I have a feeling we might see Delap back central and Slater wide right. If nothing else it should offer a bit more cover for the fullback, and that's been our achilles heel in recent games if you look at how we've been conceding. The con is that we sacrifice natural width without Lokilo. - but then Rosenior seemed to indicate he was still playing him back to match sharpness so may not be a viable starter anyway.
You do realise that the crap you write stays on here and we have to scroll past it all ? Do you have to post every single unrelated thought that pops into your head on the match day thread ?
The best right back we have is Coyle. So play him there. The best left back we have is Greaves. So play him there. The best centre forward we have is Delap. So play him there. And so on. Football management 101.
Who's our best fit right and left winger? Issue becomes if Connolly is our second best forward and Delap is our best fit winger..
To be fair the square pegs in round holes argument absolutely boils down to which round pegs are available.
The daft thing is in the second half against Boro he changed to a diamond midfield and it worked a treat. I honestly dont know why he wont give it a whirl given our lack of width
I think he did that based on changes Boro had made prior. It'll deffo be interesting to see what he does tomorrow.
It could be that it just worked against Boro but it got Connolly, Delap and Tufan all up front with Tufan in the 10. I dont think he will change it now with how close the games are at the moment but I'd like to see it again
I absolutely get that but then the manager has to be flexible. Why play system that utilises wingers and full backs with no wingers and 1 full back? Play a narrow system, play 5 at the back, keep it tight and hit long balls, whatever. Just do something that suits the players available. McCann got ****ing crucified for being inflexible yet hardly anyone has a word to say about Rosey doing it. The system only works if the cogs fit.
We played a back 3 with the ball with Slater next to Seri. Allowed Morton more freedom to get forward. Only dropped left when we lost the ball. That's not something McCann would have even dreamt of. Considering that particular arrangement shackled Roberts effectively enough and Morton was probably our best player then I can't see how that decision wasn't justified. The problem came down the other flank when Coyle came off and we had 2 'round pegs' in Christie and Lokilo not getting near Clarke, so I'm not really seeing the 'round pegs' argument in this instance either, especially given we should have been at least a goal up at the time. Not only that, Rosenior changes system during the game depending on what the opposition are doing. Boro being an obvious example. There's simply no comparison in terms of tactical rigidity between the 2 coaches.
We aren't the side with the most points won from losing positions for nothing. We are incredibly adaptive in games and regularly change shape or personnel when something isn't working. It's obviously not going to work in every single game even with changes because the opposition can make changes too, but any criticism of Rosenior being rigid or having no Plan B is clearly farcical.
I don't have the same dread anymore when we go a goal down as you know we can get back into it. Realistically, we have a decent XI but the depth behind it is pretty lacking and that's been exposed. the teams around/above us for the most part have had sustained investment or a bigger budget than us so it's always going to be really tough
Absolutely, it's why it's a marathon not a sprint for us. We're gradually improving the squad window upon window and we're unrecognisable to the squad we had under McCann. If we don't go up this season it's not the end of the world as we'll build again upon the depth and quality and be better placed next season, not worse placed. It's not a race against time for us.
You make it sound like there was some sort of Guardiola style tactical masterclass against Sunderland. We got ****ing schooled. It was the worst performance I’ve seen in about 5 years since that second half of the season when Bowen and Grosiki were sold. It was that bad.
