Where is the creativity going to come from?

[ChrisBW]

3 shots on target in 3 games, 2 from long throws. Wells no goals in open play for 20 games. This is Pearsons side with his players and signings…..he goes on about how little money we have yet he made the signings of Cornick and Mehmeti - what is the solution? 

[Spike]

The opposition...

[mozo]

1 minute ago, ChrisBW said:

3 shots on target in 3 games, 2 from long throws. Wells no goals in open play for 20 games. This is Pearsons side with his players and signings…..he goes on about how little money we have yet he made the signings of Cornick and Mehmeti - what is the solution? 

I think Cornick and Mehmeti's best work in the league this season has been defensive.

Wells has never been a goal machine, albeit a good link up player.

We definitely need a change in the final third.

Defensively we look okay. Build up in midfield decent. Excellent work rate.

But besides the threat of Sam Bell's pace, we look toothless.

[Fuber]

The bank account. Creativity costs money. 

Pearsons sold players for £35m+ and spent £2m ffs.

[ChrisBW]

Just now, mozo said:

I think Cornick and Mehmeti's best work in the league this season has been defensive.

Wells has never been a goal machine, albeit a good link up player.

We definitely need a change in the final third.

Defensively we look okay. Build up in midfield decent. Excellent work rate.

But besides the threat of Sam Bell's pace, we look toothless.

I’m surprised Wells was offered a new contract at the time…..even on reduced wages.

[Fordy62]

4 minutes ago, Fuber said:

The bank account. Creativity costs money. 

Pearsons sold players for £35m+ and spent £2m ffs.

And that’s why people shouldn’t be so quick to write off the harm that previous regimes have done to us. 

[cidercity1987]

We.need.an.attacking.midfielder.

There is NO link between defensive midfield and the three forward players

[Edgy Red]

I'm not anti Pearson in any way, but how he escapes criticism is wrong. He has had the best part of 3 years to form a team... its like The Tories continually blaming Labour for the mess they left the country in (13 years ago)

Tin hat on

[Buster Footman's T shirt]

Just now, cidercity1987 said:

We.need.an.attacking.midfielder.

There is NO link between defensive midfield and the three forward players

We're not getting one. SL has been clear. I do worry that we are really short of numbers with injuries piling up already. Only 1 senior CB available now with Dickies sending off. Think we were a CB light anyway.  We will get a true indication of the direction of travel over the next week. Hope I am wrong but I can't see us being able to afford to bring in anyone who is better than what we have

[WestonRobin]

This is our problem at the moment; a distinct lack of creativity.

Birminghams midfield out pressed ours today; we had zero space or time in the ball, especially the first half.

The root cause from both goals is defenders trying to play through the middle with the ball getting picked off; the first led to the corners the second led to the break away

i feel sorry for the men up top; they’re feeding off scraps. Zero service. 
 

Not sure why Tanner is so reluctant to drive down the line but we need more options when attacking. It seems all so predictable and one dimensional.

 

Credit to Birmingham, well organised. Kept their shape and wouldn’t let us through. This is a problem we need to solve, and quickly.

 

Maybe it changes when Wiemann, Conway, McCrorie return, I don’t know. But we’re not threading balls between the lines which we need to against physical sides such as Birmingham especially given their size

[ProfitInMyPocket]

Need someone strong enough to hold the ball up too as well as someone who can link up from back to front.

Even with Semenyo's sometimes poor touch, decent pace and good drive - players would bounce off him and he could hold it up. The front three across the line that we have available right now struggle to hold the ball up whatsoever.

Lost count the amount of times we got the ball to a forward player today for it to get pinched by a Brum player.

Fair play to them, have a real identity and a lot of physical players with some nice bits of quality sprinkled in. If they can keep their main players fit they'll be pushing the top six/ten for sure.

[nickolas]

18 minutes ago, mozo said:

I think Cornick and Mehmeti's best work in the league this season has been defensive.

Wells has never been a goal machine, albeit a good link up player.

We definitely need a change in the final third.

Defensively we look okay. Build up in midfield decent. Excellent work rate.

