Warburton may have his faults, but I'd much rather watch this team than pretty much any team we've had for the last ten years under these charlatans.... Hughes Redknapp Ramsey Hasselbaink McClaren Even though we had a pretty good window in the summer, Warburton is still hamstrung by the clubs finances and is making as good a job as he can, especially considering the injuries to key players. We're punching above our weight, we're a mid-table team on a mid-table budget and he's got us fighting it out in the top half of the table. We're never going to be able to compete with the relegated teams over the full season, especially with the funding they have, but there's always that outside chance in the play-offs.
Not sure Ramsey deserves to be included in that list........... thrown in at the deep end when kneecap walked....... an ozymoron I know!!!!!! It was interesting listening to the ESPN commentator last night when he said that we were punching above our weight as on budget we're a mid table size club....... and then he lost me when he added "like Brentford last season".......... except Brentford spent £10m on Toney........ research eh? We've done well to be 7th as we've had a fairly lengthy injury list and I don't think that Warbles has been able to pick his true full strength side yet....... playing 4 at the back doesn't really suit us, pick 4 from Moses, Kakay, Dickie, De Wijs, Dunne, Wallace, McCullam, Barbet...... If you do that and play 2 up top who do you sacrifice from the midfield...... Chair, Willock, Amos, Dozzell, Johansen, Ball........ and where do you fit Uncs? For me 3511(2) suits us and will suit us better when Wallace and Field are available again..... Johansen looked a lot better last night further forward and Lyndon is the better target man than both Chaz and Gray who will be more than useful to come on against tiring defenses.......
The great Arrigo Sacchi has a book out called The Immortals, about his work creating the great AC Milan team of the late 80s and early 90s, and the tactics he introduced in the process, through training including ‘the cage’ a tight entirely enclosed area where the ball never goes out of play and where they played short high intensity 3 plus a keeper per side games to develop the very high pressing style, on the grounds that if you start defending at the oppositions box and win the ball you are more likely to score. If the players came out of the cage with a heart rate of less than 160 they had to do extra fitness training without the ball. His tactics did all right, even though the players , including Van Basten who’s role changed dramatically to become the ‘trigger’ for the press, Baresi and Costacurta, initially thought he was mad and would be sacked after a couple of months. For us, with this insane league, three games every 8 days, inevitable injuries and exhaustion, I don’t know how any actual coaching can happen, let alone serious introduction of new formations and tactics which are properly understood, practiced and drilled.
These were our transfers in during the 2010-11 season, with a total outlay of 5.39 million ! So many loan signings and free transfers, and many who hardly featured at all. This squad truly punched above its weight but had many astute signings in it who were key components in the side. Obviously the Taarabt signing was a master stroke but frees such as Hill and Derry were just as important. Seeing as we've spent around the same amount so far in the market with January still to come , do we really feel that we are punching above our weight ? On paper our current squad looks on a par with that one apart from tge genius of Taarabt. Was it down to Warnock galvanising the squad , or superior tactics to Warburton ? So many of that squad went to another level that season, and quite a few of them had a point to prove. Have we made the most of our loan signings and do we think that we can find any gems in the January window ? Personally I don't think this squad should struggle to get top 6, budgets can be misleading. Obviously the top 3 have bigger budgets by far but outside of them it's too easy to use it as an excuse. Blackpool and Luton surely have smaller budgets than us but belief and tactical nous can take you a long way !
I still suspect 3 at the back suits us best. But you can fit Chair, Willock and Adomah in together whilst playing a back 4. Play the three of them behind Dykes, with two holding behind them. You do then lose Johansen from getting further forward, where he's clearly better. Always a trade off somewhere I suppose.
I'm sorry you took it that way. It wasn't meant to be snidey. If I misunderstood your original post I apologise.
I think we may have all got a tad excited (myself included) pre season regarding player aquisitions and pre season friendlies. I think, this is the first season in many a year that we have shown a slight bit of ambition to actually aim for a top 6 finish and i applaud the club for doing so. Only time will tell if its possible or not. As for tactics, i agrer with Cols analysis and selection. Somewhere, something/someone has to be sacrificed but thats what management is all about, getting the best out of your players in the selected formation. For me, Johanson is more effective in a role further up the pitch, to accomodate that then the knock on effect is having to maybe play 2 behind him so the sacrifice is Chair or Willock. Both these 2 are our most creative players so in my opinion they shouldnt be dropped. From what ive witnessed, Dykes is our best option as a lone striker so the forward line of Chair, Willock and Dykes is our most potent attacking threat. Its what comes behind them is our real issue. A fully fit Wallace on the left and Uncle/odebajo on the right. A fully fit Amos and Field sitting in midfield. My sacrifice has been Johanson as much as i hate to say it. Infact im struggling to get it around my head. He is best competing for Chair and Willocks position. In playing style, im sick of this passing short from Dieng to Jordi, to Barbet only for the ball to go back to Dieng to pump it up field. Is Dieng our new play maker?? And all the time, the pitch is wide open as we are no further forward than our 18 yard box! I remember Paul Scholes once saying " why the **** am i passing the ball back to Neville? What can he do with it that i cant?" Sometimes we play the obvious, easy pass, which is fine, but if we dont do it at speed with the necessary movement post pass then it becomes predictable and easy to press against. Movement is key! When we start Ball and Johanson, their movement is minimal in deeper positions. I like Warburton and think hes the right man for the job at the moment. The way we set up and the players we select will always make it difficult to control game management. As silly as it sounds, 2 up top might be best suited in a game management environment when trying to hold a lead or gain a point.
