lankyguy007West Ham could cause us problems in defence. They do have some pace and skill in their attack and not to mention players like Noble and Parker in centre midfield. That's why I think it's vital we cut off the supply in midfield and get stuck into their midfield. That's why I think we should consider playing Lucas and Spearing in midfield. Playing two hard workers who are going to get stuck in in the centre of midfield will help a lot. Ok, not the most creative players but will block off their midfielders and make it harder to play their game and for Parker and Noble to release the forward players. This mean that if Agger is injured then our lack of pace at the back won't hurt as much as hopefully we can stop them releasing their strikers stretching our defence.

Watch the game against Burnley. 3 or 4 of the goals were caused by space in the middle of the midfield. Noble released the striker for two of the goals. We need to close that space down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAzjZNGn9zM

Defend with a reasonable line but not too high a line because if they do release the two strikers then we could be in a bit of trouble.

Boa Morte and Gary O'Neil aren't especially good wingers but have a bit of pace and skill so we need to be a bit wary of them.

In terms of us attacking them they are fairly suceptible to trickery and pace and skill and can be undone down the flanks. I'd play Kuyt up front with Suarez on the left and Maxi on the right. We have the ability to swap them round and play them slightly differently as they can play either flank fairly well. Play Meireles as attacking midfielder making sure he gets on the ball and causes problems with late runs into the box but is also aware about their strength in the centre of midfield and to make sure that he picks pressurises if one of their midfielders comes deep. This is the key. If we can stop them from having much of the ball in the middle of the field and therefore cutting off the supply to the forward players then we should be ok.

Hopefully Johnson should be back and either Kelly or Aurelio to povide us with width going forward but being careful not to go to high up because of lack of pace in defence particularly if there's no Agger.

24.02.2011