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The goals have dried up - the problem is still the midfield


Dr Balls

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So in the last 3 games we have scored just one goal and that was from a penalty. Some might blame the attackers not being up to the mark, which is probably true. Some might suggest we have been unlucky, which may also have a grain of truth. However I am going to suggest that much like previous seasons, we still don’t quite have the balance right in midfield, especially in terms of creativity.

Paterson has been the favourite of our coach again so far this season but as is so often the case, his form has been so-so, occasionally hot, often not. Weimann is likely out all season, while Palmer is out on loan at least until January. Morrell has been sold, Williams is still injured, while Nagy and Massengo are clearly not options as far as Holden is concerned as he picks CO’D before them. Bakinson is still young and has only just started playing at this level in a defensive midfield role, while Brunt is no longer quite the player he was for much of his time at West Brom.

The games are coming thick and fast for weeks at a time, and so there will have to be some rotation going on. We may strike it lucky and find a midfield combination that can give the team the creative boost that it needs, but there are distinct elements of deja vu from previous seasons about the performances over the last week or so.

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17 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

So in the last 3 games we have scored just one goal and that was from a penalty. Some might blame the attackers not being up to the mark, which is probably true. Some might suggest we have been unlucky, which may also have a grain of truth. However I am going to suggest that much like previous seasons, we still don’t quite have the balance right in midfield, especially in terms of creativity.

Paterson has been the favourite of our coach again so far this season but as is so often the case, his form has been so-so, occasionally hot, often not. Weimann is likely out all season, while Palmer is out on loan at least until January. Morrell has been sold, Williams is still injured, while Nagy and Massengo are clearly not options as far as Holden is concerned as he picks CO’D before them. Bakinson is still young and has only just started playing at this level in a defensive midfield role, while Brunt is no longer quite the player he was for much of his time at West Brom.

The games are coming thick and fast for weeks at a time, and so there will have to be some rotation going on. We may strike it lucky and find a midfield combination that can give the team the creative boost that it needs, but there are distinct elements of deja vu from previous seasons about the performances over the last week or so.

I don’t disagree.  It looks as if we can / could get away with Pato and Weimann against the poorer sides in the division and them offer a lot....but against the better sides it exposes flaws.

I don’t think we are a million miles off....and if you can improve the team by 1 player (hopefully Williams) then it can make a difference in those tight(er) games.

Before tonight my heart said draw....my head said we could get something out of it but I feared a comfortable defeat.  They aren’t a West Brom who stuffed us last season at The Hawthorns, but they are still a good side.

We showed the heart and head first half, but second half we weren’t good enough.

I need to watch the goal back as I’m sure there is fault somewhere in there, but tonight Vyner and Moore were more physical than they’ve been before and King and Solanke especially didn’t get their own way.  They were moaning most of the night.  That was a good sign for me in their development.  We restricted them to shots from distance in the main.

It might be considered an average Championship, but it’s a tough Championship.  I think against the better teams we are gonna need to be the toughest we’ve been since we came back up.  I think we will see a movement away from “a six and two eights” as we find the right balance.

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32 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

So in the last 3 games we have scored just one goal and that was from a penalty. Some might blame the attackers not being up to the mark, which is probably true. Some might suggest we have been unlucky, which may also have a grain of truth. However I am going to suggest that much like previous seasons, we still don’t quite have the balance right in midfield, especially in terms of creativity.

Paterson has been the favourite of our coach again so far this season but as is so often the case, his form has been so-so, occasionally hot, often not. Weimann is likely out all season, while Palmer is out on loan at least until January. Morrell has been sold, Williams is still injured, while Nagy and Massengo are clearly not options as far as Holden is concerned as he picks CO’D before them. Bakinson is still young and has only just started playing at this level in a defensive midfield role, while Brunt is no longer quite the player he was for much of his time at West Brom.

The games are coming thick and fast for weeks at a time, and so there will have to be some rotation going on. We may strike it lucky and find a midfield combination that can give the team the creative boost that it needs, but there are distinct elements of deja vu from previous seasons about the performances over the last week or so.

Our Midfield has been a problem for the last couple of years. 

Apart from Bakinson it is so weak, and we create nothing from it. Will Williams or Walsh come in to make a difference - we shall see but no pinning my hopes.

