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Sykes: Why was he on the left?


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In the first half of the season Sykes was one of our best players running down the right. He was creative and set up chances. He has great cross on him and can link up well with other players. Overall a very tidy player. 

Why was he on the left yesterday?

Dont think he looked anywhere near as comfortable and we didnt even try him on the right at any point. 

Surely Manning has seen loads of footage from our earlier games in the season? I wouldnt mind if we had salah on the right wing and sykes was doing a job for the team, however creativity and quality (something sykes has shown he has on the right ) is literally the thing we are missing at the moment. 

Am I alone in by befuzzlement?

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That's Manningball. He likes his wide men to play on opposite sides so they can cut in and be more dangerous. It also allows the one forward to . .  . er take a pass at 100mph or receive any pass with his back to goal. 

It also means that the said wide player carries the ball with his favoured foot on the INSIDE making it easier for the opposition to tackle. That's clever and no opposition coach would pick up on that.

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7 minutes ago, The Humble Realist said:

In the first half of the season Sykes was one of our best players running down the right. He was creative and set up chances. He has great cross on him and can link up well with other players. Overall a very tidy player. 

Why was he on the left yesterday?

Dont think he looked anywhere near as comfortable and we didnt even try him on the right at any point. 

Surely Manning has seen loads of footage from our earlier games in the season? I wouldnt mind if we had salah on the right wing and sykes was doing a job for the team, however creativity and quality (something sykes has shown he has on the right ) is literally the thing we are missing at the moment. 

Am I alone in by befuzzlement?

No you’re not alone !

If you asked any fan who’s watched enough games to tell you the position Sykes has played his best football and been most effective then they’d tell you it’s wide on the right.

This is yet another example of square pegs in round holes and not making the most effective use of the squad that is available 

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At times yesterday, you could have bought the lines in 10 yards either side and it wouldn’t have affected play.

Keeping Sykes on the left for 80mins is just trying to be clever when all Manning has done is make himself look stupid.

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If it was the first time I could understand it, but he played him there a while back and it didn't work then either.
Add , why is Knight playing as a 10? why are Conway and Wells sharing a lone striker role ? 

Manning has some strange ideas . I don't like , but understand some like wingers playing on the 'wrong' side. But Sykes has proved over a couple of years how effective he is on the right. Mehmeti has mostly played on the left too so it makes even less sense swapping them. 

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Sykes is best when directly running at defenders creating either chances for himself or others achieved by taking the ball and running on his strongest foot

Yesterday he got into great positions but was constantly having to come inside which became very obvious very quickly

For me he played really well within the constraints put upon him but yet again the decision hampered his strengths and performance 

Rather than bringing on ineffective workshy Mehmeti, why not push Cam into Sykes position and move him to the right

Perhaps it was about Sykes managing minutes returning from injury, that’s about the only reason I’d accept 

 

Edited by Ashton Fete
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Think he played him on the left because he didn't think him and Mcrorie would work.  He is a great player in front of Tanner for sure but Mcrorie leaves the Right back position to overlap, so, I guess  Manning wants someone at right mid  whose first instinct is to come inside.

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Just now, Ashton Fete said:

Sykes is best when directly running at defenders creating either chances for himself or others achieved by taking the ball and running on his strongest foot

Yesterday he got into great positions but was constantly having to come inside which became very obvious very quickly

For me he played really well within the constraints put upon him but yet again the decision hampered his strengths and performance 

Rather than bringing on ineffective workshy Mehmeti, why not push Cam into Sykes position and move him to the right

Perhaps it was about Sykes managing minutes returning from injury, that’s about the only reason I’d accept 

 

I agree. There was one play where we broke quickly and the ball found its way to Sykes corner edge of box  if he had a left foot he had all the time to find his spot...he doesn't so came back inside on his right, which allowed the defender to close him down. Second half brings Anis on, and continues to play Sykes on the left, baffling. 

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3 minutes ago, The Bard said:

Think he played him on the left because he didn't think him and Mcrorie would work.  He is a great player in front of Tanner for sure but Mcrorie leaves the Right back position to overlap, so, I guess  Manning wants someone at right mid  whose first instinct is to come inside.

Quite often McCrorie comes inside though.

I think if he did that and Sykes kept the width on the right then that wouldn’t be an issue.

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Why was Sykes on the pitch is the better question; a shell of his former self and clearly nowhere near fit.

It was not just a switch of sides; he couldn’t control a solid fart and that burst of pace we are used to seeing was sloth like

 

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3 minutes ago, asfred said:

I agree. There was one play where we broke quickly and the ball found its way to Sykes corner edge of box  if he had a left foot he had all the time to find his spot...he doesn't so came back inside on his right, which allowed the defender to close him down. Second half brings Anis on, and continues to play Sykes on the left, baffling. 

