Route One Football

[kwoodred]

is anyone else surprised about our recent plan of hoofing the ball long at every opportunity? The Southampton and Wolves games seemed to consist of McCombe hitting 60 yard punts upfield with no real plan.

[DavidNoble]

is anyone else surprised about our recent plan of hoofing the ball long at every opportunity? The Southampton and Wolves games seemed to consist of McCombe hitting 60 yard punts upfield with no real plan.

thats why i believe that if we were to have fontaine and carey in centre back together they are very good defesivley and are good footballers so can get us back to playing passing football. we all love to laugh at palace, sjoke and wooshford for example but in the past months we are playing more and more like that but not many seem to notice.

[MarcusX]

Thats because McCombe is hopeless at passing

Infact i could have dropped "at passing" from the end of that sentence if i was talking about saturdays performance.

Why are we not playing the team that was so successful at the start of the season? We need fontaine back in the middle, though having said that he hasnt been at his best lately

[exiledinwatford]

is anyone else surprised about our recent plan of hoofing the ball long at every opportunity? The Southampton and Wolves games seemed to consist of McCombe hitting 60 yard punts upfield with no real plan.

I think the lads look pretty nervous at the moment. Very difficult to play patient, cultured football when so much is at stake. Sadly I think our only way forward is to play to it and start with Brooks and Deli. It's a shame because we look so much better when the ball is on the deck.

[DAVE MARTINS HAIR]

Also think we have got into the habit of lumping it up to Dele every time which is lazy

To think at certain times this season we played with Byfield up front on his own, which meant we had to move it through midfield and it worked ! As games against Sheff Utd and Soton proved, although at that point Byfield Noble McIndoe Sproule were in form, and Johnson and Elliott were fully fit !!

[Tales From The Front]

It's why we are not creating chances, unfortunately.

How many chances are our strikers missing.....? The answer is not many if any becuase they are not getting the chances. Where as the Super Hero that is Basso is pulling off several quality saves a week at the mo.

Big debate all year about strikers but it's that lack of chances not poor finishing, that's killing us at the moment. Which is surprising becuase the second half at Charlton was some of the best passing and creative football played by a City side. Really need to get back to that to finish the season on a high.

[Riaz]

I too would have played fontaine, because both of their strikers did'nt have aerial ability and both were quick which probabaly suited fonts - not that it made much difference, but as mentioned fonts is probabaly better on the ball.

And the point about hoofball is true. Our play lacked intelligence and creativity, which we hads loads of earlier in the season - definately missing lee johnson - the link between defence and attack

[Somerset Red]

Agree,

With Elliott and Skuse in the middle...you aint going to get much creativity!

Johnson is the player you don't miss......till he isn't there!

[Riaz]

Agree,

With Elliott and Skuse in the middle...you aint going to get much creativity!

Johnson is the player you don't miss......till he isn't there!

Precisely, but don't under-estimate Elliott contribution. The Elliott-Johnson combination is the one that made us sucessful, and although skuse is a decent player, he does not cover the pitch like Elliott and he'll never be as creative as LJ. But skuse is a very good back-up for Elliott.

[Maltshoveller]

Precisely, but don't under-estimate Elliott contribution. The Elliott-Johnson combination is the one that made us sucessful, and although skuse is a decent player, he does not cover the pitch like Elliott and he'll never be as creative as LJ. But skuse is a very good back-up for Elliott.

No it did not!!

Playing 4-5-1 /4-4-1-1 is how we got most of our sucess

[Riaz]

No it did not!!

Playing 4-5-1 /4-4-1-1 is how we got most of our sucess

Yes it did. There may have been another midfield at times (noble/carle) playing behind the front men - depending on the formation, but you cant argue that we've missed Lee Johnson? can you??

[MarcusX]

No it did not!!

Playing 4-5-1 /4-4-1-1 is how we got most of our sucess

And who was the CMs in those games? Elliot and Johnson

Hope you LJ haters are happy, you got what you wanted, Johnsons out of the team.... Its working wonders int it!

Like others have said, we just simply arent creating chances. We can slate our strikers all we want, but i can only actually remember 2/3 chances that Trundle has missed, one was that one on his right foot infront of the atyeo against Colchester.

How many chances do they actually miss? Brooker had one at Cardiff and scored it, but dissallowed. He had one real effort at Norwich at scored it.

I don't think its fair to blame the strikers, although the team as a whole do need to learn to shoot at times.

[dezgimed]

And who was the CMs in those games? Elliot and Johnson

Hope you LJ haters are happy, you got what you wanted, Johnsons out of the team.... Its working wonders int it!

Like others have said, we just simply arent creating chances. We can slate our strikers all we want, but i can only actually remember 2/3 chances that Trundle has missed, one was that one on his right foot infront of the atyeo against Colchester.

How many chances do they actually miss? Brooker had one at Cardiff and scored it, but dissallowed. He had one real effort at Norwich at scored it.

I don't think its fair to blame the strikers, although the team as a whole do need to learn to shoot at times.

Hypothesis: Lee Johnson out of the team = failure.

Rejected.

don't forget the slump in form of our defense/wingmen/Elliotts absence.

[Bristol Boy]

It's not recent and it's nothing to do with Adebola as Saturday proved.

