He's not had the best start yes. I don't believe he was anywhere near as bad as some think yesterday but certainly wasn't great. He is a highly regarded Crystal Palace player that has already had a good spell for Derby in front of Rosies very eyes, Surely that suggests there is far more to come?
But it won’t be coming for us will it and that’s the point instead of dreaming how it would be if we had a mahrez on the wing etc Rosenior uses what we do have we aren’t going down Try something different use tetteh and Oscar together Or Tufan in the middle with two sitting midfield behind him Or three at the back But do something different and have a go create chances play fast attacking football
We're not going up, and unless we have a mind melt we won't be going down, now is the time to mix a few things up, I agree with Chaz in as much as we need to try something different, have a go with Tetteh and Oscar up front, give our one available creative player Tufan a chance to shine with cover in behind him. It's all a bit of a muchness at the minute. I accept injuries are crippling us at the minute, but get your best 11 available out there on the grass. The problem seems to be that LR doesn't seem to know his best 11 due to the constant disruption caused by said injuries.
After seeing the Norwich game I wasn't very hopeful about yesterday as couldn't really see what was going to change in the short term with the options we have up front (minus Connolly) and sadly I was right. I thought Mcloughlin and Jones were (again) excellent yesterday but can't say anybody else was effective. Surprised to see Greaves getting some votes in the MOTM thread as I thought, as at Norwich, he looked like a fish out of water at LB. I agree he was exposed by lack of cover on front of him but I genuinely think Elder is a better LB and Mcloughlin a better left sided centre back, so unless Rosie is prepared to switch to 3-5-2 (which i think might suit us), I'm not sure he's worth his place in the team - except for his goal threat from set pieces. Midfield was very poor creatively. I never really felt the CBs had an outlet and while Bristol faded, on the whole they looked much quicker than us in that area. As Liam said, even combative players like Docherty seemed to lose more 50-50s than they won. I do however note that criticism tends to start with the players who were here pre last summer (Doc, Slater, Longman, Coyle, etc) But I'd question which players we brought in last summer make a compelling case to be in the team week in , week out. Players like Pelkas, Tufan , Sinik, Tetteh have all had their moments but still don't to me look up to the pace and physicality of the Championship. I would suggest only Christie makes a compelling case. Possibly Seri although he does play us into trouble at times. Up front? Well, I feel for Liam in that I think he was some way to resolving the problem when he brought Connolly in alongside Oscar, but I must say that, apart from his goals, I think Oscar's leading of the line is poor. Liam says he likes to press but we don't press at all with him in the team, and he rarely wins and does anything with a ball knocked up to him. I genuinely think as an energetic CF who will stretch defenders and press them, Longman did a better job. Having said all this, Liam has still for the moment moved us away from the relegation zone and I think he is learning and building something, so we just need to be patient.
Bearing in mind, both Rosy and a lot on here were happy with Sinik going back to Turkey on loan because Ebiowei was coming in. On the back of Ebiowei’s 3 appearances, which is probably not a whole lot less than what Sinik was given, I’d rather have Sinik. After all, he’s actually our player.
That's what's frustrating me the most at the minute, we are so turgid and boring. After bigging up "dreaming of the play-offs" we've strung together the 4 worst performances under Rosenior in a row. With quite a few of them IMO being largely his fault in the safe, depressing way he sets us up to not lose.
It's easy to say we're not going down so let's go all out attack and have a laugh, but the reason we're not going down is that Rosenior came in and established a proper way of playing and controlling games. Going back to chaosball could take us right back to losing every week.
Chaosball ? Wtf did that come from .. give ya head a shake man. You can remain defensively sound, but you can also try a few things which may give us more of a threat. At present it's none existent
I think it was worth a push for the play offs, because although still unlikely it was possible as we came out if the Jan window. LR believed Malcolm would help that push, and I can respect that. It’s not possible now though so I think it’s better to start with the players who are more likely to be here next season to continue working on the style of play he wants to play, and also to try a few other things that we might need in to do in some games next season. Different formations & tactics on occasions, even whilst working on the general style he wants. All about next season now really so I wouldn’t start Malcolm now, unless there is a good chance he’ll be here (or Connelly for that matter…unless he is going to be here next year? I lose track)
He should also be blooding the young uns we have They need an opportunity and now they should have it Jarvis Sims etc
Biggest problem we have is a mid table squad being killed by injuries. Many now getting upset when reality bites. Stability before success. Remember that.. Allam’s GONE.
Watching a bit of Chelsea and Spurs, talk about tedious football Chelsea pass it around forever with no pace - sound familiar??
Chelsea have just started moving it quicker and making an effort cos they’ve gone two down - we only made a real effort after going one down - so is the plan not concede first with not much in the way of positive approach . We usually try to contain then counter or dominate second half but teams have figured us . Stop Christie and our attack doesn’t exist - pretty limited . Can’t believe the pike on Malcom he’s 19 isn’t he and barely played yet we allowed other players weeks to improve without such criticism and expectation!