But besides the threat of Sam Bell's pace, we look toothless.

Is it just me but the following:

Sam Bell’s pace. 
O’Leary commanding his box and distribution. 
 

Neither of these are actually true!

Bell couldnt beat an egg let alone a full back. 
O’Leary doesnt command his box and no way can he distribute a ball effectively. 
Apparently we have pace in the team. Im aftaid the only player we have with pace is Sykes, yet he cant get a game ahead of the raffle winner Cornick!

absolutely baffled. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by nickolas

[Fordy62]

 

[Ivorguy]

Simples.  A decent new proven signing

Will it happen? No

Why not?  The owner

[joe jordans teeth]

8 minutes ago, Edgy Red said:

I'm not anti Pearson in any way, but how he escapes criticism is wrong. He has had the best part of 3 years to form a team... its like The Tories continually blaming Labour for the mess they left the country in (13 years ago)

Tin hat on

He gets criticism but like Labour(MA and LJ)it takes a hell of a long time to right the wrongs,the bloke has a budget of peanuts dispite selling of the gold 

[Fordy62]

It’s easy to say “why don’t we spend some of the 30 off million from S&S sales” if we hadn’t had the farce that came in the years preceding them. 

When you treble a wage bill and are making losses of 30m a year and paying numerous players upwards of 25k a week you need to reset. Ideally reset within the new boundaries you set yourself. So do I blame SL for not spunking mega millions now? No. Do I blame him for backing the wrong horse. Yes. 

[Shauntaylor85]

3 minutes ago, nickolas said:

Is it just me but the following:

Sam Bell’s pace. 
O’Leary commanding his box and distribution. 
 

Neither of these are actually true!

Bell couldnt beat an egg let alone a full back. 
O’Leary doesnt command his box and no way can he distribute a ball effectively. 
Apparently we have pace in the team. Im aftaid the only player we have with pace is Sykes, yet he cant get a game ahead of the raffle winner Cornick!

absolutely baffled. 

I agree completely. Bell has a good burst of pace but he lacks anything else, the front 6 are so non threatening, where is this pace that Nigel keeps referring to? And don’t get me started on Pring and Tanner, neither deserve to play at present, Tanner in particular. So poor, they don’t even move! We’ve got big problems and League One and the academy can’t be the only solutions. I’ve said before, Tinnion signed Grant Smith, Matt Heywood et al, let’s be serious. 

[ExiledAjax]

One player isn't going to solve anything.

For years we have been operating on a "low quantity, high quality" philosophy when it comes to creating chances that turn into goals.

That's worked, to an extent, because we've had a) players capable of creating such chances, b) players capable of finishing them. But, it's very vulnerable to a dip in player quality, form, or an opponent who can shut down the few good chances we do create. 

We've changed system in that time, several times, but the philosophy has stayed the same, and it's one that started under LJ, persisted through Holden, and now seems to sit with Pearson.

One new signing, if brought into that philosophy and culture, won't change a single thing.

[joe jordans teeth]

In a perfect world would he be relying on Wells(yes I know he’s good with the young lads)to be our main forward if he had cash to burn,the answer is no 

[fisherrich]

The football club has been treading water for a while. I don’t blame NP as his hands are tied by the mess from the previous regime. Can’t see Lansdown spending any big ££s again. It is what it is. Get used to it.

[Bedred31]

Agree pretty much with most of the NP/ LJ analysis/ comparison above. But going to raise that old chestnut of loans again. Look at LJ’s tenure after 2016 and ask what it would have looked like if we’d employed a no loans policy. I know they can be pricy and may impede internal development ( ie bring on academy players to sell on), but I’m simply baffled by the refusal to consider loan players in our present situation.

[ChippenhamRed]

The £25,000,000 we got for Scott is where is should come from.

While I appreciate the club is unlikely to spend all that money - for good reason - I also think we should reasonably be able to expect a good proportion of it to be reinvested back into the squad.

