Id play this team. Jones to add a little bit more width and pace to the right. Bangura to do the same to the left. This will allow Forss and Silvera to move inside more. 

O’Brien could be the the dedicated sitter and allow McGree and Hackney to play centrally, create and roam around and link up. This would also allow us two options to switch play to when in possession further up the pitch. 

Edited September 18, 20232 yr by ManBearPig

Over to you Mr Carrick ,are you once again going to pick round pegs in square holes in a formation that clearly only works in your own head. If you pick Crooks and Howson again to mainly stand around admiring the people running past them then I think you are sticking the proverbial two fingers up to the club. I predict a 0-0 and a borefest on Sky and yes you are right I have lost belief and patience, I could pick and coach a team with this squad of players who would have more discipline and fight it is frankly embarrassing. Thank you for reading this I feel better now 😀

if he's gonna stick with the number 10 system, would like to see greenwood get a go, in the unders he looked to be prolific in the role when you see the numbers he did

 

It won’t happen but as I said yesterday I’d love to see this. 
 

1) Extra CB

2) Solves weak full back areas

3) Free’s McGree

4) LL + Forss

5) No Crooks, Howson, Smith etc

2 minutes ago, DevKWat said:

It won’t happen but as I said yesterday I’d love to see this. 
 

1) Extra CB

2) Solves weak full back areas

3) Free’s McGree

4) LL + Forss

5) No Crooks, Howson, Smith etc

Quite like that as well as the 4-3-3 option. 

If he changes nothing to address our soft centre then I don't see how there's a way forward tbh.

22 minutes ago, pikerman said:

Over to you Mr Carrick ,are you once again going to pick round pegs in square holes in a formation that clearly only works in your own head. If you pick Crooks and Howson again to mainly stand around admiring the people running past them then I think you are sticking the proverbial two fingers up to the club. I predict a 0-0 and a borefest on Sky and yes you are right I have lost belief and patience, I could pick and coach a team with this squad of players who would have more discipline and fight it is frankly embarrassing. Thank you for reading this I feel better now 😀

You really think we can keep a clean sheet? I don't.

Bizarrely I feel totally indifferent to tomorrow nights game. Normally I'd have a little bit of excitement looking forward to the game and thinking about tactics, line ups etc. and as the KO got nearer the adrenalin would start building. I just have a feeling of "whatever", resigned to ridiculous team selection and tactics that see us flat as a wet one for the first 25, 35 minutes and conceding from a 20 yard unmarked shot outside the box while Howson ambles back and our defence parts like a Hollywood C list actress.

There is the faint hope that tomorrow night is Carrick's Damascene moment, his Renaissance, but I doubt it. I suppose equally there is the hope that the Owls are even worse than we are and that even ELL or Silvera can hit something 8 yards wide by 8 feet tall. Failing that I guess we will just have to hope that Crooks scores again because let's face it there is little chance of anyone else managing that feat.

Talking Points

-        Talking of points, will we ever get any ever again?

Not while we keep on doing what we have been doing

-        Why do so many teams have animals in their badges? Animals can’t even play football.

Nor can we so Roary at LW it is then

-        Will Mcgree start?

Can but dream!

-        Do you agree with Michael Carrick that our performances haven’t been that bad?

In a word, No!

-        At least Leeds aren’t doing very well eh?!

Glass houses and all that stuff, neither are Southampton of late but we can help them fix that 😞

Edited September 18, 20232 yr by Redcar Rioja

7 minutes ago, Borodane said:

You really think we can keep a clean sheet? I don't.

Good point BD, a 1-1 draw then by the virtue of two own goals

 

12 minutes ago, DevKWat said:

It won’t happen but as I said yesterday I’d love to see this. 
 

1) Extra CB

2) Solves weak full back areas

3) Free’s McGree

4) LL + Forss

5) No Crooks, Howson, Smith etc

I'd love that but I'd also love a Maserati and a Penthouse in Vegas and unfortunately I know which is more likely!

Roll on Vegas 😁

24 minutes ago, DevKWat said:

It won’t happen but as I said yesterday I’d love to see this. 
 

1) Extra CB

2) Solves weak full back areas

3) Free’s McGree

4) LL + Forss

5) No Crooks, Howson, Smith etc

That's what I would go with however would swap Latte Lath for Coburn 

actually scored 4 but still shows where our problems mostly lie. We are creating chances, and good chances at that, at a very high rate but we aren't taking them. And we're conceding far more goals compared to the rate of chances were conceding. 

