nunthorpered 1,922 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 goals galore tonight. Wing hatrick Link to post Share on other sites
Borodane 6,301 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 Pears Spence-Fry-Moukoudi-Coulson Howson-Saville-Wing Nmecha-Britt-Fletcher Plenty of pace on the outside with Spence, COulson, Nmecha and Fletcher. And solid in the middle. I really want us to go back to four at the back and with Fry/Moukoudi we should have a decent partnership. McNair was poor on saturday so wouldn't mind dropping him. Let Wigan worry about us and see how that front three can do together. Gestede is atrocious so I don't want him on. We should have enough to beat these, but I think it's going to be a draw. 1-1. Link to post Share on other sites
SmogDane 4,057 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Liquid said: We should win this one, but it's a bizarre league, one that one can never predict. We could do with a run, like a man who's gorged like Genghis Kahn over Christmas. I didn't see the game but from the highlights, it looked like Saville was busy, like a Wall Street hack with 6 arms. Morrison should start for me. He's the answer to our lack of Roberts, like Howdy's, on the corner of Dovecot Street. 3 at the back. I'd throw Spencer's and Morrison's in there, like Teesside Retail Park. Exactly as BD said, Gestede can cause chaos late on, like a bad portion of doner meat from Yarm Lane. Don't credit him for my words 😛 Good post though 😛 1 Link to post Share on other sites
RiseAgainst 3,793 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) 58 minutes ago, AnglianRed said: Personally I get jittery every time the opposition even gets near our 18-yard box. We seem to concede a lot of daft free kicks & commit needless fouls. Exactly this. It's like we've thrown out the defensive effectiveness from the Karanka/Pulis era in our quest to be more adventurous at the other end of the pitch, but now we're neither fish nor fowl. We always look like conceding when the opposition charge at us. Hopefully the return of Ayala and the bedding-in of Moukoudi will help, but when I watched the defensive marking against Brentford, well, I couldn't, cos there wasn't any at times. I daresay Pears still wakes up unable to believe his good fortune that Randolph has left and Meijas had such a mare in the replay against Spurs, but I do feel sorry for him given the lack of defensive support on offer at times. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Duvel 2,446 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 11 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said: Exactly this. It's like we've thrown out the defensive effectiveness from the Karanka/Pulis era in our quest to be more adventurous at the other end of the pitch, but now we're neither fish nor fowl. We always look like conceding when the opposition charge at us. Hopefully the return of Ayala and the bedding-in of Moukoudi will help, but when I watched the defensive marking against Brentford, well, I couldn't, cos there wasn't any at times. I daresay Pears still wakes up unable to believe his good fortune that Randolph has left and Meijas had such a mare in the replay against Spurs, but I do feel sorry for him given the lack of defensive support on offer at times. Are we actually adventurous though? We commit more bodies forward than we did under Pulis but that isn't really saying much. I'm not sure what we are at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites
Borodane 6,301 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 15 minutes ago, Duvel said: Are we actually adventurous though? We commit more bodies forward than we did under Pulis but that isn't really saying much. I'm not sure what we are at the moment. We obviously miss some adventorous players. We looked like we had that when Roberts came in and with Spence and Coulson commiting forward with a bit of speed. But when Roberts broke down we've obviously missed that as we don't really have a player that can take a man on like that and make the opposition take their eyes off our other players. What we need in the summer is to try and find at least 1 player like that at. Reloaning Roberts would be a start and then one more. Watkins get's a lot of goals because Benrahma is so tricky and draws a lot of attention. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
RiseAgainst 3,793 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) 40 minutes ago, Duvel said: Are we actually adventurous though? We commit more bodies forward than we did under Pulis but that isn't really saying much. I'm not sure what we are at the moment. No, we're not adventurous. That's the problem! We set up as if we're going to batter the opposition, and then we dither around playing it sideways. Getting bodies up the pitch is pointless if they're not on the same wavelength, and like you, I don't know what we're trying to achieve tactically. Under Karanka, the players knew each others' games and the system so well, we played almost intuitively as a team. Now there are just players running around a lot and seeing what happens. It's more often an individual moment of flair that achieves something, rather than teamwork. And for that, we've sacrificed the 4+2 defensive unit in favour of endless chopping and changing. Three at the back? Four? Five? Johnson as a wingback? Who knows? The only positives I can take from this lucky-dip approach to tactics and formations are (a) it occasionally works really well, and (b) opposition managers must get migraines trying to figure out what we're going to do. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Liquid 284 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, SmogDane said: Don't credit him for my words 😛 Good post though 😛 Beg your absolute pardon SD!! 😳 What a mistake to make!! Glad you knew what I meant! Too late for a ninja edit! 😅 Edited February 11, 2020 by Liquid 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Borodane 6,301 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 3 minutes ago, Liquid said: Beg my absolute pardon SD!! 😳 What a mistake to make!! Glad you knew what I meant! Too late for a ninja edit! 😅 He gets it all from me anyway. 4 Link to post Share on other sites
wilsoncgp 9,283 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 I completely forgot about Tav when doing my team earlier too. Maybe him for Nmecha but this could be Nmecha's time to put a good performance in, too. Link to post Share on other sites
SmogDane 4,057 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 I am actually pretty excited from early morn' on match days again .. That's a big step up from last season and a half! COME ON BORO! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Changing Times 12,347 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 I've said this before but I'd like to see 4-3-1-2 or a diamond with two up top perhaps. We keep trying to play with wide attacking players when we don't really have them and we are weakening the middle of the park while we're doing it. Nmecha hasn't really done anything since he's been here (other than work hard in fairness to him). Johnson simply lacks quality but again works hard. Fletcher further out wide hasn't tended to work much when we've tried it and Tavernier to me just isn't that type of player albeit we keep playing him there for whatever reason. We'll play one of the usual set ups anyway but it's something different I'd like to see from us. Link to post Share on other sites
wilsoncgp 9,283 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 It's a shame as Roberts actually looked like he was starting to give us some kind of threat out wide, albeit from cutting inside more often than not. Though as per Traore, there's always the worry when you have a one-sided wide threat that the opponent just shifts their entire defence to one side and you don't have the quality on the other side to punish it. I don't mind the idea of a diamond or something akin to that so long as we have someone capable of covering the wings when the full-backs get forward. As soon as Fry and Moukoudi are out defending in the full-back spots, we're in trouble. With the 3 at the back, we at least had the covering centre-back in McNair sweeping up anything in behind but we don't have that with a 4. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
AnglianRed 6,320 Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Duvel said: Are we actually adventurous though? We commit more bodies forward than we did under Pulis but that isn't really saying much. I'm not sure what we are at the moment. The players often give me the impression that they're not sure either. You watch some teams building attacks (or counter attacking) with purpose, where the players know where their team mates will be and where to pass. Then you contrast it with our rather haphazard forays, where one guy will usually try to go it alone, get to the penalty area, then find they have no support, or just one guy who is well marked. So they hit and hope or go sideways / backwards. Sometimes we get it right and play good decisive football, but more usually its the headless chicken stuff. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
SouthernSmoggie 4,242 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Duvel said: Are we actually adventurous though? We commit more bodies forward than we did under Pulis but that isn't really saying much. I'm not sure what we are at the moment. A bit crap...? I don't see any pattern or tactics to our attack. Looking forward to tonight regardless! Will take a flukey win. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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