Yankee_Jack
Key Player
In 2012, during the Centennial Celebration, I had an interesting taxi ride with Mel Nurse. He can't stop himself from talking football, and no sooner than we sat down than he was talking about Liverpool and Dalglish signing Andy Carroll from Newcastle. The key point he made was that when you change the #9, you change the way the whole team plays. Every #9 is different - different qualities, different physicality, different style and so on - and the addition of that player to Dalglish's squad forced a significant shift in style and approach on the rest of the team.
What we have seen here, demonstrated by @CroJack's expert analysis and presentation, is that we introduced Hourihane and it created perturbations that rippled across our play. It changed our midfield posture, our approach to attacking, and compromised our defensive record. Unintended consequences, and perhaps unjust to lay all that at the feet of Hourihane, but nonetheless there have been net negative impacts.
I would add that Andy Pandy, or at least agent Tate, should have recognized this and be making adjustments.
What we have seen here, demonstrated by @CroJack's expert analysis and presentation, is that we introduced Hourihane and it created perturbations that rippled across our play. It changed our midfield posture, our approach to attacking, and compromised our defensive record. Unintended consequences, and perhaps unjust to lay all that at the feet of Hourihane, but nonetheless there have been net negative impacts.
I would add that Andy Pandy, or at least agent Tate, should have recognized this and be making adjustments.
Last edited: