Aug 23, 2021 | Sushilspurs11
We grabbed all three points in return of our manager Nuno Espírito Santo to his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers as the goal from Dele proved to be decisive.
Dele converted from the spot in the 10th minute of the game when Jose Sa, the Wolves goalkeeper brought him down inside the penalty box as he looked to drive past the goalkeeper. After the final whistle, we returned from the Molineux Stadium with all three points in the bag, but it was not the game fans will cheer apart from the points.
It has been a year and more since Eriksen left for Inter Milan and with his departure we have lost the creative attribute of the team. Yesterday’s game against Wolves was the perfect demonstration of what we have been doing since Eriksen left.
From the last stage of the Mauricio Pochettino era our game has been simple and clear, we sit deep, we let opponents raid us, and we try to create on counter-attacks. This approach has worked occasionally, but most of the time it has backfired. This has been useful against the team that plays attacking and high line games but against the team that plays defensive games sitting deep, we have always struggled.
Time and again we have failed to penetrate the opposition defensive lines as we lack the player with a creative vision who is able to exploit the defence and find pocket space between the opposition goalkeeper and his defenders. As a result of lacking creativity, we find our striker isolated.
Last season, Harry Kane bagged the most goals and assists in the Premier League. This shows that we have no creative player to create from the middle of the pitch which has forced our natural striker to drop deep and fill the role with playmaker.
In our current squad, we have just three players who have the vision of creating from the middle, Dele, Ndombele, and Lo Celso but these players have also failed to fill the gap due to various circumstances.
Dele was our creator alongside Eriksen but from the last two seasons, the previous player in Dele has vanished. This season he is trying to uplift his career in a different role as new manager Nuno has assigned him a more defensive role in the middle of the pitch alongside Hojbjerg
The arrival of Tanguy Ndombele had sparked high hopes as the club smashed the record on his signing, but it has been three seasons since he arrived, and he is still unsettled. With every transfer window the rumors of him wanting away from the club circulate.
Every time when he has played he has shown that he can solve our problem of creativity, he is a beast with a ball in his feet as he sends the opposition on the floor with his skills and turns. He has the ability and talent to tear the opposite defense apart, but the player has failed to make it into the starting eleven most of the time due to his fitness and other problems. This season also, he missed his preseason, and rumors are everywhere that he has asked to leave the club.
Giovani Lo Celso, another one in our squad who is capable of filling the vacant role of creative midfielder, like Ndombele, Lo Celso has the vision and drive to find the gap between the opponent players and the ability to penetrate through the defensive lines, but the problem is that he is never given that role.
Since his arrival, he has spent most of the time in rehabilitation fighting with his injuries and when he plays he is used more in defensive roles rather than offensive roles which is stopping him from unleashing his creative side.
Apart from these three, we have no one who can play the role of a creative player in the middle of the pitch. Every time sitting back and counter-attacking will not work, we have already experienced it in the past seasons and yesterday against Wolves too.
This season has just started and there is time to fix this as there is still a week remaining until the transfer window closes. The only way to fix this problem is to explore the market and signing a new creative midfielder who can hold and create from the middle of the pitch.
Two win out of two in the Premier League for our new manager Nuno Espírito Santo but works to do in the second leg of the UEFA Conference League playoff as we trail by a goal against Pacos De Ferreira
Next Pacos De Ferreira on Thursday, August 26, 2021. COYS
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