For those questioning why
Phil Younghusband was not playing upfront….
Even Michael Weiss used
Phil behind the strikers at times. And Phil has played behind for a year now
under Thomas Dooley.
You say out of position?
This frequently happens
to many a player in many a team.
Where does Lionel Messi
play? The attacking midfield or top striker? He plays the former for Barcelona
but the latter for Argentina.
With the Azkals, Aly
Borromeo plays centerback. But do you know that Aly has also played striker? He
has been deployed in that position even on the national team. When he returned
to the Kaya line-up after a long injury, they played him upfront and not at the
back. At least not initially. So was he out of position? What do you consider
his natural position?
Theo Walcott always
claimed he was a striker yet Arsene Wenger never played him in that role. Now
you have Walcott backtracking and saying, he’s more of a wideout player.
Phil has been used as a
forward and midfielder even when he was at Chelsea. Maybe not as deep as he
plays now with the Azkals but if he was placed there to play a role like Andrea
Pirlo or Steven Gerrard then why not? After all, he can pass.
Yes, Phil is our leading
scorer. But if he is tasked to play that it is with good reason. Has it always
not worked? We have gotten results before. Not this tournament. Advancing in a
group of death only gives us a 25% chance. 25%! Even if Singapore isn’t what it
once was, they are still a top side.
People wonder about the
defense. You talk about Juani and Rob having no replacements. Some guys were
not available. Maybe they shouldn’t have expected guys like Sato and Woodland
to play. Maybe there were hoping they would be released but they weren’t.
People wonder about the
selection process and its being limited to four teams. Maybe you’re right. But
we do not know the decision-making. You talk of familiarity over form? So the
other guys were not in form? More often than not, any decision will go with
what you know and what you are familiar with. You know what you are getting
over something you are not familiar with. In this case, maybe someone on
national team duty.
People question the mania
for possession saying that tiki taka has died. Last I checked, Barcelona is
still the champion. Possession has always been something teams like to play
even before Barcelona made it the norm. Just because the fans admire a certain
type of play it doesn’t mean they should adopt a certain style of play.
You play a pressing game
based on personnel. You do not just implement a system because you think it’s
right. Do you have the people to play that?
There are schools of
thought about direct football and possession-based football. Sometimes direct
football, means not getting the best possible shot. And that means wasting
energy and opportunities. Sometimes, possession means not taking shots when you
need to. That is now incumbent upon the player to take the shots. If we didn’t
retain possession, you’d question that too.
One problem was dribbling
too much in traffic when maybe they should have fired and taken chances on
pouncing on rebounds and loose balls.
We
were competitive in this Suzuki Cup. We put teams on their back heel for the
first time ever. Things just didn’t go our way.
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