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The conundrum that is Naismith


old_eastender

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1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

* Interesting insight into Nathan Jones and his managerial credentials , and who it would appear had a lot of good to say about City as a Club , when Naismith told him he was not staying at Luton and was sleeping on offers from a few Clubs

Well, fancy that. @GrahamC, any thoughts?

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18 hours ago, Sheltons Army said:

Naismith with Geoff Twentyman on SOC tonight for an hour

Well worth a listen , very honest about his errors , talk about his playing philosophy and the attraction of coming to City

Grounded and sounds a great lad 

 

* Interesting insight into Nathan Jones and his managerial credentials , and who it would appear had a lot of good to say about City as a Club , when Naismith told him he was not staying at Luton and was sleeping on offers from a few Clubs

What a great listen it was as well, worth a listen to anyone  who hasn't heard it

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On 15/09/2022 at 08:36, old_eastender said:

There is no doubting that Naismith's ability to, in general, bring down through balls, come forward out of defence and play neat passes has been an important part of us playing good possession football. He also has a sweet left foot from free kicks which have profited us. However, he had already been directly responsible for 3 goals given away before last night (and it could have been more, but for some less clinical finishing and good Bentley saves). The 2 given to Norwich last night makes that 5 goals gifted in just 9 games. Something has to change, as he will become targeted by opposing teams.

For me, either we:

a) switch him to left Centre Back (where he played so well for Luton), and move Atkinson to the middle - on the basis that when he loses the ball to the opposition trying to play out it's less likely to lead to a direct chance on goal. 

b) leave him in the middle but with clear instruction to take a more safety first approach and be prepared to drop him (for Klose when fit) if he doesn't.

c) leave him in the middle but instruct Vyner or Atkinson to cover him from behind when he brings the ball out like he did before giving it away for Norwich's 2nd.

Personally I'd go with option a) although that would probably make him less effective for building our forward play. No matter that he is generally a really good footballer, you can not just cannot carry on like it is with him gifting a goal away every other game. 

 

When Kalas is back why not play him as defensive midfielder

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19 hours ago, Selred said:

He’s our more pivotal player in our current set up. His style forces our style and we’ve become a far better team this season from it. Yes he makes errors but we’ve been 10x more enjoyable to watch this season, which I believe is massively down to Naismith.

I agree, he's entertaining to watch. I was moreso making the point that for me his best fit is probably as a DM screening in front of a back four. In our current setup I think Naismith and 3 centre backs is probably too defensive 

 

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5 hours ago, Selred said:

You know we are the top scorers in the league right?

Yes, I'm not sure we would score as much if we take one of our midfield out and put in another CB though. Unless the plan is just to hoof it over top for 90 minutes which I can't stand when we do that

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17 hours ago, Clutton Caveman said:

When Kalas is back why not play him as defensive midfielder

Keep hearing this on the Forever Bristol podcast. They are consistently banging the drum on there. 
 

As many recognise, if we take Naismith out of the back 3, we lose what he brings when setting up our attacks. No other defender can do it as they aren’t ball players.. 

No doubt he drives me crazy when he’s dropped a clanger but also appreciate how he now makes us tick moving forward. Kalas returning, with his pace, alongside him may get us out of certain situations. 

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14 hours ago, Champfan45 said:

Yes, I'm not sure we would score as much if we take one of our midfield out and put in another CB though. Unless the plan is just to hoof it over top for 90 minutes which I can't stand when we do that

Why would we do that? That would be 6 at the back? 

You said our current set up is too defensive, which I disagree with, as we are top scorers.

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Everyone is assuming that Kalas will recover. Is he "back on the grass" yet?

Could we be leaving him out because he may have a hefty appearance in addition to basic wage?

I do think that Naismith would be fine as defensive central midfielder but we'd lose his leadership and organisation skills in the back three!

That could possibly be a major role to help them grow in stature but we see it only as someone who can pass to midfielders instead of just going long as we have in the previous three/four years.

The lack of hoofball is a significant factor in the success we are creating up front. So why chang it?

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How many unforced errors and goals conceded are we prepared to accept before he gets dropped or moved to a different position?

He just can’t help himself taking stupid unnecessary risks

would much rather klose with Atkinson and vyner

For all the flak vyner gets he’s looked way more solid than Naismith so far

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4 minutes ago, Andrew_V1 said:

How many unforced errors and goals conceded are we prepared to accept before he gets dropped or moved to a different position?

He just can’t help himself taking stupid unnecessary risks

would much rather klose with Atkinson and vyner

For all the flak vyner gets he’s looked way more solid than Naismith so far

The risk is now outweighing the reward with Naismith. But with Klose out of favour and Kalas perpetually injured the back 3 will not change.

So it remains down to the forwards to score 3 every game.

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Poor today but Sykes had a real shocker.

Even bigger worry was Wilson came on & looked to be really struggling as well, lost his man several times & didn’t look comfortable at all.

On this basis Tanner looks more likely to get a go.

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3 minutes ago, Robbored said:

We all know that Naismith has a sweet left foot and can take a decent free kick but why oh why does he take corners? Any player can deliver a decent corner and being a CB surely he’d cause more havoc in the actual penalty box? ………..:dunno:

I agree. So who takes the corners from that side? The decision seems to be Naismith is the guy which speaks to lack of options for me. 
 

Naismith delivery seems to be his saving grace with many, however today he shanked or over hit a couple and got beaten on the ball in dangerous areas for us. But who else? If Kalas and Klose are not fit we have a real problem. 

Every team in the championship now knows Naismith is several accidents waiting to happen and push on him. As Owers says he takes to many touches and allows team mates to be closed down before he hits a pass or gets beaten in the tackle. Nevertheless it’s easy to identify the issue. Doing something about it is why Pearson gets paid the big bucks I guess. 

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29 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Poor today but Sykes had a real shocker.

Even bigger worry was Wilson came on & looked to be really struggling as well, lost his man several times & didn’t look comfortable at all.

On this basis Tanner looks more likely to get a go.

Yep today was poor, particularly the first half, marginally better second 45. That said I thought that QPR played really well and were half a yard quicker than us all over the pitch - they looked a good side.

Scott is suspended for the Coventry game so with Williams unable to play two games a week I guess HNM and Andy King will be the CM paring on Tuesday.

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Defensively we are a shambles!

Naismith had a decent season at Luton but he had players like Campbell and Mpanzu in front of him screening, and dominant ball winning centre backs alongside him. He doesn't have that luxury with us.

We are where we are and there will be many more bumps in the road as the season progresses.

We have played 3 of the best sides in the league in our last 3 games but we do need to bounce back with our next 3 or 4 fixtures.

At least its not boring!

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