Fao Wingers

[Nibor]

Wing: n

- Either of the forward positions played near the sideline

Please note this definition down carefully.

That is all.

[si_aston]

We all know who you mean. It was as if we played with a right winger, an inside right, and two central midfielders.

If he affected the game as a result it'd be fine, but it leaves us predictable and easy to defend against, as Brum proved tonight. We're too one-dimensional and have been for a while.

[arrytheb]

Until sproule came on we had no width at all. Only players attempting to give width were McCallister and Orr. Think GJ should have addressed this a bit earlier to be honest

[Will Rollason]

They MUST be following orders...mustn't they? :unsure: :unsure:

McIndoe particularly seemed to play everywhere EXCEPT on the left and Williams was narrow to.

My best guess is that we play narrow to deny the opposition space and try to get some width when we can.

However look what happened when weee Ivan came on..... chaos at the back chances created and if Ivan could play football as well as run fast they would have been in real trouble.. :D

taking Orr off seemed to take the wind out of our sails cause we didnt look so likely after that.

Anyone else notice Orr go off in a huff without waiting for teammates or clapping fans???

He was pants tonight mind....

[arrytheb]

Had to take a defender off though to add to the attack and Orr was the obvious choice for me. Didn't have his best game and sometimes you have to take one for the team

[petehinton]

don't want to see Williams used wide right

Not enough pace to be a winger imo

[RedM]

I agree but surely it must be down to a change of tactics from the manager more than the players deciding themselves to constantly be drawn in and get out of position? Last season our wingers managed to stay in position on the whole didn't they?

I'm a big fan of McIndoe and he ran his socks off for the cause tonight, perhaps trying too hard as he was all over the place. And whereas he may have individually been causing problems, he was not always in a position where his team mates would expect to find him for a pass. This tended to break our play down, slow it up. It was only when Sproule came on we really found any rhythm.

At times we were over run and outclassed by a slick and professional Birmingham side. I wouldn't be surprised to see them there or thereabouts at the end of the season. That early goal killed us but i think we would have learnt something from the game.

[mart]

Yes, ithought that Orr had a nightmare of a game. All his crosses and passes went directly to a player in blue. I think he was more unhappy with himself than any of his teammates.

[Harry]

That early goal killed us but i think we would have learnt something from the game.

What we should have learnt from the game is that WINGERS work!

And we should have understood this from about 20 minutes into the game, not 10 mins into the 2nd half.

I really couldn't understand what GJ was trying to do in the 1st half. Looked like he set them up in a 4-5-1, with McIndoe playing right-ish, and Maynard playing left-ish, with Dele up top on his own. Maynard looked out of place, trying to fill in on the left side. Every time Basso threw the ball out to McAllister, there was no-one for him to pass it forwards to, so he always had to look inside, and this was where their 2nd goal came from, a pass inside from JM, the ball was lost, they broke away and scored. If JM had MM infront of him to play the ball to, then the 2nd goal would not have happened. FACT.

When we decided to revert to a left-footed winger playing left side, and a right footed winger playing right side, we actually looked like we were causing Brum problems.

So why the change of formation and more importantly, a change of positioning for certain players (NM & MM). We just had no width whatsoever, and Brum knew it and dealt with anything that came inside to their strongest area (midfield).

There is no blame to be attached to the players for the first half performance, they were playing an unfamiliar way, and it blatantly showed. I'm a massive GJ fan, but I have to say that he got it wrong in the 1st half tonight, it almost seemed as if he'd set the team up 'not to lose', he tried to pack the midfield and hold on for a point. We should have gone for it. we showed in the 2nd half that by going for it we worried them, and in the end they were glad to get away with all 3 points. Had we played the same way for 90 minutes, who knows what may have happened.

I think we went out there happy with a point, and ended up with none, and this is not something that GJ would usually do. So I am very surprised and disappointed.

[edson]

If you listen to GJ's post match interview, it was definitely a tactic.

[Nibor]

I can understand a tactic of wingers tucking in when defending. In fact against a side with more quality I can even understand trying to jam the midfield and stifle the game a bit. However it was crystal bloody clear that for the first hour last night the root of our problem was the lack of width when breaking.

At several points in the first half we had both strikers and both wingers inside the D of Brum's penalty area waiting for a ball, giving the full backs and Lee Johnson bugger all options. They weren't defending, they were just sodding standing there. That meant that we were playing passes under pressure and hitting them long at Adebola who had no joy whatsoever against Taylor and on the rare occasion there was a knock down they all got in each other's way.

It's quite clear that Maynard is not dangerous from knockdowns nor is he that good a link player. His strengths quite obviously are pace and being in the right place in the 18 yd box. Having paid £2.25m for him it makes sense to me to play to those strengths - which means getting the ball wide and putting crosses in, not expecting him to come deep for the ball, and trying to put him through the back line either with a flick on (which means Adebola coming deep not Maynard) or a through ball. None of which we did.

If having the wingers play like inside forwards was a tactic it was plain wrong and it was obvious that was the case 10 minutes in. It should have been changed earlier.

I was encouraged by the second half after Sproule came on and I can't see any reason not to start the game against Donny with him on the right. It's also worth remembering that Brum had few chances and took two of them, the game was fairly close over 90 minutes. They were obviously well organised and had lots of quality on the ball but that game was winnable had we approached it differently.

[Redhyde]

I thought it showed an incredible lack of faith in our players to make them utterly change the way they play at home to counter a team in the same division. GJ makes mistakes, this was a big one.

[Elton red]

Had to take a defender off though to add to the attack and Orr was the obvious choice for me. Didn't have his best game and sometimes you have to take one for the team

I've noticed Bradders getting a little bit precious a few times lately. He seems to get all huffy over the slightest things. I'm all for 100% commitment but the boy needs to calm down a tad and remember that God and GJ are watching him.