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What confuses me is we’ve scored a lot (probably the majority?) of our goals from Martin bringing the ball down with his head etc from crosses so it’s evident that works really well except by playing 3-5-2 we obviously only have two wide players so we severely limit the amount of balls into the box. We’re stifling our own main outlet, it makes no sense. 
 

With the injuries we’ve gotten, as well, I dunno how we haven’t switched to 4-3-3/4-4-2. 

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I think the DH's initial plan for our Midfield was for Williams to be the ball winning and energetic midfielder and for Walsh to play alongside him as the creator. Given that they have been both injured and have been since the start of the season, Holden has reverted to his Plan B of Patterson and AW.  Now AW is out long term as well i have no idea what plan C is. 

It would appear strange that we have moved on Palmer and Elliason given we have no replacement for Walsh for his creativity.  Is it unfortunate or short sighted?  Either way the current midfield is not good enough creatively and gets physically out battled.

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6 hours ago, Dr Balls said:

So in the last 3 games we have scored just one goal and that was from a penalty. Some might blame the attackers not being up to the mark, which is probably true. Some might suggest we have been unlucky, which may also have a grain of truth. However I am going to suggest that much like previous seasons, we still don’t quite have the balance right in midfield, especially in terms of creativity.

Paterson has been the favourite of our coach again so far this season but as is so often the case, his form has been so-so, occasionally hot, often not. Weimann is likely out all season, while Palmer is out on loan at least until January. Morrell has been sold, Williams is still injured, while Nagy and Massengo are clearly not options as far as Holden is concerned as he picks CO’D before them. Bakinson is still young and has only just started playing at this level in a defensive midfield role, while Brunt is no longer quite the player he was for much of his time at West Brom.

The games are coming thick and fast for weeks at a time, and so there will have to be some rotation going on. We may strike it lucky and find a midfield combination that can give the team the creative boost that it needs, but there are distinct elements of deja vu from previous seasons about the performances over the last week or so.

I agree with you to a large extent. Don't think Joe Morrell what have added any creativity though. There is no doubt that our most talented midfielder was/is Palmer. Shame neither LJ or Holden thought it worth giving him a decent run in the side, hopefully he will get that at Swansea and prove his worth. We are left hoping that Williams and Walsh will be the answer when finally fit to play. 

I do think Martin makes a big difference to the midfield too, in as much as he holds the ball so well to allow us to retain possession and build in the opponents half. For me, fitness allowing, he has to start.  

 

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6 hours ago, richyy66 said:

Our Midfield has been a problem for the last couple of years. 

Apart from Bakinson it is so weak, and we create nothing from it. Will Williams or Walsh come in to make a difference - we shall see but no pinning my hopes.

It wasn’t much of a problem for the first four games of the season!
Why are you not hopeful that Williams and Walsh will make a difference?  Our top signing of the summer, plus one of last season’s outstanding EFL midfielders - what more do you want?  Given our injury situation, it is hard to see what more Holden could have done.  Kept Morrell?  He didin’t even make the Luton team last night.  Massengo looked out of his depth at the start of the season, and Nagy has been a complete flop for us since day one.  Just have some patience and let’s see what we look like once Walsh and Williams are fit.

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6 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t disagree.  It looks as if we can / could get away with Pato and Weimann against the poorer sides in the division and them offer a lot....but against the better sides it exposes flaws.

I don’t think we are a million miles off....and if you can improve the team by 1 player (hopefully Williams) then it can make a difference in those tight(er) games.

Before tonight my heart said draw....my head said we could get something out of it but I feared a comfortable defeat.  They aren’t a West Brom who stuffed us last season at The Hawthorns, but they are still a good side.

We showed the heart and head first half, but second half we weren’t good enough.

I need to watch the goal back as I’m sure there is fault somewhere in there, but tonight Vyner and Moore were more physical than they’ve been before and King and Solanke especially didn’t get their own way.  They were moaning most of the night.  That was a good sign for me in their development.  We restricted them to shots from distance in the main.

It might be considered an average Championship, but it’s a tough Championship.  I think against the better teams we are gonna need to be the toughest we’ve been since we came back up.  I think we will see a movement away from “a six and two eights” as we find the right balance.

It looks like the goal scorer ran off of Hunt , who switched off for a split second 

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41 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

I agree with you to a large extent. Don't think Joe Morrell what have added any creativity though. There is no doubt that our most talented midfielder was/is Palmer. Shame neither LJ or Holden thought it worth giving him a decent run in the side, hopefully he will get that at Swansea and prove his worth. We are left hoping that Williams and Walsh will be the answer when finally fit to play. 