Our best part of play on Tuesday came after we changed from 3 at the back to a flat back 4. NOW...I am not suggesting that we play a flat back 4, far from it. We seem much better with 3 at the back, but the shift in play shows Warburton and the team do have a fluidity about them. There is a plan B. Tactics of that sort are not our problem To me the problem is the speed inherent in the team. Our 4 CDs are slow, Barbet being the fastest at recovery, but still not baseline fast. Of our defensive midfielders Ball is slow, Dozzell seems quicker...not sure about Field, who seems big and strong. Johansen is slow, but makes up for it with his brain. Chair is tricky but not fast, Willock the same at the moment... Our forwards are not fast either. Gray was bought for speed and strength and I have only seen it once against WBA So it is down to our wingbacks. I think McCallum has now left the equation....so we are down to Adomeh (tricky, fast-ish), Moses (perhaps, sometimes), Kakay (yes but error prone) and Wallace (no but clever). We have quickness of thought but no speed in the team. We are missing BOS (no I am not suggesting we kept him, heaven forbid...) but we have not replaced him. If we had a player with speed and a fast DCM or CD...we would be a different kettle of fish all together. PS. I read somewhere that Field has been used as a CD. I was wondering how a back three of Barbet, Field, Dickie with Dozzell in front would work
Don’t worry mate … I’m pretty thick skinned in my old age Just all proves that when you add everybody’s views, MW has a very difficult job and he just has to make the decisions that he feels are the best at the time. Rather him than that long list of previous managers put up earlier!
Drives me to distraction too and the success rate of keeping the ball from a Dieng kick upfield must be extremely low from what I’ve seen. It’s good to see Dickie take the ball forward when the opportunity arises, a little Glen Roederesque, he’s capable and it would be good to see the middle of the field be more aware of creating space for him to do that with their movement off the ball. He does create a threat at times. On the rest of your post, I couldn’t agree more. Though Johansen did look good further upfield on Friday. MW is definitely the right man at the moment. We are progressing as a team, as individuals and as a club, so we shouldn’t complain from that front.
I don't mind Dieng kicking long once in a while. It's good to mix things up a little whilst remaining focused mainly on playing out. Dykes wins a lot of headers, but it's pointless if he's up on his own. I'd like to see us play two up top more often, but unfortunately we just don't have the personnel. Austin is too immobile and Gray is useless. I'd love to see Nahki Wells back.
Sorry, but no way are we anywhere near that team. Our defence that season was tight, 24 clean sheets. Faurlin was a cut above anything we have now and Adel was unreal. The formation and tactics were spot-on most of the time. We are nowhere near the consistency that the top 3 show and injuries, suspensions and tactical naivety is costing us too many points. I, like many others on here, was fooled by an excellent pre-season, the reality is without proper squad depth we are struggling and will doubtless have hot and cold runs as the season progresses. I hope we make the play-offs but doubt we are anywhere near ready for the step up...
This is my point though, 24 clean sheets without in my eyes any outstanding centre backs ! They were all useful yes in this league but I wouldn't say they were outstanding individually. We brought in Clint at left back and Derry to shield them. What Warnock did was mould them into an excellent defensive unit, something Warburton is clearly unable to do. Most of that back 4 or 5 played in nearly every game, the recruitment was top class whereas its chop and change every game now with players either not good enough or too injury prone. The wing back acquisitions were simply not good enough , Wallace is still the best we have but has dodgy hamstrings , something we knew pre season .
This thread is a great idea and is a clear sign of “concern” over our form and results. Although I personally like the 4-2-3-1 formation, I would stick with the three centre backs system as it works. We tend to get get over run in midfield when we play two strikers, so would stick with one. Thus we have a 3-5-1 formation (or 3-2-3-1). I generally prefer our style when we press high and attack on the break, rather than maintain possession. Probably as we tend to lose the ball and are open to the counter attack. With the 3-5-1 formation the width is provided by the wingbacks who also have to defend the channels. Here we have limited success but Albert shows us what us possible when played well. My thoughts are to play this 3-5-1 system for the majority of the games, but to potentially consider a 4-2-3-1 foe when we want to be more defensive. The issue here is who will be the full backs and who will give us the width in attacks.
