Last year, especially when we had Jones or Slater in midfield, they covered these issues and gave us the platform. The midfield isn't working, it's not balanced & Smith looked a little lost. I don't blame him, since he signed he's played all 3 midfield positions. But he's only just come to us and he's been thrown in the deep end.
Boys we ain’t got the quality of some of the sides in this division. That’s a fact. We are absolutely relying on our application. We can’t expect much out of our matches against squads costing 100 million. For me with our players I prefer a 3 - 5 - 2 system. I think we have the players to do this very well. Whatever system we employ we just can’t keep giving away the midfield to quality teams. They will hurt you.
Yep, they'll know we're gonna play 1 big man up top, wingers either side of him and a back four. Same as the majority of teams these days. And we'll know how the opposition is going to play most of the time too. All of that is very normal. Very few managers seem to care at all about keeping the formation a secret. Other clubs tend to stick with the same system too, it's just not an issue. I'm not saying we're not **** by the way, just that the formation thing is a red herring.
If there's one thing I hate about football is the constant talk of formations. Give me the good old days of 5 defenders and 5 attackers. Shirts numbered 1 to 11. On Saturday, Burnley started the game with players wearing 1 to 11. Apparently, this is the first time this has happened in the Premier League for 23 years. Good old Burnley.
O Of course it is because Williams plays as a winger higher up the pitch Emmanuel is more of a rm isn’t he So he adjusted But to go out against Fulham and do that wasn’t good management
I’m not arsed what formation our manager plays but as we played this formation when we were relegated from this division and looked lost doing it. I’m concerned it’s day jar vue all over again. As I’ve said if your players are good enough you can play most formations and be ok. Best will in the world were all hoping for one place above the relegation spots Our team gave up last time playing this formation as they didn’t believe in it in the end. or that’s how it looked. And mcann went three at the back to stop conceding. Bournemouth are coming to town Let’s see what he does against them
I'm not denying Robertson vs Williams shouldn't have been forseen. Half way through the first half it's not so much Williams isn't positionally where he needs to be, more his physical attributes and technical skill set make him easy to pass through. He just gets by-passed.
Watching the game - Yes, in posession. Out of posession he stayed very much in- touch with Coyle being the main difference. That and he's probably City's biggest unit so was less easily brushed off. He plugged a hole and held an attacking line when he could. This was a free hit. We didn't disgrace ourselves. I'd be lying if I didn't think we need a goal and a bit of confidence and cutting edge in the final third though.
I think we'll have a late flurry in the transfer window personally. The last 2 especially have really exposed some failings. We all know about the CB & striker issue but that midfield isn't right. We need another DM with legs (I've said it all summer) & we've also struggled for creativity. I've seen someone on Twitter link us with Jack Byrne on loan. That wouldn't surprise me, he's been a Grant target before & he's doggedly persistent with his targets. Nixon still reckons we're trying to get Slater in too, a similar deal to T Smith I'd imagine. We can get Fleming & McLoughlin out on loan to free up squad places too & Eaves if anyone will take him. I've seen the Donny gaffer has said they're close to someone with a good track record in L1 & are just waiting for the green light. Had a feeling it might be Eaves when I saw it, I'm sure he's free to go once Smith is done.
It’s 6:00am I might write this post and turn my phone off but…. Am I the only one that thinks there’s a few on here that are getting carried away with how good honeyman is at this level? Last time out I don’t remember him been a stand out performer, some on here are making out his return will be like the second coming and he’s the answer to the formation and creativity issues. There’s a chance l1 was his level…..I could be wrong though now…where’s that off button
Add the fact that he has had no pre season. That seems to affect 'high energy' players more than others.
Or how good Slater is. coulndt get in the team most of the season apart from an odd game where he was ****e. even when Smallwood picked up his injury Jones played in cm in his place. Only when burke was injured in the last 6 games and Jones moved back to cb slater came in and had a few decent games. Nothing startling like in a team that was playing well. Yet now it’s like the second coming what his attributes are and how much we need him. But the Sheff u manager in a team that are playing ****e hasn’t looked to him. Bizarre.
I don't think anyone is claiming Honeyman to be the new messiah...More a case of being a missing cog from the well oiled machine that swept all before them last season? We've had a bad break or two in terms of injuries and a red card suspension,better to have Honeyman,Wilks and Moncur available and be able to re-group and see where we're at?.For what it's worth,I see Honeyman as an integral part of our midfield and feel we are missing his work rate and all round contribution. Will he step up to this level? For me,yes,absolutely,why not...
Hi can we at least stop one plan - the Coyle down the wing look up and curl an average pace hopeful cross into the box ffs. Elmo did that for 5 years and we rarely scored from it. Then again most crosses only got 5’ from the floor! Magennis is not Joe Royle or Andy Gray, or Les Ferdinand and against Davies and Jags he had no chance . It just surrenders posession-Coyle had chances against Derby to run on and play a better ball. he needed guys inside of him to help Smallwood won’t be there but Honey would be. No he is not the messiah but his movement should be a help.
I love Honeyman but I agree with this massively. The sooner he’s back the better but is he really going to have that much influence when he comes back? We saw with Wilks how rusty a player can be after missing pre-season. We’ve seen him at this level before and whilst he wasn’t bad, he hardly set the Championship slight. Ditto Slater. It took injuries to two players and shuffling others around for him to get a start in midfield. When he did start, he was solid but wasn’t a stand-out performer in our League One team. Last season, I thought Alfie was the best in that holding midfield role, then Smallwood, then Slater. Slater’s not even a ball-winning holding midfielder anyway. He’s more box-to-box. I think the only reason Grant played him as a holding midfielder was because Smallwood was out and Jones was needed at centre-half when Burke was injured, and he did ‘okay’. Like Chazz said, the fact their new manager doesn’t fancy him at all speaks volumes, given what Sheff Utd fans think of the likes of Norwood and Fleck.