I do think Martin makes a big difference to the midfield too, in as much as he holds the ball so well to allow us to retain possession and build in the opponents half. For me, fitness allowing, he has to start.  

 

People are complaining about Pato being in and out of games, for me Palmer makes that an art form. Aside from terrorising an L2 team, he’s done little else of note of late that you’d say certain starter. Doesn’t tackle back, is a liability in defence. The team have already got to carry Wells when he is on the pitch and looking disinterested. 

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The 310 minutes without a goal from open play is worrying. Especially when we have Wells (one of the best natural goalscorers in the league), Martin (vastly experienced at this level and respectable goal scoring record of his own) and Diedhiou (good goalscoring record) as our forwards.

We can't use the 'inexperienced at the level' excuse with our forwards because 3 of them aren't.

I was concerned by the Weiman/Paterson/Bakinson balance in midfield - right to persist with it whilst it was working, but trying to replicate it with selection last night didn't make sense to me. 

We're having to pin a lot of hopes on Joe Williams and Liam Walsh, which in itself is no guarantee of success. 

I think whilst we're going through a bit of a sticky spell - we should persevere with Wells and Martin as our starting forwards and bring Brunt into midfield alongside Bakinson and one of Paterson/O'Dowda/Massengo/Nagy depending on opponent.

My reasoning is that Wells will score goals, even if he doesn't contribute for 89 minutes, and Martin is probably our best partner for him. We need Brunt's experience and set piece ability.

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Weird, in some ways, as only a few weeks ago the conversation was about having too many midfielders. 

I agree that our midfield is and has been a problem, for me it’s unbalanced with too many similar types in there. Ideally and somewhat simplistically I’d prefer to see a ball winning / terrier (which just might be Joe Williams), a creative / spark (who unlike Palmer is not a liability defensively) and a holding player / who puts in the yards (as per the role AW has occupied of late).

COD and Pato are both too vanilla for me and too often their contribution is quite invisible.

HNM is still learning his trade, I’m still unsure about AN (have seen promising glimpses) but it appears Deano doesn’t see enough to entrust him with a regular place, Brunt I like but he ain’t going to play every game and will typically be used from the bench and LW promises much but only time will tell. 

In essence our link up play through midfield is critically letting the team down. For sometime and certainly at the moment too often our defenders are unable to rely on clearances being picked up in midfield, so too frequently the opposition win the cleared ball and come straight back at us. Our forwards are not being served quality balls from midfield so are having to battle for scraps, make the most of half chances.

 

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51 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

The 310 minutes without a goal from open play is worrying. Especially when we have Wells (one of the best natural goalscorers in the league), Martin (vastly experienced at this level and respectable goal scoring record of his own) and Diedhiou (good goalscoring record) as our forwards.

We can't use the 'inexperienced at the level' excuse with our forwards because 3 of them aren't.

I was concerned by the Weiman/Paterson/Bakinson balance in midfield - right to persist with it whilst it was working, but trying to replicate it with selection last night didn't make sense to me. 

We're having to pin a lot of hopes on Joe Williams and Liam Walsh, which in itself is no guarantee of success. 

I think whilst we're going through a bit of a sticky spell - we should persevere with Wells and Martin as our starting forwards and bring Brunt into midfield alongside Bakinson and one of Paterson/O'Dowda/Massengo/Nagy depending on opponent.

My reasoning is that Wells will score goals, even if he doesn't contribute for 89 minutes, and Martin is probably our best partner for him. We need Brunt's experience and set piece ability.

I would say it was merely rotation that Martin and Wells didn’t start last night, the sheer volume of games in such shorts space of time means this will happen quite often this season. 

I always struggle with us to see where goals will come outside of the front men, this has been a problem for a few years 

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The midfield was working well in the first half last night, but most people know it's very difficult to maintain that intensity for 90 minutes. Pato and COD visibly tired and should've been replaced around the hour mark. There's no getting away from that, IMO. 

Even if subs were made after an hour last night, we would've still lacked creativity and that has been a problem for years. Walsh should help with that, especially if he played further forward. Williams will certainly make us stronger in there. Alongside Bakinson, that should create a decent midfield three. Beyond that, it's the depth that worries me. There's no backup for Bakinson after selling Morrell, there's no backup No.10 for Pato after loaning Palmer out and Weimann's injury. 

