I’m not averse to three at the back per se but not sure we have the players for it especially until Salter is back. Paal, much as I’m not a fan, the only real candidate as a wing-back on that side. Any of Santos/Ashby/Smyth on the other have their various strengths and mainly weaknesses. Cook has to be in the middle of any three and JCS the left which means Dunne on the right of it realistically. Then you still have the problem with the midfield. Do you go with two of the crap options then only one of our floaty lovely under-performing ‘tens’ or go two attacking midfielders and be even more lightweight ahead of the defence?
Definately 2 upfront. The trouble with 2 wingbacks is they tend to be defenders. We then put 2 defensive midfielders infront of 3 central defenders, leaving just 2 midfielders to support the attackers.
Just to be pedantic it's very much a "players we've signed" rather than Marti has signed. It's Nourry's data analytics driven recruitment, obviously Marti would have a say but not sure it's fair making him entirely culpable for building this team. He is culpable for how we are playing though but I have faith he'll turn it around, a couple of games ago we were unbeaten for a string of games. If our expectation is midtable-ish then you tend to lose a fair few games to end up there. My main worry is you've got players like Paal who are quite blatantly not giving it 100%. Marti needs to motivate these guys somehow.
Jesus Stroller is right he can do no wrong…… If he didn’t want to play in a certain way and have players of a ‘certain profile’ he wouldn’t be at the club. Joint project, full accountability along with others like Nourry. If the analytics have provided us with a bunch of players without minerals or the ability/intelligence to follow whatever the plan is, someone has to stand up and accept responsibility.
I think it’s very much the modern model of it being down to Nourry and Andy Belk predominantly. Cifuentes of course has some say but not the main say I expect with the idea being he’ll do so well someone else will poach him and the players will be here with another coach. Still his fault if he’s picking the wrong players or tactics from the group available and the key outfield players were brought here before him which is a sad indictment of the transfer policy in general.
Yes you are correct. This is the bloke who's head of recruitment ... ( I don't know how much Cifuentes has any say in this but at Stan said he must shoulder some responsibility )
This is truly bizarre. Everyone is to blame except Cifuentes, it seems. Might as well give me the job.
Yes, sack the cat. What happened with the ****er when Sam Field tried to play a one-two with him on Tuesday? Useless.
All to blame today, all to praise tomorrow hopefully. It's the team, a collective. No one player or anybody else is to blame imo. Something definitely not right losing 3 games in a week, but 3 games in the week is part of the problem in that it gave us no time to practice any needed changes to our game. Too many key players out, or in Chair's case not match fit yet as well. Other than Cellar I've seen good games from all the new players. Cellar worries me in that I've seen very little even half decent from him, but then he's not played much. Hopefully he needs a good run out in a well contested friendly during the next 2 weeks if he's not away with Slevenia, and a goal or two wherever he is. I really don't know what the problem is, but I don't think it's just another Field in defensive midfield, we need someone there who can also pass the ball quickly and accurately in all directions, as well as tackle. Colback still looks like the best we have in that midfield, when he's available.
I really can't believe how boring we are to watch at the moment..... I wasn't expecting that after the way we finished last season.....
It's cos nothing ever happens. It's such a slow build up, which inevitably ends up back with Nardi, enabling the opposition to get in shape. When we play from the keeper short, every single one of our players has to come closer to that phase of play, generally with their back to goal. The press from the opposition becomes more intense when the pitch of play is shortened. Last season we did actually have an escape route with pace up top, in the form of Armstrong (granted the end product didn't amount to much). Movement is absolutely key to playing out from the back. Arsenal do it the best, along with City. We aren't capable of doing it, well not every time. We need to mix the goal kicks up, move our players up the pitch and win the second ball in their half.
