Time for new players to jel, time for more arrivals, time to up fitness levels, time to work on formation/tactics etc but don't kid yourself - last night was a woeful performance regardless of who it was against.
Before my time, but did we not have a white kit with red shorts???? Sure it was posted on here. Maybe i imagined it, like a mirage during the heat wave.
Thought Elder looked surprisingly good in midfield when he came on... Almost helped us create our first real chance right before the final whistle blew. He was also involved in feeding Smith before he belted it off the side of the field for no apparent reason. I can't imagine for one minute we'll be playing that formation once the squad has been assembled... It's clear we need wingers, and someone to shore things up in front of the defence. I thought Seri actually did a decent job of breaking up play. We expected the front men to do far too much with very little. At the end of the day, we need more players. By the end of the game we were fielding a side a lot weaker than last season's starting XI
I do find it odd that everyone said Shota prefers 4 at the back (4-3-3/4-2-3-1) but he just didn’t have the midfielders for it last season. Well, he’s signed one of last season’s best midfielders in this league and a player capped over 60 times for Turkey. The quality in midfield has improved. Yet he hasn’t even played around with 4 at the back in pre-season so far at all.
I am not so sure we will have a good start, I hope we do, but I think we have to bear in mind most of the new players have played in leagues that play the game generally slower than we do in England. These players have to get to grips with this and get up to speed. This might take a few games, the defensive line initially is going to be important to keep us in games until we start to really gel IMO.
I always assume 4 points from 9 from City's opening three games will do and then the real season is underway. Last season didn't Forest have a terrible start. Later I think they beat Leicester in the cup, and then gobsmackingly they went on to get promotion. At the moment we're nearer the way Forest started last season than the finished article they ended up being, and that doesn't worry me at all. Not to say we will do what they did, but preseason and the first few games are both way too early to panic.
Think that midfield doesn’t offer enough protection to only 4 defenders, 3-4-3 is my pick. Gives the wing back a link up option. 3-5-2 needs a proper 10 in that midfield 3, last night it was 3 players doing similar things and no real link to the front 2
As much as I like the lad, one of our own and all that, he looked what he is, a League One fullback. I'm sure he has a massive heart but it just isn't enough unfortunately. As someone else pointed out, if we're playing 3-5-2 then Fleming and Coyle need to give some attacking width, Fleming tried but Coyle looked panicky to me every time he received the ball. We basically played with a three man midfield and five defenders, that's never going to be condusive to attacking football, and will very quickly frustrate the **** out of Allahyar, Oscar and the fans.
That's probably the most uncontroversial post I've ever seen on here I'm sure somebody will disagree though
Good question. Why the 'secrecy'? Why can't the club and JE just be open about where things are at now?
Shota said he preferred 433 when he came in. I'm surprised we're going with a 3/5 at the back, especially what was said about becoming an exciting, attacking side. Either way I don't think we can really go in with top 10 aspirations if we have only Slater as a ball winning DM and only Coyle at RB/RWB, regardless of preferred formation.
It was a friendly Practicing the playing out from the back to the point of frustration, but it was a friendly... Lots of players 'bedding in', Serie A, looking desperate to impress / wanting the ball and mistake which led to the first goal, though what where others doing. First half we appeared to attack down the 'Coyle' wing with not too much success, second half down the 'Fleming' wing, marginally more successful, and against a 'better' team. Lots of work to do - hopefully comes together, let's not forget where we ended last season, this will not be fixed quickly Silverware we don't care...