Our best passing display over the last two months was in the second half at Charlton with guess who up front?

[robins72]

Well the last time I saw a win away was at S****horpe and Vasko scored!!!!

[bh red]

how anyone can say we haven't missed LJ is beyond me

[MarcusX]

Hypothesis: Lee Johnson out of the team = failure.

Rejected.

don't forget the slump in form of our defense/wingmen/Elliotts absence.

And you don't think its in anyway related?

McCombes distribution is critisced, which is poor at best anyway, but without LJ noone is collecting the ball deep from the defense. NOONE in that team is taking the match by the b***ocks and taking responsibility.

LJ takes the ball from defense, and 90% finds a pass.

How can you say that the person who puts together the most passes in City shirt each game being missing from the team for a prolonged period has nothing to do with us suddenly losing our passing game???

Our wingmen arent playing well, granted, and yes they should be able to run with the ball, but they are badly missing half decent passes from LJ to run onto. LJ's cheeky chips and clever passes into space were bread and butter for McIndoe to run onto, now he has no supply.

Elliot missing, again has not helped, but he has been a different player without LJ. When he plays with Skuse, skuse holds, and then we have no creativity because Elliots vision is as narrow as ive seen at times.

I'm sorry but to say LJ's absence is not the reason we are suddenly not playing our passing game is just stupid.

[Hicksy-BCFC]

Well the last time I saw a win away was at S****horpe and Vasko scored!!!!

I don't think he scored did he?

I thought he did the most amazing dummy ever seen and Orr's cross flew in the net?

[robins72]

I don't think he scored did he?

I thought he did the most amazing dummy ever seen and Orr's cross flew in the net?

Oh yeah must've been the thorn last night! Good dummy by Vasko though completely confused the keeper

[dezgimed]

I'm sorry but to say LJ's absence is not the reason we are suddenly not playing our passing game is just stupid.

Of course its related, but it isnt simple cause and effect.

There are other factors to take into consideration. We've also played poorly recently when he has been in the team for example.

[MarcusX]

Of course its related, but it isnt simple cause and effect.

There are other factors to take into consideration. We've also played poorly recently when he has been in the team for example.

Yes, we played so poorly first half home to Norwich? Oh no we didnt.

Southampton is different he was far from fully fit and the whole team played poor.

[dezgimed]

Yes, we played so poorly first half home to Norwich? Oh no we didnt.

Southampton is different he was far from fully fit and the whole team played poor.

Um, check the League table, we've lost a few more than one.

[Bristol Boy]

And you don't think its in anyway related?

McCombes distribution is critisced, which is poor at best anyway, but without LJ noone is collecting the ball deep from the defense. NOONE in that team is taking the match by the b***ocks and taking responsibility.

Correct and it doesn't happen enough when LJ IS playing

LJ takes the ball from defense, and 90% finds a pass.

I'l go with 70%

How can you say that the person who puts together the most passes in City shirt each game being missing from the team for a prolonged period has nothing to do with us suddenly losing our passing game???

Probably because it was lost whilst he was playing ala Soton.

Our wingmen arent playing well, granted, and yes they should be able to run with the ball, but they are badly missing half decent passes from LJ to run onto. LJ's cheeky chips and clever passes into space were bread and butter for McIndoe to run onto, now he has no supply.

Then why not play our £600k signing who's a creative, attacking central midfielder?

Elliot missing, again has not helped, but he has been a different player without LJ. When he plays with Skuse, skuse holds, and then we have no creativity because Elliots vision is as narrow as ive seen at times.

Correct and neither is passing a strength of Elliott.

I'm sorry but to say LJ's absence is not the reason we are suddenly not playing our passing game is just stupid.

Regretfully, whilst some of what you say is undoubtedly true, it's far to simplistic to say it's the only or even main reason because there have been numerous occassions when we've whooshed it and showed no creativity when LJ was playing-Leicester & Soton are the two easiest examples.

[tombcfc]

At the start of the season and when we were playing our best football the team was usually something like:

Basso

Orr Carey Fontaine McAlister

Sproule Johnson Elliot McIndoe

Noble

Trundle/Byfield

Wilson sometimes took the right wing place while sproule played alongside the main striker, but that was pretty much the team that impressed us so much early on (check this seasons match reports if you disagree).

Our team more recently has been:

Basso

Orr Carey McCoombe McAlister

Sproule/Murray Elliot/Skuse/Carle/Johnson McIndoe

Brooker/Adebola/Byfield/Trundle

Several differences...

1) lack of Noble in "the hole" (Got injured and hasn't ever got back to full fitness) has meant a formation change

2) Our "good footballing" centre back swapped with our "good in the air" centre back

3) Perhaps most importantly: I had a lot of difficulty assembling the recent team - because it has changed so often with injuries and lack of players form.

If we revert back to that team that worked so well together at the start of the season (including Sproule who has been slated recently), we have a balanced side that should hopefully play good football.

The problem is that Noble seems to lack fitness recently. I say we put him in anyway as if he can find form the last few games he can again become that link between midfield and attack that we have been missing. Noble alongside a fit again midfield partnership of Elliot and Johnson should hopefully see us pick up those valuable points.