Moving on

[Eddie Notgetinya]

I wasn't sure where to put this so I went for a new thread.

After coming up against Cardiff (Warnocks first game), Barnsley (LJ's old team), and 3 very good sides that will all feature in the promotion chase the odds were always going to be against us, I would of expected more than 1 solitary point though. Looking on the positive side we now have a run of 6 or so games where a nice points haul is a distinct possibility. COYR.

Frustratingly, I still don't have a clue what our best team is. I'm not convinced our current set up is the right one for us to be successful. I've always been a fan of 4-4-2 with pace out wide yet we also have 5 VERY good CM's in one form or another (Tomlin, Reid, Pack, O'Neil, Smith). I'm glad I'm not picking the team. 

That being said Jaap Stam said after yesterday's game "we spoke about hurting them down the sides because they're wingers don't like to defend".

Between the next 6 games and the January window hopefully we will find the magic formula.

[Sleepy1968]

9 minutes ago, NorwichbasedWurzel said:

Between the next 6 games and the January window hopefully we will find the magic formula.

In LJ's post match player interview (I don't know about the radio bristol one) he went through a few formulae. He's got some ideas but it didn't sound like he know what the magic one was, Sometimes I think it's all got too complicated: defend as a team, attack quickly get runners in, score.

Having listened to the commentary on the last three away games and watched the brighton game (who apart from Newcastle were the only team to be comfortably better than us over 90 minutes at home) we seem to create enough chances but do not have enough composure in front of goal. Perhaps if we started scoring first more often things would improve.

[exAtyeoMax]

is Josh Brownhill injured?

[JoeAman08]

28 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

In LJ's post match player interview (I don't know about the radio bristol one) he went through a few formulae. He's got some ideas but it didn't sound like he know what the magic one was, Sometimes I think it's all got too complicated: defend as a team, attack quickly get runners in, score.

Having listened to the commentary on the last three away games and watched the brighton game (who apart from Newcastle were the only team to be comfortably better than us over 90 minutes at home) we seem to create enough chances but do not have enough composure in front of goal. Perhaps if we started scoring first more often things would improve.

I'm with you. I think LJ is overthinking everything at the moment. I'm not sure we have the squad to play the way he wants just yet. If we were Brighton, Sheff W or Villa we could probably do it. We aren't there yet. We should focus on more simple football. Set pieces and crosses. Set pieces we haven't defended well and we haven't been good enough attacking them. Crosses we don't do at all. Watched the Barnsley v Forest highlights. 7 goals and most from crosses. Not two of the best teams but it's an area I don't feel we exploit enough with a poacher of Tammy's quality. Bobby is even a bit of a fox in th box type and we'd probably score one or two more with a few crosses.

All in all I feel like we don't have the talent to play like LJ wants to. Maybe coaching them this way benefits us in the long run. I hope it does but we need to fix a few things in between. The next 6 may seem more favourable but I'm not so sure. Ipswich coming off a big win. Brentford are always tough. Huddersfield are in the top 6. Certainly no easy games. We do need a good points haul of those 6 though if we want a chance at decent players in January. Hopefully 11 or 12 and I'd be less nervy. We've got the ability to do it.

[REDOXO]

After a little recent analysis the difference seems to be that we are not pressing as much high up the field, which we were doing earlier in the season

say what you like about Agard he was excellent at that, although not relevant here. As a team early on we did not let teams settle on the ball in their own half thus cutting down the amount of killer balls you are defending. The penalty was an excellent example of a team allowed to play the ball out of defence with only half hearted tracking and then a killer ball that lead to a very dodgy penalty. 

Think leeds, Think Forest I could go on. We were not allowing that passing out of defence without a challenge, which lead to goals

Couple this with the blatantly obvious lack of a goal scorer that isn't named Abraham we are always going to get beaten. Reid is awful in front of goal and the rest are little better

Abraham fed off some balls we won high up the pitch and his recent lack of opportunities is at least partially due to this. So changing it back, might leave us open in midfield at times, but what is a fact the current more stand off, deeper defending approach is not working. 

Get Bryan further forward, Browning has energy as does Odowda, Freeman and Smith. Let's start pressuring teams again!

[marmite]

3 hours ago, NorwichbasedWurzel said:

I wasn't sure where to put this so I went for a new thread.

After coming up against Cardiff (Warnocks first game), Barnsley (LJ's old team), and 3 very good sides that will all feature in the promotion chase the odds were always going to be against us, I would of expected more than 1 solitary point though. Looking on the positive side we now have a run of 6 or so games where a nice points haul is a distinct possibility. COYR.

Frustratingly, I still don't have a clue what our best team is. I'm not convinced our current set up is the right one for us to be successful. I've always been a fan of 4-4-2 with pace out wide yet we also have 5 VERY good CM's in one form or another (Tomlin, Reid, Pack, O'Neil, Smith). I'm glad I'm not picking the team. 

That being said Jaap Stam said after yesterday's game "we spoke about hurting them down the sides because they're wingers don't like to defend".

Between the next 6 games and the January window hopefully we will find the magic formula.

Interesting quote from Jaap Stam. As an ex full back I was coached to stay close to my opposing winger and not give him time to settle. When the ball was played to him I was there when it arrived, that doesn't happen with our defenders. They stand off and give wide men time and space. I am not surprised that has been picked up as one of our weaknesses.