Mehmeti

[petehinton]

18 minutes ago, Shuffle said:

Agree on his defensive side was terrible & was screaming at him to track his runner as he was just letting him go.  As for the comment about give your head a wobble if anyone wants to start him over Bell then I’m not sure what Bell has brought to the team in the last 4/5 games.  I thought he was a passenger again yesterday and offers little in an attacking or defensive sense.  I get he’s our top scorer but imo hasn’t played well for weeks & Anis at least offered something going forward. I would have no issue with Anis starting ahead of Bell but not sure either is the long term answer. 

He was given a totally different role yesterday, strangely, and was being told by Manning to stay inside and link play up which isn’t his game, it’s running in behind. I don’t think anyone in the squad, bar Dickie, has played well consistently for the last few weeks tbh. 

[Offside]

I didn’t pay much attention to the defensive side of his game yesterday, but I enjoyed watching him when he came on. He gave us some spark, gave their defence something to think about and he is one of our few players who can/will run with the ball. 

[Davefevs]

18 minutes ago, petehinton said:

He was given a totally different role yesterday, strangely, and was being told by Manning to stay inside and link play up which isn’t his game, it’s running in behind. I don’t think anyone in the squad, bar Dickie, has played well consistently for the last few weeks tbh. 

He’s gonna have to change his game pretty quickly then.  Whether it’s Nige, Curtis or Liam in charge the strengths of his game aren’t hugely conducive to opening up Championship defences.  Of course he will get opportunities on the break, but if he wants to be more than that, he will become more bit-part.  In a team that is gonna try to control possession / have more possesion, he’s gonna cut a frustrated figure if all he wants to do is play on the shoulder.  FWIW I was pleased to see him playing inside and also coming deep to get involved in rotations.  I mentioned Weimann playing more inside versus Wednesday and how that frees space for Pring.

Yesterday he received 17 passes (73 mins on pitch), the last time he got anywhere near that was Rotherham (18 passes in 86 minutes), his highest of the season.  I thought that contributed to us moving the ball around, frustrating Boro a bit.

Look at the difference in receiving positions!  Of course easy to take the flipside and say he didn’t get the ball further forward and therefore what use is that.  In yesterday’s game had he stuck to looking for the ball over the top, I reckon his receipts would’ve been single figures.

I’ll happily admit I am on Bell’s case a bit, but mainly because I think he’s capable of more, but more because I think he’s still playing like an Academy player, looking for a ball over the top too often.

[petehinton]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He’s gonna have to change his game pretty quickly then.  Whether it’s Nige, Curtis or Liam in charge the strengths of his game aren’t hugely conducive to opening up Championship defences.  Of course he will get opportunities on the break, but if he wants to be more than that, he will become more bit-part.  In a team that is gonna try to control possession / have more possesion, he’s gonna cut a frustrated figure if all he wants to do is play on the shoulder.  FWIW I was pleased to see him playing inside and also coming deep to get involved in rotations.  I mentioned Weimann playing more inside versus Wednesday and how that frees space for Pring.

Yesterday he received 17 passes (73 mins on pitch), the last time he got anywhere near that was Rotherham (18 passes in 86 minutes), his highest of the season.  I thought that contributed to us moving the ball around, frustrating Boro a bit.

Look at the difference in receiving positions!  Of course easy to take the flipside and say he didn’t get the ball further forward and therefore what use is that.  In yesterday’s game had he stuck to looking for the ball over the top, I reckon his receipts would’ve been single figures.

I’ll happily admit I am on Bell’s case a bit, but mainly because I think he’s capable of more, but more because I think he’s still playing like an Academy player, looking for a ball over the top too often.

Course, same issue as Tommy. 5 touches first half, 8 in the second half according to Futmob. 7 touches jn whole of QPR game. 
 

Think Liam’s biggest task is how to get the best out of him, as the current system doesn’t favour the focal central striker at all, whoever it is. 

[Bazooka Joe]

12 hours ago, Feral Williams said:

Confidence player. No disrespects to Nige but he looked on it with his cameo at the end. If Liam get’s a tune out of Anis then we’re laughing 

As long as it's not a bum note.

[Mad Cyril]

Not sure running it into the corner is the best way to eat up time at the end of the match.... Seemed like constantly passing it back to the back 4 worked perfectly well eating up most of the opening 30 minutes... 

[bcfc01]

1 minute ago, petehinton said:

Course, same issue as Tommy. 5 touches first half, 8 in the second half according to Futmob. 7 touches jn whole of QPR game. 
 

Think Liam’s biggest task is how to get the best out of him, as the current system doesn’t favour the focal central striker at all, whoever it is. 

