I do agree we need to address cover at left back but I think the issue with Mitchell is not of his making.

If you watch carefully when we attack we change to a back 3 with Tomkins in the middle, Ward on the right, Guehi on the left. Mitchell pushes high up the left touchline almost as a left sided midfielder. This creates an overload on our left, and prevents defenders from doubling up on Zaha without using a central midfielder (which in turn creates space for one of our midfielders)

When we're defending we revert to an orthodox back four.

However this creates issues for Mitchell.

Firstly he needs to expend a lot of energy pushing forward and then dropping back. This might explain why he looked so tired towards the end of yesterdays game.

Secondly it creates a hole behind him, that should be filled by either Geuhi as the left sided central defender or one of the midfield three dropping in. If our attack breaks down and the opposition breaks quickly in transition (as was the case with Gordon yesterday) they can exploit this space. This is not Mitchell's fault. It's a fault of the tactics. It's a risk I think Vieira is prepared to take because of Guehi's recovery pace.

In the case of the Gordon chance, which came from a quick Everton break after one of our attacks, Mitchell (who looked knackered at this stage) was caught up field, Guehi and Kouyate were sucked into defending Townsend and the ball round the corner exposed the space behind Mitchell. On another day we may have conceded but we didn't so you could say the risk was worth taking.

I think this in game flexibility (defending 4-3-3 and attacking 3-4-3) also explains why Ayew is preferred on the right to Olise.
At the moment Ayew offers far greater protection on the right wing by virtue of his work rate and defensive capabilities when we shift to back 3 when attacking. Ward does not have the recovery pace of Guehi or attacking potential of Mitchell so we need a player to hold down the whole of the right wing almost on their own - something Ayew did really well yesterday. It will be interesting to see what happens when Ferguson is fit and whether this will allow Vieira to play Olise knowing he has Ferguson sat behind him as cover.

I do agree we need to address cover at left back but I think the issue with Mitchell is not of his making.

If you watch carefully when we attack we change to a back 3 with Tomkins in the middle, Ward on the right, Guehi on the left. Mitchell pushes high up the left touchline almost as a left sided midfielder. This creates an overload on our left, and prevents defenders from doubling up on Zaha without using a central midfielder (which in turn creates space for one of our midfielders)

When we're defending we revert to an orthodox back four.

However this creates issues for Mitchell.

Firstly he needs to expend a lot of energy pushing forward and then dropping back. This might explain why he looked so tired towards the end of yesterdays game.

Secondly it creates a hole behind him, that should be filled by either Geuhi as the left sided central defender or one of the midfield three dropping in. If our attack breaks down and the opposition breaks quickly in transition (as was the case with Gordon yesterday) they can exploit this space. This is not Mitchell's fault. It's a fault of the tactics. It's a risk I think Vieira is prepared to take because of Guehi's recovery pace.

In the case of the Gordon chance, which came from a quick Everton break after one of our attacks, Mitchell (who looked knackered at this stage) was caught up field, Guehi and Kouyate were sucked into defending Townsend and the ball round the corner exposed the space behind Mitchell. On another day we may have conceded but we didn't so you could say the risk was worth taking.

I think this in game flexibility (defending 4-3-3 and attacking 3-4-3) also explains why Ayew is preferred on the right to Olise.

At the moment Ayew offers far greater protection on the right wing by virtue of his work rate and defensive capabilities when we shift to back a 3 when attacking. Ward does not have the recovery pace of Guehi or attacking potential of Mitchell so we need a player to hold down the whole of the right wing almost on their own - something Ayew did really well yesterday. It will be interesting to see what happens when Ferguson is fit and whether this will allow Vieira to play Olise knowing he has Ferguson sat behind him as cover.

Edited by Skinnii (13 Dec 2021 10.16am)

I think we do miss Anderson’s range of passing. He can ping a cross field ball to the wide men that Tomkins can’t. But isn’t it great we have options and not scraping the barrel.
Hope Tyrick is ok for Wednesday

Maybe start Eze or Olise instead of Wilf. He is very sensitive at the moment. Ten men would not help.