What concerns me is Holden seemingly can't see he is running players into the ground. While he didn't have a plethora of options to swap Hunt, COD, Pato, Diedhiou, it will take them longer to recovery - particulary with our next game at 12.30 on Saturday. He can't throw Nagy and Massengo in for that and expect them to match the intensity on show last night when they lack match fitness like others who've had to bide their time on the sidelines in recent weeks. 

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4 games 4 wins with 1 CMFf and 2 AMF. At that stage I held my hands up and said I was wrong, I hadn't thought we could cope with the same single man MF we had complained about for years. Now, we might have got away with it, but whatever it had worked. Then for 2 games both AMF were off, plus TB wasn't as influential, it happens, and you add another injury . I can see why Holden went for (seemingly) a straight swap of COD for AW. 
Last night I thought Paterson was very good until he ran out of steam. Put a big shift in and his control and use of the ball was good ,picked it up deeper and went past markers (broke lines) well. COD did ok, he didn't look comfortable or keen to  break right to help Hunt, which I think led to Hunt not having such a good game, the link up wasn't there, but to be fair it's the first game together in this system.
Bakinson, for me , had a game of extremes almost. While he was caught in possession a few times and found a few blind alleys, he also broke from MF brilliantly. He s finding his feet, but I would like to see him take AW place and play Brunt in the holding role, give him a bit more freedom .

If we had the conversation at half time, no one would have said our midfield were shit because we were the better team, and back to making chances. Boro & Swansea did a bit of a number on us, and we weren't at our best. Yesterday, against a side expected to be top 3/4, we were the better side for 45 minutes, and better by some way. With all the injuries getting that central balance is going to be harder, I still think Brunt holding and Pato and Bakinson in the forward positions is our best bet at the moment. 

I thought there were a lot of good performances, probably the one thing missing was Weimann's running later on. I've said before, my one criticism of last night was that Holden waited too long to make the subs, and the made the wrong ones when he eventually did . The MF needed freshening up, Pato was out on his feet and COD was struggling. Even Bakinson had disappeared a little. I hope he doesn't flog Paterson to death now Weimann is out, he needs to rotate. I don't think waiting for players to break down to bring in others is a good strategy. He didn't think Brunt could play 2 x 90 minutes in 5 days, but Paterson has played just about every minute of every game, it is bound to catch up , and it looked like it did last night from 65 minutes.

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20 minutes ago, Bs4Red said:

I would say it was merely rotation that Martin and Wells didn’t start last night, the sheer volume of games in such shorts space of time means this will happen quite often this season. 

I always struggle with us to see where goals will come outside of the front men, this has been a problem for a few years 

Yes that's a good point. Also would've been unfair to drop Semenyo. I think now it seems we are in a bit of a sticky patch I'd like to see us persevere with Martin and Wells as starters where we can. Might take a bit of experience to help steady the ship in the short term.

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1 hour ago, Phileas Fogg said:

The 310 minutes without a goal from open play is worrying. Especially when we have Wells (one of the best natural goalscorers in the league), Martin (vastly experienced at this level and respectable goal scoring record of his own) and Diedhiou (good goalscoring record) as our forwards.

We can't use the 'inexperienced at the level' excuse with our forwards because 3 of them aren't.

I was concerned by the Weiman/Paterson/Bakinson balance in midfield - right to persist with it whilst it was working, but trying to replicate it with selection last night didn't make sense to me. 

We're having to pin a lot of hopes on Joe Williams and Liam Walsh, which in itself is no guarantee of success. 

I think whilst we're going through a bit of a sticky spell - we should persevere with Wells and Martin as our starting forwards and bring Brunt into midfield alongside Bakinson and one of Paterson/O'Dowda/Massengo/Nagy depending on opponent.

My reasoning is that Wells will score goals, even if he doesn't contribute for 89 minutes, and Martin is probably our best partner for him. We need Brunt's experience and set piece ability.

 

1 hour ago, JonDolman said:

Wing backs not doing enough in this system is more of the problem imo

I thought Bakinson and O'Dowda were very good except the last 10-15 minutes when everyone was poor.

Paterson I thought was excellent first half, and not so good 2nd. Though he was nowhere near as bad as some people say imo. Worked his socks off in there like the others. He was very poor end of game too.

If I’m being honest ,  I’m not convinced , and havnt been to date , that we have the natural standout players for a 5-3-2

For example Jon, you’ve mentioned the wing backs ,  For a start I think you need two excellent wing backs to fully fire that system , are ours excellent  ?