The key question - is it the system being played resulting in Tommy not really being in the game or is it Tommy that isn't able to get himself into the game ?

I ask because Cornick came on and gave their defenders something to think about, he was a nuisance and immediately got into the game. Granted, it was when the game had opened up a bit more, but his movement seemed a lot better than Tommy.

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Tommy and think he has a great future, but either the way we play won't get the best out of him or he has to add a bit more to his game to adapt to the way we are playing. 

I think we'll probably see Cornick start against Southampton.

As for Mehmeti, it may well have been that Mehmeti was instructed to stay forward as the game had opened up and there was space for him to exploit. He did that well imo. Southampton are more open than Boro and have conceded a lot of goals, I can see Mehmeti getting a start.

[TDarwall]

Tommy hasn't looked "right" to me all season. Just seems a bit laboured, almost as if he's carrying a knock.  Thought Cornick did well yesterday but coming on totally different to starting.

Wouldn't be shocked to see Cornick start v Saints, but will be a tough job up front as we won't see much of the ball in the "ex MK Don's coach" derby.

[petehinton]

13 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

The key question - is it the system being played resulting in Tommy not really being in the game or is it Tommy that isn't able to get himself into the game ?

I ask because Cornick came on and gave their defenders something to think about, he was a nuisance and immediately got into the game. Granted, it was when the game had opened up a bit more, but his movement seemed a lot better than Tommy.

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Tommy and think he has a great future, but either the way we play won't get the best out of him or he has to add a bit more to his game to adapt to the way we are playing. 

I think we'll probably see Cornick start against Southampton.

As for Mehmeti, it may well have been that Mehmeti was instructed to stay forward as the game had opened up and there was space for him to exploit. He did that well imo. Southampton are more open than Boro and have conceded a lot of goals, I can see Mehmeti getting a start.

Yep, Cornick was much better than Conway yesterday & in the QPR game imo. Was a real nuisance yesterday in particular.   

[Dr Balls]

I think there is a question about a number of our forward players and the current 4-2-3-1 formation. Both Conway and Bell are struggling at the moment. Cornick plays the lone forward role far better, but his end product I.e. goals, is not good and never has been. Cornick is also a lot stronger on the ball than Conway and defenders know that they are in a game against him.

Although I appreciate a complete change to the formation may initially cause problems, especially defensively, going 3-4-1-2 may be a better option. Would allow Naismith in a back 3, plus Pring and Sykes as wing backs. Knight could sit in behind a front pair (the Weimann role), and that front pairing could be any combination of Conway, Wells, Cornick, Mehmeti or Bell. I certainly think it could get us more goals.

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Shuffle said:

Agree on his defensive side was terrible & was screaming at him to track his runner as he was just letting him go.  As for the comment about give your head a wobble if anyone wants to start him over Bell then I’m not sure what Bell has brought to the team in the last 4/5 games.  I thought he was a passenger again yesterday and offers little in an attacking or defensive sense.  I get he’s our top scorer but imo hasn’t played well for weeks & Anis at least offered something going forward. I would have no issue with Anis starting ahead of Bell but not sure either is the long term answer. 

For Southampton I’d start with Weimann over either of them.

Far more likely to contribute to the defensive side of things & neither of the other two are exactly knocking the door down to get selected.

I appreciate he’s not been in great form himself but he’s an experienced option who must surely end his goal drought soon.

[bcfc01]

11 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

I think there is a question about a number of our forward players and the current 4-2-3-1 formation. Both Conway and Bell are struggling at the moment. Cornick plays the lone forward role far better, but his end product I.e. goals, is not good and never has been. Cornick is also a lot stronger on the ball than Conway and defenders know that they are in a game against him.

Although I appreciate a complete change to the formation may initially cause problems, especially defensively, going 3-4-1-2 may be a better option. Would allow Naismith in a back 3, plus Pring and Sykes as wing backs. Knight could sit in behind a front pair (the Weimann role), and that front pairing could be any combination of Conway, Wells, Cornick, Mehmeti or Bell. I certainly think it could get us more goals.

With Pring being suspended on Wednesday, going three at the back is an option.

[steviestevieneville]

11 hours ago, sephjnr said:

There are players who didn't really take to NP and those who really didn't take to him at all. Mehmeti is the latter as since NP's sacking he's shown more energy and aggression, almost like the first couple of games he was here.

Based on what exactly ? Bloke down the pub tell you ? 

[steviestevieneville]

Positive I saw was he was more direct in running his defender . Defensively, stop lumping the ball giving away cheap possession . He’ll learn   

[Loosey Boy]

10 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

With Pring being suspended on Wednesday, going three at the back is an option.

