Evening/Morning all, Letâs get one thing straight⦠We were very poor indeed against Palarse on Friday night; on the rare occasions we got it down and played they couldnât live with us. Sadly for us supporters the players basically cut their own throats by not playing to their strengths and keeping it on the deck. Whyâ¦? Christ (hopefully Chris too) knowsâ¦!! Anyway, onto my main pointâ¦: Palarseâs two wide men Zaha & Bolasie were tremendous throughout and for me highlighted perfectly why Iâve been calling for us to sign (mainly LM because I think Green can do it for us down the right) and deploy two attacking out and out wide men⦠IMHO those two were the difference and effectively won them the game. Two genuine wide men with pace and trickery in abundance hell bent on attacking their fullback. It was great stuff⦠for me thereâs no better sight in football than a quick tricky winger terrorising a fullback⦠although, not so enjoyable when itâs the fullback at my beloved club thatâs getting a new hole ripped for himselfâ¦!! This direct approach in wide areas not only gets fullbacks back peddling faster than an Italian tank, it creates space elsewhere, most significantly in between the two CBâs (where one of the two CBâs are being forced to move out wide to assist their poor colleague). Also, it ought to guarantee a more regular and better quality of service into our front men, who lets be honest were feeding off scraps all night long (when bar the WRONGLY disallowed goal, you GK has your best attempt on target you know thereâs somethingâs gone wrong donât youâ¦?). Having said all that the thing that mystified me most of all was the lack of support our full backs received from our wide men (well two CMâs playing as wide men). IMO Jackson and Pritchard are neither contributing enough offensively or defensively⦠So, what exactly are they doingâ¦? The result against Palarse has in no way shape or form left me despondent, gutted definitely but not despondent at all for our future prospects this season. I still firmly believe that weâll be mixing it at the business end of the table come closing time. I just feel that if we can improve ourselves in this area and get more from our wide men that the sky's the limit. COYR⦠Franco
If D'S and Hollands continue to sit this deep, then 2 out and out wingers should be deployed. Not sure DNG will be the answer, but with Clarke moved on I expect CP to go back for him again this week.
When you got the ball down you destroyed us? Yeah ok if you'd like to think that. We sat back and invited you on last 15 granted, but by then you should of been dead and buried (had bolaise learnt how to shoot!). I think reading the pre match predictions a lot of you lot didn't realise we actually signed 4 half decent players before transfer deadline day. Lucky Moritz didn't start. But I'll let you all go back to your little bubble of bullsh1t now. Bye
You're a odd little Nigel. I think Franco was also referring to the first half, when after the initial 10-15 minutes, we then got in to the game and was playing some nice football. Credit to palace that they started both halves the much better side. It's all to familiar with charlton and slow starts.
... I can only assume he's spending so much time on our board because it's deader than the inside of is skull over on the Palarse one. You expect CP to go back in for who Super...?
Agree 100% Franco. With a proper out and out left winger, our first 11 could easily switch between 433, 451 and 424 during a match. If Hollands and Stephens are playing deep, then the 4 attacking players can be moved around to suit.
Not a great fan of "out and out wingers" unless you have someone who is exceptionally talented for your level, as Zaha was. And we don't have. There is a reason why most top teams and managers don't play with two of them, and many don't use even one. It is because they can be marginalized by your opponents tactics. Even Zaha and Bolassie were much less threatening after CP had issued a few half-time instructions and he is no master tactician. I actually think "narrower" wide players like Jackson and Pritchard are exactly what we should be playing. The problem is not the strategy itself but the fact that those two are simply not good enough. Jackson is not really fit and Pritchard is Div One standard at best. Wagstaff is another who is, in my opinion, exactly the right type (I love his support for and understanding with Solly), but simply not good enough. If we played two "pure" wingers it would certainly be more entertaining, but we might well find ourselves back in Div One after a sequence of "entertaining" 2-2 draws and 2-3 defeats. If you want more goals (and we are the lowest scorers in the division at present) I think a more promising approach is to play three strikers now we have Fuller on board, but then we would need to sign another midfielder who can defend reliably (like Holland but unlike Stephens).