In all fairness in that situation Mehmeti would have come inside on his right foot as well.

Its all he ever does 

 

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32 minutes ago, The Humble Realist said:

In the first half of the season Sykes was one of our best players running down the right. He was creative and set up chances. He has great cross on him and can link up well with other players. Overall a very tidy player. 

Why was he on the left yesterday?

Dont think he looked anywhere near as comfortable and we didnt even try him on the right at any point. 

Surely Manning has seen loads of footage from our earlier games in the season? I wouldnt mind if we had salah on the right wing and sykes was doing a job for the team, however creativity and quality (something sykes has shown he has on the right ) is literally the thing we are missing at the moment. 

Am I alone in by befuzzlement?

Because Manning is clueless and doesn’t know how to play the game simply. Honestly he makes LJ look like Pep. 

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1 minute ago, Loosey Boy said:

The decision to have him playing on the left became even more bizarre when Mehmeti was brought on……

Talk about playing people in their best positions!

I thought that was odd too. First half I could understand to a point: limited options with Bell out. But when Mehmeti came on I assumed they’d switch. 

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24 minutes ago, The Bard said:

Think he played him on the left because he didn't think him and Mcrorie would work.  He is a great player in front of Tanner for sure but Mcrorie leaves the Right back position to overlap, so, I guess  Manning wants someone at right mid  whose first instinct is to come inside.

That's part of the problem. Mcrorie is a solid RB. I don't see him as a rwb. He just doesn't look comfortable going forward. Yesterday was so weird, with TGH right midfield, not knowing if he should go out wide or stay inside, Mcrorie with space in front but no cover behind.

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52 minutes ago, Swede said:

That's Manningball. He likes his wide men to play on opposite sides so they can cut in and be more dangerous. It also allows the one forward to . .  . er take a pass at 100mph or receive any pass with his back to goal. 

It also means that the said wide player carries the ball with his favoured foot on the INSIDE making it easier for the opposition to tackle. That's clever and no opposition coach would pick up on that.

He likes to set up his teams and then not react to player performance, opposition, etc.

Fixed! 😉

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54 minutes ago, Swede said:

That's Manningball. He likes his wide men to play on opposite sides so they can cut in and be more dangerous. It also allows the one forward to . .  . er take a pass at 100mph or receive any pass with his back to goal. 

It also means that the said wide player carries the ball with his favoured foot on the INSIDE making it easier for the opposition to tackle. That's clever and no opposition coach would pick up on that.

😁👍

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1 hour ago, The Bard said:

Think he played him on the left because he didn't think him and Mcrorie would work.  He is a great player in front of Tanner for sure but Mcrorie leaves the Right back position to overlap, so, I guess  Manning wants someone at right mid  whose first instinct is to come inside.

I presume it was something like that plus I suspect Taylor is more comfortable on the right. Was hoping and expecting that Sykes would switch to the right when Anis came on though.

Edited by eardun
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Sykes is best on the right, as shown when we were set up by the previous manager to counter attack and whip balls into the box for a goalscorer, i.e. Tommy. 

We are no longer set up to suit many of the players strengths, but Sykes is still more effective on the right.

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There will be somebody smarter than me to explain it. But we were lopsided weren't we? 

Sykes was left wing/left forward, Knight central behind Wells with nobody on the right. TGH was right of a midfield 3 but nowhere near as high as Sykes and way more central. Worst I've seen TGH, he looked confused, like a few of them.

The irony is, it's LJ-like in that as soon as you give these 'modern' young coaches time to coach, the performance suffers and players look confused.

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Is it "character" building to coach every player to head for the most congested areas of the pitch rather than look up and see the left or right areas which have acres of space to run into?  This might explain why Mehmeti runs two yards then tries to run through half the opposing players.

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One of the major faults of Manning is he has come and tried to change the team straight away with both positions and style.

A decent manager/head coach would look at what he has and would try to implement he's ideas over time, gradually changing the ethos and tactics over a time scale.

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10 minutes ago, M.D said:

One of the major faults of Manning is he has come and tried to change the team straight away with both positions and style.

A decent manager/head coach would look at what he has and would try to implement he's ideas over time, gradually changing the ethos and tactics over a time scale.

is this him or tinnion asking him to do it.

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4 hours ago, Loosey Boy said:

The decision to have him playing on the left became even more bizarre when Mehmeti was brought on……

Talk about playing people in their best positions!

One of the poorest buys in recent years.

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