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Warnock has decided he wants to build his team around Taarabt and you could argue, particularly at home, that to date it has worked with us sitting 5 points clear at the top. However, our recent series of draws, particularly away from home are almost certainly down to the way Warnock sets out his team and that is all to do with Taarabt.
Take yesterday for example, Preston equaliser came from a weak challenge from Routledge on half way, with Taarabt standing a couple of yards away making no effort what so ever to close the play down. We all know he does not tackle, but he did not even make the effort to move 5 yards to close down the space their player ran into. We have all seen him simply throw up his hands and wander around for a few minutes in almost every match this season. The fact is he is simply a passenger when we do not have the ball, hence the need to set up the other 10 to cover for him. If you look at our shape, we sit fairly deep as a back four with both Derry and Faulin sitting in front with the two wide players basically drop into a four when we do not have the ball. Consequently when we win it we are very deep and cannot get players up to support the lone striker quickly enough. Secondly, many moan about the long ball from Kenny, but he often cannot pass it out short because we are so deep, and would be inviting pressure upon us, with a good chance we could loose the ball within 30 yards of our goal.
We all know Taarabt has unbelievable skill, can and has changed a game in a second, but why then do you think nobody else wanted to a chance on him. Warnock is not stupid he will have looked at this at the start of the season and believed he gives more than he takes away. However, he might, particularly away from home being thinking of reassessing the situation, as we simply do not put teams under enough pressure.
For what its worth I think he should leave it as it is, we are top because to date he has given a lot to the team and when he hasn’t the team have been able to grind out results. However, we cant have it both ways and the only way for Taarabt to be in the team is to continue to play the way some of you clearly get frustrated with !
Take yesterday for example, Preston equaliser came from a weak challenge from Routledge on half way, with Taarabt standing a couple of yards away making no effort what so ever to close the play down. We all know he does not tackle, but he did not even make the effort to move 5 yards to close down the space their player ran into. We have all seen him simply throw up his hands and wander around for a few minutes in almost every match this season. The fact is he is simply a passenger when we do not have the ball, hence the need to set up the other 10 to cover for him. If you look at our shape, we sit fairly deep as a back four with both Derry and Faulin sitting in front with the two wide players basically drop into a four when we do not have the ball. Consequently when we win it we are very deep and cannot get players up to support the lone striker quickly enough. Secondly, many moan about the long ball from Kenny, but he often cannot pass it out short because we are so deep, and would be inviting pressure upon us, with a good chance we could loose the ball within 30 yards of our goal.
We all know Taarabt has unbelievable skill, can and has changed a game in a second, but why then do you think nobody else wanted to a chance on him. Warnock is not stupid he will have looked at this at the start of the season and believed he gives more than he takes away. However, he might, particularly away from home being thinking of reassessing the situation, as we simply do not put teams under enough pressure.
For what its worth I think he should leave it as it is, we are top because to date he has given a lot to the team and when he hasn’t the team have been able to grind out results. However, we cant have it both ways and the only way for Taarabt to be in the team is to continue to play the way some of you clearly get frustrated with !
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