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2021 — A flamboyant team destroyed by Carlo' meddling

Think back to the start of the year. We were on a roll and playing to the team's strengths. It didn't matter if the opposition scored one or two, because we would score one or two more than them. So what happened? How did a team playing to everyone's strengths suddenly become a shadow of itself?

We started the season in style. We had full backs who would be constantly pressing forward, overlapping the wider players and providing cross after cross for our Number 9 who would now remain exactly where he should be, conserving his energy for that quick sprint to be on the end of a cross. The reason this was successful was that each full-back had a player in front of them who would retain the focus of the opposition full-back; Richarlison was in front of Digne and James was (loosely) in front of Coleman. This meant that an opposition midfielder would try and pick up our full-backs and our overlapping full-backs would generally steal a march on the covering midfielders. This gave them the opportunity to put a cross in without as much pressure.

So what does Carlo do? We now set up with wing-backs, with a narrow midfield. There are no advanced wide players for the opposition full-backs to mark, so their full focus is now on our wing-backs. Neither wing-back is particularly skilful so struggles to beat a man and put a cross in. The result, far fewer crosses and frequent cut-backs from the areas in which the crosses used to be delivered. Well done, Carlo — you managed to negate our full-backs' biggest attacking threat.

And what about our number 9? He started the season barely moving from between the goal, he took up both centre backs due to his physical attributes and therefore created space for our wider players to cut inside. When Richarlison or James cut inside, the opposition didn't know whether the full-backs or centre-backs should track them, space was created and Calvert-Lewin often found himself waiting for a ball with a stretched defence.

So what does Carlo do? We now play two strikers, both of which regularly drop deep to try and hunt for the ball. We are usually faced with two centre-backs marking our two strikers, both knowing that it is unlikely a decent cross will come in. The centre-backs usually aren't stretched and can set up defending deeper, nullifying the pace we have. Well done, Carlo — you managed to negate another of our main attacking threats.

What about Richarlison in general? He started the year as a wide forward. His work-rate meant that we could transform from playing a front 3 in attack, to defending with two rows of four almost at an instant. He won tackles, made interceptions and broke from deep at speed. He contributed defensively, but when we broke, he made the sort of runs that were a defenders nightmare. The opposition didn't know how to mark him, the full-backs were torn between holding their shape or accommodating his runs, the centre-backs either had to leave Calvert-Lewin one-on-one, or leave Richarlison to the full-backs.

So what does Carlo do? Play Richarlison up front, negate his runs from deep, and his defensive contributions, to turn him into an average striker. Well done, Carlo.

And James? He started the season playing wide right. He was suspect defensively; however, Doucouré often slotted behind him in defence as Richarlison covered the other side of the pitch. He was a nightmare for the opposition full-back as he drifted inside, finding those pockets of space between positions where the opposition didn't know who's responsibility he was.

His crossfield balls were spectacular, largely due to the fact that the overlapping full-backs created so much space out wide without an opposition fullback monitoring their every move. True we were suspect to a quick counter down our right, but the price was worth the risk.

So what does Carlo do? Change our whole setup to ensure that James plays centrally. He now often receives the ball in a crowded area of the pitch, or drops too deep to influence the game at the right side. His crossfield options are now limited and he cuts a frustrated figure. Well done, Carlo.

What about our esteemed vice-captain Sigurdsson? Sigurdsson couldn't get a regular game at the start of the year, he swapped a few times with the underperforming Gomes but struggled in midfield. Why? Because he's not a midfielder. Sigurdsson did nothing of note when we were doing well and didn't start in a lot of the games.

So what does Carlo do? Carlo tries to find a way to incorporate Sigurdsson into every line-up, he plays him in midfield where he is frequently anonymous. He plays him in a Number 10, leaving 2 central midfielders (poorly supported by wing-backs who default to full-backs when defending) isolated and stretched, he plays him against teams who sit back despite never playing well against these teams for 4 years. Once again — well done, Carlo.

All this stemmed from one game. Richarlison got sent off and we went into the Southampton game with Iwobi as his direct replacement. We lost, but our general attacking play was still decent up until Iwobi got the ball in the positions that Richarlison used to do the most damage. That was it though; Carlo had seen enough after one defeat in 9 games to make sure we were never going to show any form or cavalier approach again. We had 5 midfielders against Newcastle, 4 centre-backs in the team, defenders as wing-backs and a frequent switch to 3 at the back — nothing of which plays to our strengths.

For those who point to our squad, we had a squad at the start of the season. We had a young left-back who loves to get forward and overlap; Carlo never used him. We had a reserve right-back fresh from a year in Germany where he was nominated alongside Haaland for the Young Player of the Year; Carlo wouldn't use him. We had some wide players in Walcott and Gordon who were shipped out on loan, and we had a couple of reserve strikers in Kean and Tosun.

None of the reserves were a patch on this first team players, but they could all come in and play in a similar style. Carlo, however, sends them all out on loan to leave us woefully short of any cover. We can point to a lack of squad but, if Carlo and Brands didn't have the conversations at the start of the season about the lack of cover — well this is again a poor decision by the manager.

This has been our biggest opportunity to break the Top 4 that we have ever had, yet Carlo has completely messed it up with his fear of ever losing whilst trying to attack, his refusal to play to the teams' strengths, and either his woeful preparation for the season, or his refusal to play a younger reserve.

Well done, Carlo — you have destroyed the most promising team we have had for many a year.

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