Fit again after injury, Alex has been considering how to effectively combat Stoke City's direct style of play.
The Brazilian centre-half is expected to fill in for Ricardo Carvalho at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, where he is likely to meet the aerial bombardment of Rory Delap's long throw-ins and the physical style of Potters forward Ricardo Fuller, both equally intimidating and effective.
It is an attritional form of football the 27-year-old admits he anticipated seeing more of when he arrived on these shores in the summer of 2007, and has been pleasantly surprised by the passing style most sides adopt, not that he was a stranger to the long-ball game in Holland, where he was a Cup winner with PSV in 2005, as well as a three-time league champion.
'When I came to England I thought only Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United liked to play, all the other teams I thought would be long ball, but after some time I knew only two or three teams play like this and the rest of the teams like to play,' admitted the defender.
'In Holland it is the same as Stoke, and Bolton too, there are many teams who have tall forwards and put the ball in the air and play like this. They don't have the good quality like Stoke have also.'
So how best to deal with the Potters' throw-ins, which cause so much damage with their flat trajectory as well as Delap's staggering range?
'They have someone with a tremendous delivery and if you're a fraction out with marking you'll come a cropper.' That's the opinion of assistant manager Ray Wilkins, and Alex summed it up in a similar way, albeit in a more traditional sense.
'We have to pay attention to the second ball, sometimes it is difficult to win the first ball but you have to win the second,' Alex explained. 'You have to play very concentrated and stay compact.
'Fuller has quality with the ball and he is a strong, strong man, so we have to play strong also and don't leave any space. We received four goals in the last game, which is no good at home.'
The Brazilian centre-half is expected to fill in for Ricardo Carvalho at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, where he is likely to meet the aerial bombardment of Rory Delap's long throw-ins and the physical style of Potters forward Ricardo Fuller, both equally intimidating and effective.
It is an attritional form of football the 27-year-old admits he anticipated seeing more of when he arrived on these shores in the summer of 2007, and has been pleasantly surprised by the passing style most sides adopt, not that he was a stranger to the long-ball game in Holland, where he was a Cup winner with PSV in 2005, as well as a three-time league champion.
'When I came to England I thought only Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United liked to play, all the other teams I thought would be long ball, but after some time I knew only two or three teams play like this and the rest of the teams like to play,' admitted the defender.
'In Holland it is the same as Stoke, and Bolton too, there are many teams who have tall forwards and put the ball in the air and play like this. They don't have the good quality like Stoke have also.'
So how best to deal with the Potters' throw-ins, which cause so much damage with their flat trajectory as well as Delap's staggering range?
'They have someone with a tremendous delivery and if you're a fraction out with marking you'll come a cropper.' That's the opinion of assistant manager Ray Wilkins, and Alex summed it up in a similar way, albeit in a more traditional sense.
'We have to pay attention to the second ball, sometimes it is difficult to win the first ball but you have to win the second,' Alex explained. 'You have to play very concentrated and stay compact.
'Fuller has quality with the ball and he is a strong, strong man, so we have to play strong also and don't leave any space. We received four goals in the last game, which is no good at home.'
No comments:
Post a Comment