Traditional 4 4 2 relies on a forward line of a traditional. No9 and a traditional no10 with 2 traditional wingers which waste half their time drifting in and out of games. The 'front 3' relies on a traditional No9 with more his back to goal but pressed forward has 2 no 10s left and right of him depending on the balance of play. Out of possession the wide forwards drop back and occupy the opposition full backs and in theory it's a more efficient system. Our 3 top scorers our our main two wide forwards and our main No9, with our 2nd choice no 9 getting his goals pro rata in terms of matches played, so the forward line in the system is doing what it's bloody well supposed to IMHO. We're missing goals from midfield, we're missing goals from corners and set pieces from centre halves. How many direct free kicks do we score? By singling out the forward line, and the system - which is doing what it's supposed to, for lack of goals when we're one of the highest scorers in the league is just gonna destroy the confidence of the 19 and 21 year old top goalscorers we have, and ultimately you p!ss on our bonfire by playing a reactionary blame game. But go right ahead. And when your p!ss filled glass-half-empty self-fulfilling prophecies realise themselves you can have the pleasure of telling all of us 'told you so'..... So if that's what you want from life then carry on. Plenty of City fans have over the years. Never thought they'd see City where we've been, and funnily enough, most died before they did. So fill yer boots lads.
At no point did I mention that I think he should be dropped or say that I have lost faith in him. Quite the opposite. The lad has pure natural talent, and even through this bad patch is still head and shoulders above many others in the squad and on the field - he just needs to be given the freedom to express those talents and gain back that youthful enthusiasm, instead of putting pressure on himself.
He's better on the wing. He did play next to just as a 2 for a lot of tonight though. So the manager has already suggested what you're belatedly suggesting, and then blaming the manager for it not quite coming off tonight.
No but you're blaming the manager for playing him in the role he's most comfortable with, and statistically most effective in Don't change him. Just back the lad and cut him some slack.
Tonight we played 4-4-2 but for the most part this season we’ve played a front three with, according to McCann, a joint responsibility for goal scoring.
4-4-2 4-3-3 3-5-2 Who gives a toss what formation it is. Football nowadays is attempting to stop the other team scoring rather than scoring yourself. Football used to be fun. 5 forwards numbered 7 to 11. 5 defenders numbered 2 to 6. 1 goalie and 1 sub. Ah the good old days. Time for bed me thinks.
How many are you expecting from midfield? Our last two goals have come from Docherty, who now has 4. Honeyman has 3 and god knows how many assists. We lost Adelakun, who had 3 and if you count them as midfielders, Whyte has one and Samuelsen had 2. Burke has 3, which for a centre half isn't bad going. The majority of our goals have come from a combination of Wilks, KLP and Magennis, so if they aren't firing, there's a problem. We don't score many direct free kicks because we don't win many, our wide players stay wide, so if they get fouled, it's usually in a position where a shooting chance can't be fathomed. There's a noticeable lack of penalties because we don't spend an awful lot of time with the ball in the box. I can only recall one won from open play, which has to be one of the lowest in the entire Football League. The issue is that our game plan is to just pound crosses into the box to our target man. But because we only play with one striker, two big centre halves are almost always going to win that battle, so getting chances is going to be difficult. We don't counter quick enough, so threading through balls doesn't happen nearly as often as it should either. Out of possession, yeah, the forwards are SUPPOSED to drop back, but they don't always do that. And when they do, they don't get back into position quick enough, which means that our furthest player forward has to cut inside, hold up the ball and give the opposition time to get back again. It's just too slow and predictable. You saw it against Burton and against Swindon earlier in the season; if we can't break teams down, we just end up going side to side and nothing happens. Eventually the ball gets lumped long and Magennis normally takes a donkey touch and loses out. Or, he gets outnumbered and tackled. Is that Grant's fault? No, not all of it, but the system is and when you're playing a central midfielder as a winger (a CM who happens to be one of the most talented lads in the squad), don't be shocked when the system breaks down as your player resorts to their natural instincts and drifts inside. We're near the top because we've got a quality team, but also because the standard in this league is ****ing garbage. The fact we've got this far playing like we have is more because they suck, it isn't because we're amazing. We have the potential to be brilliant, but we've had more average performances than brilliant ones and average doesn't get you promoted. You need a Portsmouth standard performance for at least 80% of the games over a season. We've matched that performance maybe three times overall. I don't care for blind optimism, faith or any of that nonsense. I look at how the team performs, how other teams perform and I make a judgement based on that. They don't get a break just because they're my team, they get scrutinised like any other team I'm watching would. That frankness annoys people but personally I couldn't care less.
You think you know better than the manager, then the manager does what you're suggesting, and it doesn't come off, and he's wrong for doing it. It's hilarious - or woul be if it didn't undermine the club. I usually agree with burnsy, but I thought he got it wrong tonight. We were the better side against the top club and the reaction was like we'd been hammered by a pub team
Havent they scored? Where else have the goals to put us towards the top of the scoring tree come from? 3 from George, 3 from doc in over half a season. Where else? Then the fans and media crucify the forwards for not scoring enough and you wonder why they go off the boil.... Hmm, I wonder...?!?!?!!
Agreed re your assessment of the game and no you're not being negative. The aim is to win matches and that usually happens by hitting the target. The last 180 minutes we have not done that. I'm doing 4-4-2 today. 4 meals,. 4 cups of tea and 2 glasses of water. UTT
Is your keyboard broken or have you been drinking? Your gibberish makes little sense. I’d suggest you keep away from the keyboard whilst under the influence.
Did it hit the underside of the bar/post or outside.... AND even if it had gone in, do you not think Lincoln would have come at us more.....
As all these experts on here only had the same view as me, on the telly, could I hellas like work out the formation so maybe that’s the problem? by now in the season all the little glitches should be worked out and the team used to each other and be able to adapt to other teams aand their own formations. We look all over the shop especially when we lose the ball. hopefullyvwe will turn it round but it feels like it’s slipping away from us. my lad was saying cotterill at the shrew has won 7 drawn 3 and lost 1 since he came in. He’s a poor manager but a well organised drill coach. Same as Appleton is. That’s what we appear to lack.
I honestly can’t understand the confusion on the teams formation last night! To me it was fairly obvious, forgive me if I’m teaching hardened football fans to suck eggs but, surely we played the old one in goal and ten outfield!!! Think the tactics could be this basic too.
