remember that.
I think of King as a cog in a wheel. If the team are set up for him, he looks like a very capable player. Set the team up badly against decent opposition and he stands out like a sore thumb, much like Amartey.
All this means that we're tactically miles behind where we were last year, for reasons I cannot fathom. We played quite poorly a lot in the second half of last season but we got results because of our tactical approach. We all lauded Ranieri as a genius for it. The real question this season isn't about individuals, wages, new players, injuries, etc. It's about why we created a superb identity that is unique and effective and then we've just binned it.
