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Pellegrino Needs To Play To Our Strengths Not Our Weakness

I am fed up writing the same comments week after week over the last year, we have the players, we need to be playing them in a way that allows their talents to flourish and not stifle them.

I have defended the likes of Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic over the past few weeks and i continue to do so despite their poor form, the reason I defend them is that they are playing in a formation that is totally unsuitable to their talents.

This has been evident for the past year, yet nothing changed under either Claude Puel or now Mauricio Pellegrino, I can understand what both were trying to do, they want to play in a more continental style where the fashion now is not to have a traditional central striker, but smaller nippy attackers who run the channels and thrive on taking on defenders.

That is exactly what Manolo Gabbiadini is yet we are completely square pegs in round holes, Gabbiadini needs a playmaker in midfield who can put through killer balls, he doesn't have one, but he does have wingers who can cross a ball.

But that is no good to him, he is 5ft 8 inches tall, likewise to a winger crossing to a small striker is not good, they are struggling to find the target who is marked as he was at Brighton by two 6ft 4 central defenders.

That means our wingers are constantly checking back as they have no one to cross to, the supporters complain about this as they think that Tadic or Redmond should be taking on players, but the fact is if they take a player on then they have no end ball, so they know there is no point in doing so and risk crossing to no one or losing the ball, so they check bak and keep possession. This becomes soul destroying and sets off a chain reaction that involves the fans getting on their backs and ultimately a loss in confidence, the check back the fans moan, they beat their man and cross to no one and the fans still moan at them.

That means something has to change, do we have anyone currently at the club who can command the centre of midfield and pass a ball regularly into the channels ? The answer is no, James Ward Prowse can do this, but has yet to do so with regularity.

This being the case it is silly to keep setting up the team in the same way, Mauricio Pellegrino has to look what he has got and accept that he has to put out a team to play to its strengths and not to try and play in the way he wants, but does not have the players to do, he has to evolve his squad in the January transfer window, but till then he has to utilise what they can do, not try and make them do what they can't.

If we again put out a team tomorrow that has essentially two wide men and a small striker then we will get the same results as the first part of this season and most of last, yes we will win the odd game here and there and will even score some goals, but the fact is we will never get consistency of any kind if we try and play in a way that does not play to our strengths.

So Mauricio Pellegrino needs to realise this and try and play more to the talents of the players he has rather than asking them to do things they are not good at.

He hasn't got the ball players he needs to supply Gabbiadini as a lone striker through the channels, so that means looking at continuing to play the wide players and giving something for them to aim at, Charlie Austin is the only player with the height so he would be the natural player to fit in this role, indeed Shane Long showed that things could improve when he played as the lone striker, but ultimately it is not his natural game either.

Playing Austin on his own up front might be two much to ask from a fitness level given his injury record but it is needed or we need to play someone alongside him.

We either need to revert to 4-4-2 or use Gabbiadini just behind him or even Shane Long to play a little deeper and run at defenders, we could even play three at the back and push the full backs on, none are ideal formations, but would play to our strengths and that is better than what we are doing.

The fact that we are 10th in the table despite not having truly played well in one game yet should be telling the manager it is not a proble with his squad's quality, but in how we are set up.

Mauricio Pellegrino's future at this club will be determined by whether he is now pro active or just sits back and hope it works, prior to his arrival his reputation was one of a coach who could be pro active and play different formations, but so far we have seen scant evidence of that, we seem to do the same things week out and we get the same results, that in turn breeds perception in the fan base of a poor team and certain players are hounded which makes the whole situation worse.

Pellegrino needs to be brave, put out a team that suits what he has to hand and tell them to go out and play without fear, if they do that it will get results, but more importantly at least there will be no excuses.

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