Dean does , (Believe 5-3-2 suits our squad) and we are probably yet to see and won’t for the forseeable , what would have been his ideal line up with that system 

Hes not a tinkerman , and I think that’s positive , but with the injuries I’d like to see him have a look at an alternative set up at some point in the coming games 

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Football should be a simple game but I feel the problems at City are far from simple. The question is, where to start? We could start with the signings made at the start of last season - Nagy, Massengo  and Palmer. After a promising start the  first two have faded into obscurity and Palmer has gone to Swansea.  Massengo is young but he was bought to play in the first team, not a “one for the future “ player. These signings have dealt Holden a bad hand as he had 3 midfield players he considers not good enough to get into the team.  Whether or not a different manager would have got more from them is speculation, but better signings last season would have helped. 
 

This season has been also been unfortunate for Holden as two potential first team regulars, Williams and Walsh, haven’t played a minute and now Weimann has gone. Although City was unbeaten in the first 5 matches some of the performances were average at best. In the first match Coventry was the better team for the first 40 minutes, against Forrest City was hanging on at times and Barnsley was a patchy performance. These 3  teams are near the bottom of the league. City had no real control of midfield, but it’s not just the midfield players who are the problem. With a 5-3-2 formation the wingbacks have to attack and provide some creativity down the wings. Dasilva did this last season but he’s another player who has disappeared. Hunt and Rowe do their best, but they’re really defensive, not creative, players, 

With the current fit players I don’t think City has the right mix to play 3-5-2 and Holden should switch to a more pragmatic formation, that might be dull, but successful 

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2 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

I think Dasilva is the perfect wing back. And Hunt is a good one on a good day. He has mainly played well this season in that position imo.

I think they are ‘ok’ Jon

DaSilva has the potential on his game to be better than ok 

Hunt a mixed bag all round but more likely to create

But when you glance at our squad is your first thought ,  ‘we’ve got two storming wing backs , we need to fully utilise them ‘ 

Sucessful sides using the system normally have wing backs that are noticeable performers in the side

Not castigating any of our full back options, and it’s not just about wing backs ,  but I’m not convinced they can deliver consistently atm to be major influences or influence the choice of system

Just a thought

 

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27 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

If I’m being honest ,  I’m not convinced , and havnt been to date , that we have the natural standout players for a 5-3-2

For example Jon, you’ve mentioned the wing backs ,  For a start I think you need two excellent wing backs to fully fire that system , are ours excellent  ?
Dean does , (Believe 5-3-2 suits our squad) and we are probably yet to see and won’t for the forseeable , what would have been his ideal line up with that system 

Hes not a tinkerman , and I think that’s positive , but with the injuries I’d like to see him have a look at an alternative set up at some point in the coming games 

It's an interesting point. I think Dasilva is more comfortable as a pure LB. He's one of our best players and you have to question whether a 5-3-2 is the best system to get the most out of him.

I think Hunt does a decent job, likewise Rowe, but I don't think the two are some of the best WBs in the position. Haven't seen enough of Sessengon to pass judgement on him really.

When we won the double under Cotterill, he ended up recruiting (man for man) one of the best attainable sides to play a 5-3-2 for that level. It's obviously a much taller order in the Championship but I don't think we've got anywhere near the best personnel for the system in the division.

It's a tricky one what sort of alternative system we could play. We don't have many wingers anymore so even a 4-3-3 isn't that viable. I suppose you could play some sort of 4-1-2-1-2 with a diamond but unless you have excellent movement and understanding with the CMs it's a tricky system to play. 

I hope we haven't limited our options to our detriment by recruiting too heavily for 5-3-2 only. You can get away with it when you have the best players at your level (Cotterill's 14/15 team) but we don't and it stands to reason we'll need to experiment as the season goes on. 

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3 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

Agree Hunt can be okay. Had many bad games under LJ though I think he's improved under Holden in this system.

Dasilva I thought was superb end of last season. I think he's one of the best left back/left wing backs in this league personally. Was very good last game but we chose not to pass to him for some reason.

The key point here is that LB and LWB are very different roles. You don't recruit a specialist LWB for LB necessarily and vice versa. I really rate him too, but in my opinion he's more comfortable as a pure LB. Bryan is a good example of a specialist LWB. 

