Is it something along the lines that Allsop dropped the ball at his feet so he could tempt Wallace to run to him and then pass it to Seri who could pass it to Jones who could pass it to Coyle or Morton rather than Allsop throwing the ball to Coyle or Morton? Is Coyle or Morton having the ball near the half way line not as good as good as Coyle or Morton having the ball near the half way line with space behind them because of West Brom pressing? Do you need the risk of extra passing on the edge of our area rather than setting up an attack going forward?
Risk of defenders losing it on the half way line with all that space in behind was quite apparent under Shota. Hence averaging 2.5 GA per game, or something stupid like that. Just becomes a sprint race when the ball turns over with defenders facing their own goal scrambling. You also compress the pitch, which makes it twice as hard to find space.
Maybe Stones already being an England international meant he had more potential to change/improve than a Championship player. With Championship teams I would think the more effective way to improve the team would be improve their decision making and working together as a team. We seem to get players in to great fanfare (eg Vinagre and Twine) and then mostly use them off the bench. I wouldnt expect Pep to put Delap on the wing. Standard disclaimer: "Apologies for the late reply but I do have a life outside of this board."
Most of them are good with both feet in front of goal but they limit themselves by their preferences on the rest of the pitch.
Pep virtually benched Grealish his first season. That's how long it took to fully understand the system and know what was expected at any given moment and build those 'telepathy' relationships with team mates. He also had a core squad who have been working his way for years, so that situation should be a lot easier to integrate. Why not give Liam the same leeway and see how he might actually continue improve players - as he has already with Coyle, Jones and Slater to name a few?
Still think we’re piss-weak in midfield. We play with two holding midfield players and neither are defensively-minded. We actually attempt the fewest tackles in the entire league by quite some distance. 167 tackles. 2nd lowest is Plymouth with 200. Our tackles won % is piss-poor too. Only Blackburn and Plymouth are worse for tackles won % but Blackburn actually attempt a lot more tackles so are more aggressive. So we’re non-aggressive and we also don’t win many tackles we do attempt. Soft as ****. Same issue last season. Had all summer to sign a defensive mid. Did he? Did he **** and yeah I’ll keep mentioning it until it’s rectified, under Rosenior or someone else.
Again, I'd reiterate that he's a head coach with a recruitment team and working under an agent as vice-chairman directly below the owner. If Rosenior fails and someone else comes in then it'll most likely be someone in a similar mould stylistically. And there's also unlikely to be a significant shft in the recruitment strategy. There is glaringly space in that midfield for another however. I accept that. Morton is short term leaving us with Seri and Slater as permanents who you could say would be starters. Seri isn't getting any younger. Simons isn't playing for Fleetwood and Doc would probably have gone if not for injury also. So that position simply has to be on the radar either Jan or in summer or both windows. If we did sign a 6ft plus ****-house bastard DM, then it'd have to be someone with technical attributes to match the physical ones too cos that 'quarterback' attribute seems to be what they're focussed in that position on as a main 'conductor' at the base of midfield. Also most likely someone young they can develop a couple of years and potentially sell at a profit also. So you can't just buy a player like that off the shelf on a championship budget easily.
Finally caught up on this thread, the 3 or 4 pages talking about dicks was particularly funny Football wise, an expected loss with that lineup but oh well on to the next one
I have watched his free kicks and I think he body shape is slightly wrong IMO, if you watch probably the 2 best free kick takers Ward-Prowse & Beckham, they lean back more, which allows them to get more whip on the ball, thereby creating overspin which gets the dip.
I think that’s precisely the sort of thing Pep would do, bearing in mind the inverted fullback role he’s brought into the game and the false nine that he’s used in the past. I do have a life away from this board and make no apology for that. If you have the time and the inclination to spend most of your waking hours repeating the same points in slightly varying ways then that’s your prerogative.
I saw a stat when he signed that Twine had scored more free kick goals in the last 5 years or so than anyone else in England, including JWP.
This is an example of the idea of doing things for the sake of it rather than with a reason. Pep has a reason for doing things. Rosenior does things because he wants to play Delap but he doesnt think he can play him in his more sensible position. I can think of another example when England played Nigel Clough at right back.
So, you’ve either not considered or ruled out the possibility that he wanted to use his pace and strong running with ball?
Twine's scored a dozen free kicks in his career, JWP's scored more than that in the last three seasons (there's a single season when Twine scored six and JWP scored four, but outside of that, his record is nowhere near as good).
You have certainly convinced me what a wonderful person you are with that comment. Well done! https://www.jansiebenga.com/blog/dont-pretend-to-be-better-than-you-are
when Delap was on the wng I have not seen him use his pace or strong running with the ball I saw a player being played out of position
exactly! it would have been better to not play him there in the first place I look at the team when announced and I think: "maybe Liam will play with two strikers?" He never does until the last 20 minutes when we are chasing the game
It's very possible that I misread or misremembered something. I thought I had a pretty clear memory of it though.