Naismith at LB on Weds?

[bcfc01]

1 minute ago, Loosey Boy said:

Naismith at LB on Weds?

Is the obvious change, just saying there are options.

[REDOXO]

6 hours ago, bcfc01 said:

With Pring being suspended on Wednesday, going three at the back is an option.

We interestingly slipped into 3/4/5 at the back at various times. In possession and out of possession will dictate certain things as Pring and interestingly Dickie got forward. 
 

I always laugh at the numbers out of ten game, however I think that did lead to an excessive amount of looking back for 35 minutes yesterday! However what a goal! 

[Balloon dOr]

When he arrived he reminded me of an early version of Callum O’Dowda, in that he was willing to drive at the full backs and try a few tricks here or there to beat them to the line (didn’t always pay off but certainly got bums off seats).

Like CoD that style seemed to dissipate over time, and Mehmeti didn’t seem the same player early this season, whether that’s it being coached out by NP, or just confidence after being dropped.

Definitely have seen flashes of that again in the last few games.

I personally would start him over Bell who I’m still not convinced by, but would be looking to strengthen that position in Jan. 

[NcnsBcfc]

11 hours ago, GrahamC said:

“A bit of defensive donkey work”.

Lost his man completely at a corner, didn’t switch on & was little help to Pring most of the time.

Once he had the run & shot then he completely changed, but defensively he’s still a bit of a liability.

Totally get the confidence player bit but has to do more when we don’t have the ball or are defending.

This is down to him, not Manning or Pearson.

@GrahamC that defensive change of bringing Naismith on and going to a back 5 was completely to offset the defensive mess that Mehmeti created over on the left hand side.

It was his man (Bangera) that he didn't track (again) and caused Pring to take one for the team on the edge of the box (meaning he misses the Southampton game of course).

With the introduction of Naismith, Mehmeti was able to just have to think about going forward (something he is infinitely better at doing) and showed decent pace and close control.

Not sure what sort of formation you would need to accommodate him again. I'm sure Cam would be overjoyed to see him in front of him again.  

 

[Jose]

7 hours ago, GrahamC said:

For Southampton I’d start with Weimann over either of them.

Far more likely to contribute to the defensive side of things & neither of the other two are exactly knocking the door down to get selected.

I appreciate he’s not been in great form himself but he’s an experienced option who must surely end his goal drought soon.

Not a bad shout. Will help out defensively more and without Pring I think we may struggle down that side. 

[downendcity]

17 minutes ago, NcnsBcfc said:

@GrahamC that defensive change of bringing Naismith on and going to a back 5 was completely to offset the defensive mess that Mehmeti created over on the left hand side.

It was his man (Bangera) that he didn't track (again) and caused Pring to take one for the team on the edge of the box (meaning he misses the Southampton game of course).

With the introduction of Naismith, Mehmeti was able to just have to think about going forward (something he is infinitely better at doing) and showed decent pace and close control.

Not sure what sort of formation you would need to accommodate him again. I'm sure Cam would be overjoyed to see him in front of him again.  

 

4-3-4! 

[Davefevs]

53 minutes ago, NcnsBcfc said:

@GrahamC that defensive change of bringing Naismith on and going to a back 5 was completely to offset the defensive mess that Mehmeti created over on the left hand side.

It was his man (Bangera) that he didn't track (again) and caused Pring to take one for the team on the edge of the box (meaning he misses the Southampton game of course).

With the introduction of Naismith, Mehmeti was able to just have to think about going forward (something he is infinitely better at doing) and showed decent pace and close control.

Not sure what sort of formation you would need to accommodate him again. I'm sure Cam would be overjoyed to see him in front of him again.  

 

Boro might deserve some credit for the changes they made too.

(FWIW Bangera was the LB sub for Engel, but you are forgiven because Downsy cocked up the announcement. )

It was Silvera who came on at RW, but they also swapped Jones to RB with Van Der Berg coming off too.  Two really attacking players down our right from that point.

Bit harsh imho to blame it all on Mehmeti, because their right side was a threat all first half too!

Our first half the trio of Bell, Pring and Dickie struggled with Crooks clever positioning, allowing Jones good opportunities - just that Pring defended him very well.  So our left side was a bit messy all game.

As you sit in the Dolman, you probably saw at first hand second half, what I saw all first half from the Williams Stand!

Can Bell get a bit closer to Van Der Berg so that when the ball is shifted right along Boro’s back-line, he doesn’t have an easy pass to either Crooks or Jones.  Dickie and Pring caught between going tight and dropping off.

Stuff to work on undoubtedly…but for several players.