 

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10 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It's an interesting point. I think Dasilva is more comfortable as a pure LB. He's one of our best players and you have to question whether a 5-3-2 is the best system for him.

I think Hunt does a decent job, likewise Rowe, but I don't think the two are some of the best WBs in the position. Haven't seen enough of Sessengon to pass judgement on him really.

When we won the double under Cotterill, he ended up recruiting (man for man) one of the best attainable sides to play a 5-3-2 for that level. It's obviously a much taller order in the Championship but I don't think we've got anywhere near the best personnel for the system in the division.

It's a tricky one what sort of alternative system we could play. We don't have many wingers anymore so even a 4-3-3 isn't that viable. I suppose you could play some sort of 4-1-2-1-2 with a diamond but unless you have excellent movement and understanding with the CMs it's a tricky system to play. 

I hope we haven't limited our options to our detriment by recruiting too heavily for 5-3-2 only. You can get away with it when you have the best players at your level (Cotterill's 14/15 team) but we don't and it stands to reason we'll need to experiment as the season goes on. 

Good post PF

I don’t think we should get put off looking because we’ve sold our one out and out winger (Tho I would have tried him slightly differently at times)

Remember when we had our Cup run under LJ we had Joe Bryan and Josh playing in the wide midfield positions - Although it doesn’t sound mouthwatering compared to two flying wingers we have players who can play in wide midfield options even if we play narrower

Gives us alternatives though the dilemna then is where you’re creativity comes from , but in a 5-3-2 you are looking for your WB’s to be a major creative force

Dean has been brave and also played two forward thinking midfielders in the three to add to that 

The downside to that , for me , as we’ve seen , is that we can lose control of the midfield and control of the game  , our wing backs end up getting pegged back and can be exposed if they get forward but we lose the ball 

It might be that , as he has more options for the midfield three , he will tinker with the balance there , which may in turn allow the wing backs to become more influential and effective

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Midfield is a wasteland, has been for years. We need a manager who will sort that ... hopefully, Deano is on the case although to wait at least a third if a season in the hope of fixing it with Williams and Walsh seems bizarre. 

However, there is hope. Bakinson if he can be sufficiently motivated to retain his focus (and I’m worried about the Plymouth scenario of form fading out) looks the real deal. 

 

Just also got to make a special mention of Vyner. Last night against really tough opposition I thought he was superb. Let’s hope he can maintain that standard. Well done that man. 

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2 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

It looks like the goal scorer ran off of Hunt , who switched off for a split second 

Yes, I really don’t think you can half-pin this on Vyner as I’ve seen in some posts.  If you go back to my preview Danjuma and Solanke have built a good understanding, it was a good first time lay-off by Solanke, then great first touch by Danjuma.  Quick give and goes around the box are tough to defend.  Sometimes you have to give credit to the attackers.  Hate the blame game when we concede.

2 hours ago, Phileas Fogg said:

The 310 minutes without a goal from open play is worrying. Especially when we have Wells (one of the best natural goalscorers in the league), Martin (vastly experienced at this level and respectable goal scoring record of his own) and Diedhiou (good goalscoring record) as our forwards.

We can't use the 'inexperienced at the level' excuse with our forwards because 3 of them aren't.

I was concerned by the Weiman/Paterson/Bakinson balance in midfield - right to persist with it whilst it was working, but trying to replicate it with selection last night didn't make sense to me. 

We're having to pin a lot of hopes on Joe Williams and Liam Walsh, which in itself is no guarantee of success. 

I think whilst we're going through a bit of a sticky spell - we should persevere with Wells and Martin as our starting forwards and bring Brunt into midfield alongside Bakinson and one of Paterson/O'Dowda/Massengo/Nagy depending on opponent.

My reasoning is that Wells will score goals, even if he doesn't contribute for 89 minutes, and Martin is probably our best partner for him. We need Brunt's experience and set piece ability.

I think it was rotation last night, and possibly with a view we might have to go back to front on occasions to get a foothold in the game.  I thought Fam put himself about, without playing great (but I’m ok with that)...but second half how many times did Bournemouth defender and midfield have totally free headers from long balls (especially from Bentley).  Work rate dropped second half...starting from front two.  They allowed Kelly and Mepham onto our midfield.

