Not enough to make a difference. One game in the Championship last season Eaves and Magennis did end up on the pitch at the same time and caused havoc. We’ve never seen them on the pitch together since, which I’ve always found strange. It’s either one or the other with like for like changes.
I dont have issues with him answering questions he gets asked, liking of posts etc..I simply disagree on some things he says. Quite different to what he's been like
For someone with zero interest, you sure do comment about anything and everything I do. Seems a little strange for someone with no Interest
Ah, well as you seem to have such a short memory. You instigate most of my responses by making ridiculous assertions in some of your comments.
I don't disagree with that as a general point but don't think it was a factor today, or at all this season except maybe Fleetwood when neither were available. Plus if you look at the fact most goals have come from the wide forward players then do you sacrifice one of those for a second central striker? They seem to get plenty of chances in the box too, so I'm not convinced them being too wide to be dangerous is a genuine criticism this season. Last season the 4-3-3 was a problem as we didn't have to quality at the level to play that way. In a lower division its been less of an issue so far. Magennis, KLP and Wilks are all amongst the goals and assists at the minute so changing for changes sake risks disrupting that. I don't see how 2 centrally would have made our forwards sharper finishers today though. We created enough to win comfortably and were done by an unlucky deflection when at the other end ours hit the goal-frame. Every team has those days and lose after playing pretty well.
How about this for a way out theory, and apologies if its been said earlier or before. McCant is tactically inflexible due to whatever reasons, none of them positive. Many of the observations could be pulled straight from last season word for word. In the Championship he got found out after the first few months and couldn't adjust after losing our two best players who were almost totally hiding his deficiencies. He should have gone last season - we all agree on that. This season - he hasn't suddenly miraculously improved. No, it looks like he's got players who on average are of a much higher standard relative to the division they're playing in - eg Wilks ripping it up, more clean sheets etc. However we are playing against lower standard teams on average so our results will naturally improve, which they have. Even if today was somewhat unlucky with posts hit and deflections, overall our players will perform better despite McCant due to both their relative ability standard and the standard of the other teams in this division. We will get found out on tactical adjustments sometimes as he doesn't adjust. If we get out of this division, in the right direction, it will be much more down to the players than any tactical master plan from the Manager.
They’ve generally come from Wilks. Whether they were scored when he was wide or playing up front I don’t know what the split is. You could still play two wingers in a 4-4-2 or use two full backs in 3-5-2/5-3-2. Either way there are certain situations in which 4-3-3 is simply not effective. It would be great to see alternatives used to make sure we are converting or creating better chances that even our attacking players can convert.
I don't disagree with this, he's a league 1 manager, with league 1 players and we're used to a higher standard in recent years, but this is where we are and I don't really see many other league 1 clubs having better players or tactical genius on the touchline. We are where we are
We could play our wide forwards as wingers but they'd have to drop back a bit and then do you limit their opportunities in and around the box? Also, a 75% win ratio suggests 433 has been reasonably effective so far. Whether that continues or not remains to be seen but I'm not buying that, the evidence suggests otherwise at present. We can discuss the merits of 442 v 433 but it doesn't change the fact it wasn't the issue today. It was wayward finishing and a bit of bad luck.
I think we are missing a clinical finisher (at this level) Unfortunately, Magennis is not a natural goal scorer and to me looks like the defender he was in his striking role. Eaves hasn’t had the chance to get a run of games in this division mainly due to injury and/or manager’s selection. KLP is starting most games and is in his breakthrough season so still a tad naive as is to be expected. Wilkes is one of the best goal scorers in this division but too much pressure is being placed on him to get the goals and doesn’t have another striker who can share the goal scoring expectations. The manager is a victim of his own personality where intransigence predominates in his favoured formation of 4-3-3 even when things are not working eg. Fleetwood. Ferguson on the other hand changed his tactics at half time and fortune favoured the brave in the 2nd half with him exploiting our left side. Let’s hope the club can bring in a goal scorer (similar to what Peterborough have done with Clarke-Harris) sooner rather than later to build on a promising start and score more goals than their encouraging performances have deserved.
I don't see why Eaves can't be that once he gets match fit. Magennis is contributing also and gets his fair share of assists. There are goals in this team at this level of you look at past records. If we play like today we'll win more often than not at this level and the number of chances we create will probably batter someone at some point. I noticed the change to exploit our left side but only 1 genuine chance came from it and but for about 10 minutes we adjusted to deal with it for the most part.
**** happens.....you can't go a season in L1 and expect not to lose a few, we weren't at our best today but didn't deserve to lose, they've scored with their only 2 shots on target, one of them a deflection, thought we were a bit wasteful in the last 3rd but other than that can't really criticise, no one played particularly badly today
Agree about our left flank. Certain teams will exploit that until it’s fixed. Other than that we played well today apparently created enough chances to win but...we lost. That’s unlike one or two games prior where we played worse by all accounts yet we took all three points on route to going top of the league apart from Fleetwood ****ing town of course who’s apparent Cup final was too hot for us to handle. Point being in this division there probably won’t be any side streets ahead of anyone else and barring lady luck injuries and a flat tyre most will have good and bad days at the office. The End.
I think magennis and eaves would have more chance of scoring if our crosses into the box actually went anywhere near them We always seem to aim for klp or wilks ****ing ridiculous
Final ball is lacking at times. Something else our illustrious leader identified post match. Elephant in the room however seems to be lack of goals from midfield and centre halves at corners. The number of corners we get surely we should expect 8-10 goals from CB over a season and the likes of Docherty weighing in as well. Honeyman is the only one not in the forward line to score in the league from memory.
Interesting both Fleetwood and Peterborough exploited the left and won. Other teams will exploit this and yet we have a manager who is incapable of fixing it.I agree we need a clinical finisher but that did not seem to be the transfer business.
Honestly I felt we did largely negate that but for perhaps a 10 - 15 minute spell either side of their equaliser. Grunt at least acknowledged it as an issue post match, which is more than he did last season. Let's see what he comes up with.
He saw the left flank exposed at Fleetwood but seems he did nothing about it. City have a good squad for this division but a poor coaching team. If City gain promotion with them in charge they have already demonstrated they are not up to Championship level, even the Allams in their statement only said they were a good League I coaching tem
