That Preston game last season

[hoxton casual]

3 hours ago, RedM said:

I totally agree with you. Yes, I could see what Tomlin brought to the team whilst on loan and was delighted to see him sign. But I also thought we spent a long time chasing him, playing his ‘will I, won’t I games’, but that said if we didn’t get him the majority of people would have jumped on the clubs back. But, yes another but, we weren’t privy to the gossip/rumours/facts that surround footballers, but many on here knew bits and pieces from Tomlin’s  past clubs, enough to get alarm bells ringing. I think we got a bit desperate/over confident and overlooked too many negatives by blindly crossing our fingers for the positives. I really don’t think this will happen again. 

On Sound in the City last night, Ashton stressed that personality and human factors were very important in transfers from now on.

[BCFC Rich]

2 minutes ago, hoxton casual said:

On Sound in the City last night, Ashton stressed that personality and human factors were very important in transfers from now on.

Good to hear. It only takes one player to upset things.

[hoxton casual]

Just now, BCFC Richard said:

Good to hear. It only takes one player to upset things.

Most of us know from work situations, one needy or unbalanced colleague can really throw a team into disarray as you all cater to him. Even worse when he/she is the boss!

[Bryans Left Peg]

12 hours ago, Carey 6 said:

I actually reckon Littles form towards the end of the season was good and helped us secure championship status. 

 

12 hours ago, Coxy27 said:

Mark Little did well for this football club, he was definitely someone you could rely on to give his all.

 

11 hours ago, Reddrive said:

One thing you got with Mark Little was 100% effort all the time. 

I liked him and he did well for City.

Fair enough I suppose, clearly the majority agree with you all.

Thought he was horse piss personally.

[Lanterne Rouge]

2 hours ago, BCFC Richard said:

Agree, clearly not missed on or off the pitch.

Best bit of transfer business done in the summer IMO and that includes signing Bakes.

[Davefevs]

7 hours ago, Jack Dawe said:

It still baffles me how LJ thought signing Tomlin was a good idea (I get why I, or we,  thought signing him was, but not the head coach) - the loan spell convinced him, I suppose. Massive learning curve for LJ, having Tomlin to deal with. And fair play to him, he has been quick on the uptake, as it were. The improvement and form post-Preston away is astonishing. I don't think that is an exaggeration.

Tomlin blocked the way for Patterson, and Reid, and both these boys are more than good enough - just check the stats - and more than adequate replacement for the insecure and enormously needy show-pony that was Lee Tomlin. 

We cannot thank Warnock and Cardiff enough for taking him off us.

Yes Jack.  Us lot on the outside thought it to be a signing of intent.  I’ve gone on record and said I worried about it from the pre-season vid with Wilbs, but kept my counsel for a while.  The season started with him in poor form, picking up yellows for dissent, but he got his free-kick v Villa and all seemed forgiven.  Yet I didn’t think he played well after that either, but lived on his free-kick.

You are right that he stifled the playing time of Pato (I didn’t realise he had workrate in his game until the latter end of last season) and Reid, but I think the 4231 (bah, I hate blaming formations), had a big contribution to our problems.  We had two undroppable probs, Tomlin, as above and Abraham.  In Abraham’s case you question why LJ bought Taylor and Djuric.  You could see the theory, but Abraham struggled (football-Wise not goals-wise) with a fellow striking partner.  

I see two Striker partnerships "tow" each other around on 10-20yard bungees....one go long, the other short, one go left, the other bend a run shirt, or in behind, etc.  Abraham (can’t believe i’m critical of a 26 goal striker) never suited a partner, and his movement and link-up never quite worked.  In theory, Tomlin should’ve been the ideal no10 for Abraham, but 4231 wasn’t quite right.

With Tomlin relegated to bench, we saw Pato come to the fore and continue that this season.

Reid, I think learned some clever stuff from Tomlin.  I see some touches and rolling the defender that are Tomlin-esque, but you get 100% workrate too.

Finally, back to the 4231, with Pack and Smith designated as holding, we attacked with 4 maximum, Pack and Smith never getting nosebleeds, because they didn’t trust someone like Tomlin to cover them if they were in a position to venture forward.  The 4 also are more advanced than in a 442 if you think of a football manager graphic.  That’s not to say they should be, but when you’ve got one up top, the two sidemen in the 3, feel they have to get forward to support Abraham, leaving gaps in front of our Full-Backs.

The simplicity of the 442 / 4411 is bearing fruit.  The players know what they have to do.  With workrate, solidity in defence, perhaps it’s no surprise that results have been turned around.