As for the midfield, credit for first half, but second half wasn’t good enough.  When you start dropping below the level needed and half-heartedly close down, quality players just pass it around you, and you end up getting more and more tired from inefficient running.  That’s a lesson.  Sometimes sit in as a 3, drag Semenyo back for 5 minutes and go with a block....frustrate....then go again.  We did use a Semenyo injury break to break it up.  That was good.  But ultimately a lot of Bournemouth’s pressure was down to us not quite putting it in., 

1 hour ago, 1960maaan said:

4 games 4 wins with 1 CMFf and 2 AMF. At that stage I held my hands up and said I was wrong, I hadn't thought we could cope with the same single man MF we had complained about for years. Now, we might have got away with it, but whatever it had worked. Then for 2 games both AMF were off, plus TB wasn't as influential, it happens, and you add another injury . I can see why Holden went for (seemingly) a straight swap of COD for AW. 
Last night I thought Paterson was very good until he ran out of steam. Put a big shift in and his control and use of the ball was good ,picked it up deeper and went past markers (broke lines) well. COD did ok, he didn't look comfortable or keen to  break right to help Hunt, which I think led to Hunt not having such a good game, the link up wasn't there, but to be fair it's the first game together in this system.
Bakinson, for me , had a game of extremes almost. While he was caught in possession a few times and found a few blind alleys, he also broke from MF brilliantly. He s finding his feet, but I would like to see him take AW place and play Brunt in the holding role, give him a bit more freedom .

If we had the conversation at half time, no one would have said our midfield were shit because we were the better team, and back to making chances. Boro & Swansea did a bit of a number on us, and we weren't at our best. Yesterday, against a side expected to be top 3/4, we were the better side for 45 minutes, and better by some way. With all the injuries getting that central balance is going to be harder, I still think Brunt holding and Pato and Bakinson in the forward positions is our best bet at the moment. 

I thought there were a lot of good performances, probably the one thing missing was Weimann's running later on. I've said before, my one criticism of last night was that Holden waited too long to make the subs, and the made the wrong ones when he eventually did . The MF needed freshening up, Pato was out on his feet and COD was struggling. Even Bakinson had disappeared a little. I hope he doesn't flog Paterson to death now Weimann is out, he needs to rotate. I don't think waiting for players to break down to bring in others is a good strategy. He didn't think Brunt could play 2 x 90 minutes in 5 days, but Paterson has played just about every minute of every game, it is bound to catch up , and it looked like it did last night from 65 minutes.

what we’ve seen is that it’s easier against the poor sides and hard against the better sides.  Stands to reason.  It’s always gonna take a good performance to beat a Bournemouth or Swansea, but you can get away with not being perfect against say Coventry.  Last night we got the “good” performance 1st half but not second.  

22 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It's an interesting point. I think Dasilva is more comfortable as a pure LB. He's one of our best players and you have to question whether a 5-3-2 is the best system to get the most out of him.

I think Hunt does a decent job, likewise Rowe, but I don't think the two are some of the best WBs in the position. Haven't seen enough of Sessengon to pass judgement on him really.

When we won the double under Cotterill, he ended up recruiting (man for man) one of the best attainable sides to play a 5-3-2 for that level. It's obviously a much taller order in the Championship but I don't think we've got anywhere near the best personnel for the system in the division.

It's a tricky one what sort of alternative system we could play. We don't have many wingers anymore so even a 4-3-3 isn't that viable. I suppose you could play some sort of 4-1-2-1-2 with a diamond but unless you have excellent movement and understanding with the CMs it's a tricky system to play. 

I hope we haven't limited our options to our detriment by recruiting too heavily for 5-3-2 only. You can get away with it when you have the best players at your level (Cotterill's 14/15 team) but we don't and it stands to reason we'll need to experiment as the season goes on. 

I think he’s better at LB too.  Last night he would’ve helped us retain possession better and perhaps not tire.

Take Swansea....we finished strongly because we kept the ball.

Last night, we tired because we chased the ball.

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14 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

They can be very different roles, but Dasilva is very good in either imo

 I can only think the reason he’s not being selected is he’s being ‘protected’ due to his injury issues. If it is shin splints they can be a recurring issue if not given sufficient time for a full recovery. I know from my own painful experience. 

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5 minutes ago, RedRock said:

 I can only think the reason he’s not being selected is he’s being ‘protected’ due to his injury issues. If it is shin splints they can be a recurring issue if not given sufficient time for a full recovery. I know from my own painful experience. 

I hoping the same. TBF it was his first 90 minutes in some time, plus Rowe had been pretty good and fully up to match fitness. Hard position so I expect it to be rotated regularly.

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