I know people hate these xg stats, and I don't think they tell the full story either -but these are really unusually far off what you normally see. We're basically a complete anomaly right now 

 

13 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

actually scored 4 but still shows where our problems mostly lie. We are creating chances, and good chances at that, at a very high rate but we aren't taking them. And we're conceding far more goals compared to the rate of chances were conceding. 

I know people hate these xg stats, and I don't think they tell the full story either -but these are really unusually far off what you normally see. We're basically a complete anomaly right now 

 

They tell us exactly what we see happening. The xG stats are based on averages for teams at our level so if we are doing worse than the xG numbers it shows that our players in the real world are performing worse than average.

Our finishing is abysmal. There are non league teams who would have scored more goals from the chances we created. Defensively we are also appalling. We're giving up a fair number of chances but you would still expect us only to concede around half the number of goals that we have. That means either that we are slow to close down or react or we making the wrong choices meaning that opponents are finding it much easier to score than they should. 

Although it's only 6 games, the massive difference between average and reality shows that we really are incompetent at both ends. Up front we have had several chances missed by Lath and Silvera which can be explained by the time it takes to adjust to the Championship. You might expect this to improve with experience. At the back though, our defence is virtually unchanged which implies, to me, that either Smith was far more important than given credit for or, the adjustments we have been making to our shape have made us worse.

 

3 minutes ago, Bruce said:

They tell us exactly what we see happening. The xG stats are based on averages for teams at our level so if we are doing worse than the xG numbers it shows that our players in the real world are performing worse than average.

Our finishing is abysmal. There are non league teams who would have scored more goals from the chances we created. Defensively we are also appalling. We're giving up a fair number of chances but you would still expect us only to concede around half the number of goals that we have. That means either that we are slow to close down or react or we making the wrong choices meaning that opponents are finding it much easier to score than they should. 

Although it's only 6 games, the massive difference between average and reality shows that we really are incompetent at both ends. Up front we have had several chances missed by Lath and Silvera which can be explained by the time it takes to adjust to the Championship. You might expect this to improve with experience. At the back though, our defence is virtually unchanged which implies, to me, that either Smith was far more important than given credit for or, the adjustments we have been making to our shape have made us worse.

 

This is an interesting topic, because honestly other than the Blackburn game I really don't think we were giving up too many chances, at least quantity wise.

The problem was two fold in my view - we were either gifting the opposition an easy chance inside the box through sloppy play and marking or we weren't closing players down quick enough on the edge of the box. A third of our goals conceded have been from outside the box which has to be way higher than average. That doesn't happen by accident and if you look at the last couple of games, I think opposition have clued into this and are taking lots of shots from outside the box. Without looking at the goals, I think we've conceded a couple from rebounds and recycled play after long shots too. 

I think the latter of the two problems is easier solved than the former and is down to the midfield. We need to work on our press and make it happen quicker than it has been. I understand that we're not a high pressing team which is fine, but there needs to be a balance so we aren't giving opposition free shots from outside the box constantly. 

The firsf problem is more difficult because although tactics are a major contributor to this, I think mentally we are shattered. The confidence is on the floor and this is affecting concentration. Carrick has a huge job on his hands turning that around. 

1 hour ago, Borodane said:

You really think we can keep a clean sheet? I don't.

i enjoyed his prediction, it was the most optimistic negative no hope prediction I have ever seen lol 

10 minutes ago, Bruce said:

Up front we have had several chances missed by Lath and Silvera which can be explained by the time it takes to adjust to the Championship. You might expect this to improve with experience.

The inability to hit a Cow's backside with a Banjo should not be relative to the pace of the Championship. A first touch chip over the Keeper instead of taking two touches would have seen ELL score on Saturday, that's just rank poor finishing. Regards Silvera hitting the ball ten yards wide or over the crossbar is again poor ability and technique indicating that neither are good enough at this level just now. With both it's just basic ball control and decision making being kind.

We bought cheap and then the Club are seemingly surprised that they are way short of where we need them to be. Like the others, they may come good but there needs to be one of them being bedded in, much the same way that Hackney was, not an entire team of them otherwise what you see is what you get.

I would guess that take any four or five of us lot on here and ask us to hit a ball at a goal mouth from ten yards or twenty yards out and we'd hit the target far more times than those two combined. Buying Professional Footballers who you then have to explain how to strike a ball cleanly with various parts of your boot and with how much energy beggars belief at this level. That we seemingly seem incapable of doing that is an even bigger head scratcher, there again not as bad as playing O'Brien wide left.