Match Day Thread Sparta Prague v Southampton Thurs 24th Nov 6pm

We have decent midfielders, but we lack a real game changer....like Mane on a good day. Almost certainly missed Tadic.

 

Not going to call them a pub team. They aren't a great team but they are a team that knows how to play to their strengths.

Our biggest problem is we can't score. This puts so much pressure on our defence they just crumble (basically make a stupid mistake). They must go into each game thinking "I best not **** up as we won't score that many, if any at all", that is a hell of a lot of pressure.

Last night our right hand side was the worst I have ever seen it. All we had was Martina pushing up and doing floating crosses. No one was going over to help him, yet on the left we had Mcqueen and Redmond (at least for the first half).

We badly need at least one striker and a midfielder that can link up defence to attack. I am not talking a Tadic type player, I am talking about a Morgan type player.

I may moan on here during the game but that is just me venting, after it I move on. I am willing to give the board and manager until after Jan, if we haven't sorted out our problems by then they will deserve the negativity directed at them.

 

It's cool we are getting taken over by Chinese gazillionaires and will spend loads in January

 

It's a shame we don't have a "McQueen" on the right ... though Jack Stephens would probably do a better job than Martina.

 

Don't find myself agreeing with much you post Beef,but I think that is pretty much spot on.

 

Quite. I'd be very surprised if he was. But right now, I'm perfectly open to at least giving him a go. If it doesn't work out - and there is very chance that it wouldn't - well then what have we lost?

At the end of the day, we got in wrong in the summer by not bringing another striker in. And that is absolutely not said with hindsight.

 

Not sure about the point you make about the defence making mistakes because our strikers aren't scoring. The strikers not scoring puts a bit more pressure on the team in general in terms of we are in a greater need to perform well after losing games such as hull and sparta Prague. But I doubt the defence will be thinking "the strikers won't score so we can't concede".

But the rest is pretty much spot on. More creativity and firepower upfront is certainly required but also some patience from the fans.

 

Yep, I've been wishing McQueen was right footed since his debut. Can god please stop giving us good LBs, or at least not at the expense of good RBs too.

Personally, when Cedric is either not available or is rested, I'd rather us revert back to Koeman's 5-3-2 formation (or a variation on that), with someone like JWP or PEH playing RWB, than play Martina in a like-for-like swap.

 

Martina was mostly solid during his run in the team while Cedric was injured, this was his worst match so far this season and it harsh to judge him just by it. We know he's not the good enough for our squad, but he's not that bad either. He connects well with Tadić for example, and yesterday he had no one to combine with.

 

Teams think it trust me. I play football for a Sunday league team and have played saturday league. I have also coached under 12's up to u16's as well. If a team isn't scoring it will put more and more pressure on the defence. Even if the players aren't saying it loud I bet at least a few are thinking it.

 

I agree. I bet everyone's heart sank when a goal was conceded. Remember those glory days in the lower leagues when we used to sing 'We're going to score one more goal than you.' We just knew we would score.

 

I have plenty of experience playing too and rarely found that to be the case. The strikers will be under far more pressure because of a lack of goals than the defence.
Either way, it doesn't seem to be making much difference because our defence have been superb this season. The error against Prague was simply because Martina isn't competent rather than he is under pressure.

 

Last night he played exactly the same as vs Inter away. I don't need to elaborate further.

 

Like a mid table Premier League team maybe......

 

Exactly my point

 

All I ever wanted!

 

I never said anything about the strikers not being under pressure. All I did say it is starting to effect our defence. So we basically agree.

 

I agree, it's what we are atm. It's just a shame that we couldn't have kicked on. But then wanting the club to run itself has it's draw backs. It's why I hope we get new investment, either it be by total buy out or by new investment.

 

Have to say that there were many seasons I dreamed of being a comfie midtable team.

 

Couldn't we play Sam McQueen in an attacking left wing position ahead of Bertie?