[nickolas]

7 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

I agree completely. Bell has a good burst of pace but he lacks anything else, the front 6 are so non threatening, where is this pace that Nigel keeps referring to? And don’t get me started on Pring and Tanner, neither deserve to play at present, Tanner in particular. So poor, they don’t even move! We’ve got big problems and League One and the academy can’t be the only solutions. I’ve said before, Tinnion signed Grant Smith, Matt Heywood et al, let’s be serious. 

Lets hope McCrorie is a powerful lump when fit. We miss strength, power AND pace. Mehmeti has zero pace also. 
We couldnt play any slower if we tried and must be so easy to scout and set up against for other teams. 
Desperately need a couple of big powerful lumps in midfield and upfront as a minimum. 
If we cant reinvest even £5m of the £25m Scott fee then League One here we come. 

[Midlands Robin]

16 minutes ago, Buster Footman's T shirt said:

We're not getting one. SL has been clear. I do worry that we are really short of numbers with injuries piling up already. Only 1 senior CB available now with Dickies sending off. Think we were a CB light anyway.  We will get a true indication of the direction of travel over the next week. Hope I am wrong but I can't see us being able to afford to bring in anyone who is better than what we have

We've still got Kalas kicking around having failed to find a new club and with that 1 year extension still on the table. That would certainly fix that issue.

[Mr Hankey]

10 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

It’s easy to say “why don’t we spend some of the 30 off million from S&S sales” if we hadn’t had the farce that came in the years preceding them. 

When you treble a wage bill and are making losses of 30m a year and paying numerous players upwards of 25k a week you need to reset. Ideally reset within the new boundaries you set yourself. So do I blame SL for not spunking mega millions now? No. Do I blame him for backing the wrong horse. Yes. 

[joe jordans teeth]

3 minutes ago, Bedred31 said:

Agree pretty much with most of the NP/ LJ analysis/ comparison above. But going to raise that old chestnut of loans again. Look at LJ’s tenure after 2016 and ask what it would have looked like if we’d employed a no loans policy. I know they can be pricy and may impede internal development ( ie bring on academy players to sell on), but I’m simply baffled by the refusal to consider loan players in our present situation.

It’s clear we need a bustling tall forward with pace,we haven’t got one anywhere in our ranks 

[EstoniaTallinnRed]

Just now, Midlands Robin said:

We've still got Kalas kicking around having failed to find a new club and with that 1 year extension still on the table. That would certainly fix that issue.

The problem with that is he won't take a paycut, so back to square one.

[Supersonic Robin]

4 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

One player isn't going to solve anything.

For years we have been operating on a "low quantity, high quality" philosophy when it comes to creating chances that turn into goals.

That's worked, to an extent, because we've had a) players capable of creating such chances, b) players capable of finishing them. But, it's very vulnerable to a dip in player quality, form, or an opponent who can shut down the few good chances we do create. 

We've changed system in that time, several times, but the philosophy has stayed the same, and it's one that started under LJ, persisted through Holden, and now seems to sit with Pearson.

One new signing, if brought into that philosophy and culture, won't change a single thing.

True. I made a similar point in comparing today with the Millwall match.

• Vs Millwall, we had 1 shot on target - the James goal in the 94th minute.
• Today, we had 1 great chance - the Wells tap in from 6 yards.

Two things are pretty clear in comparing the 2 games:

A) If you're going to play in this way, you have to take your chance(s)

B) If you're going to play in this way, you have to be very solid defensively

We did neither today. We did both vs Millwall.

[Shauntaylor85]

2 minutes ago, nickolas said:

Lets hope McCrorie is a powerful lump when fit. We miss strength, power AND pace. Mehmeti has zero pace also. 
We couldnt play any slower if we tried and must be so easy to scout and set up against for other teams. 
Desperately need a couple of big powerful lumps in midfield and upfront as a minimum. 
If we cant reinvest even £5m of the £25m Scott fee then League One here we come. 

It’s worrying, all the League 1 and 2 friendly opponents was laughable really. Same as last season. At least we would win that league! Could be a good thing to rebuild all joking aside! 

[Fordy62]

People genuinely forget we were(are) on the cusp of a points deduction.