COLUMNIST JIM HOURIGAN

Inept and One-Dimensional

By Jim Hourigan :  22/09/2007 :  Comments (18) :

For years I have quietly mocked those one-man teams with one-dimensional play: Newcastle with Shearer, Southampton with Le Tissier, Wimbledon and their long ball game, Leicester under O?Neill with their pressing game, plus most of the sides in the recent past who have been relegated. Last night demonstrated yet again how we have become another one of those teams and most disturbingly the future is not bright as a consequence.

First the team selection ? without Arteta what did Moyes do? Well he went 4-3-3 with two holding defensive players in the centre and a totally innocuous midget working with them. So exactly what was this midfield going to do in the home leg of a European tie, against a team that even their own press expected to be beaten reasonably comfortably?

Carsley and Neville conceded ground at every opportunity as they back-tracked in front of central defence. Their players picked the ball up and passed it, visibly growing in confidence as the game progressed. Each time one of them got the ball Neville and Carsley were 5 yds away playing catch up. Why? Because they are both defensive players who?s first reaction is always to get back into a defensive position. Great against a fast flowing speedy team, but Metalist???

Osman ? was he on the pitch? What did he do? and what has he done for the last 12 months? (Tottenham excepted). So just exactly what were Moyes?s instructions to his midfield? Defend and concede ground? Perhaps even pass the ball to our players ? sorry I was being sarcastic then!! I don?t think Moyes had any tactics for them other than run around look busy and if you get a chance hoof it forward.

Without Arteta, we have no tactics, no midfield and no idea. In fact do we have any tactics even with Arteta? Or is it simply a case of when he plays things happen and the others react. If he switches wings the other person swaps, if he breaks forward people run in anticipation ? whatever it is, it seems like we?re a one-man team with only one real tactic:- play Arteta.

Then we come to the other parts of the team selection. Hibbert at right back ? well for those of us counting, his first four passes went to their players and his fifth went for a throw-in off one of their players. He then managed to pass a ball backwards and we kept possession.

In terms of Metallist?s tactics it seemed quite simple, close Baines down and allow Hibbert to give the ball back to them ? the lad is a disaster!! Why can almost every other person in the ground see it and Moyes and his staff can?t ? he is completely useless and that?s the nicest thing I can say about him.

McFool, sorry McFadden playing up front in a three-man attack.. What exactly was he supposed to be doing? Was he a left-winger? Was he a centre-forward? What was he actually expected to do? The lad does not have a defined role and that shows; consequently he fell between two stools, neither playing wide nor attacking down the middle and he became an increasingly isolated and frustrated player.

In playing this three-man attack, both Johnson and Yakubu had major aspects of their game restricted, space behind was at a premium; however, even if there had been loads of space the quality passing coming from midfield and the back would have rendered it useless.

The midfield and forward set-up must have been thought up on the back of a fag packet. Hump the ball forward, get the forwards to chase around and then get the midfield to run back and defend their box. How can you beat teams with such inept one-dimensional thinking?

Finally what Thursday night demonstrated once again was Moyes?s inability to win a match. He knows how to set up a team to avoid defeat ? it almost worked against Man Utd, but that is the sum total of his tactical nous. Against Metallist we had to go out and win a game ? not avoid defeat ? and he just has no idea how to do that.

This for me is the reason that we will never have a cup run under Moyes, because, in a competition where you have to win the match and not accumulate points by not getting beat, he has absolutely no idea what to do. When we do win matches it?s often a by product of avoiding defeat, not a conscious tactical decision, that is why we are so awful to watch. Against teams who also come to avoid defeat we have no plan B, so the game degenerates into an awful spectacle- neither side wanting to lose and neither knowing how to win.

His squad, with few exceptions, is made up of enthusiastic, willing workers eg Johnson, Neville, Carsley, Osman, Jagielka, Hibbert all able to run and challenge but few able to create and do the things necessary to win a match.

I know it?s a very negative thought, but for me Thursday night could well have been the end of our season. Morale will be low when we go to Villa, followed by what is now a very awkward trip to Sheffield Wednesday. Two defeats here plus a defeat in the Ukraine will leave us with nowhere to go and little to look forward to.

Forget Kirkby losing us fans ? Moyes?s team, tactics and selections will do that on their own.

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