No Midfield = No Hope

[Dr Balls]

i have been reading the forum for months but finally it has got to the stage where I can't stay silent.

While accepting that we have had some injuries and illness in the past few weeks, those are just excuses. Game after game we are being completely outplayed in midfield. Skuse and Pearson are just not strong enough or good enough based on the current evidence.

So how did we win so well against Palace & Cardiff? The answer is that the centre of midfield was not exposed as we stretched them wide on the right with Adomah and Foster and on the left with Woolford and Cunningham. Without those options pushing forward we are completely lacking any forward intent - you only had to watch 70 minutes of Foster and Wilson on the right to prove that!

Football should be "pass and go". We seem unable to play that way except for the odd flash such as today's goal. It is all too slow to feet, no forward runners, too many players receiving the ball facing their own goal. When the majority of your possession is shared between your 2 central defenders then you know you are in trouble. We are in that trouble!

And when you don't have the ball you should pressurise the opposition. Hull did that very well today and made it difficult for our players. We didn't and haven't done for weeks. We stood off, let them play round us and through us and made it easy for them. Watch Hull's first goal. it was woeful for our part all the way through midfield. They went through us so easily it was embarrassing. And what hurts more is that we closed down really well and got in the faces of the opposition in those first 2 matches. It is a straightforward skill and if it is good enough for Barcelona, it should be good enough for us. If the players aren't fit enough to keep up with the pace (and that frequently seemed to be the case for both Skuse and Pearson) then what was the point of pre-season training.

We now have 2 away matches that are going to be difficult but should not be impossible. However we will have to play a centre midfield of 3 because there is not a single combination of our midfielders that can cope playing in a centre midfield pairing. This means changing the team again but I really think that unless we can shore up midfield ASAP we could be adrift in the relegation zone by January. And although it may not be popular I would ahppily accept a 0-0 draw at home as progress.

At the rate we are going Heaton will be going out injured with backache from reaching into the net so often!

Oh and the great observation of the day: What is the most worn area on the pitch? The area in front of the away fans in the East End where their team celebrate all their goals. If you don't believe me, go take a closer look next time you are at the Gate!