Aye doesn't look like Isidor works on the wing, he looks lost there. Having said that if Connolly plays him in rather than trying to take on 3 players he most likely gets his second and kills the game off.
Well a draw/win at milwall with these missing is a quality result. 4 draws on the bounce will look poor but come game 46 it won’t when you’ve picked up points when you’re in a dry spell. That’s how I’m looking at it
I'm certainly not settling into being happy with draws etc. We've shown we can play great football in the first half yesterday ... ... we showed we can dig in during the first half at Luton. We just need to put it all together and we'll be fine.
It was a series of errors. Rigg is half arsed tracking his runner. Neil steps into to challenge Riggs man and leaves space for Rudoni to get in front of him. Easy then to keep Neil away. Then I am not sure what Browne is hoping to achieve there when facing his own goal. All three midfielders at fault imo. Then the second Cirkin gets absolutely done by his man at the backpost, really poor by him when it is one of his strong points. I thought Neil had a poor game overall yesterday. But when you look at the contribution of Browne and Rigg there are mitigating factors. He is so exposed when those two fail to press or track. I am beginning to wonder about Browne. I liked the signing but so far he has been pretty average imo. I am not seeing much contribution. A bad run of form, or struggling to adapt? He isnt a bad player, but he isnt really warranting a place either. I am pretty sure the club will sign another CM in the window. If yesterdays subs dont show it is needed nothing will.
Top going into the third IB in a row. Yes boys let’s rest, recover and learn from our mistakes last 3 games
My take exactly Smug. Coventry came out second half with a high aggressive press, we panicked and started to play long balls over the top, completely negating our midfield triangles and transitions. We had no runners to play the long ball into space and ended up targeting players who were double marked (Isador and then Connolly). We did change it after Coventry got there second, but I'm not sure if that was them settling for the draw or us getting the ball down onto the grass and playing our game.
browne had little choice to be fair to him, neil should never have tried tackling a lad the way he did, that caused the ball to break free and bounce off browne, could have gone anywhere and pretty much caught the whole defence out. simple truth is that we sat too deep for too long and bad subs were made.
Agreed and as you've said before anyone who comes in Jan needs to 'hit the ground running', which is why in DM we're desperate for a Henderson or a competent midfielder whose happy to perhaps be in and out of the side. Midfield is the big concern, were short on numbers and rigg purely because of his age for me is flagging after 70 mins.
It's interesting Bamba and Orban 'bids' in the summer, think the former was more likely than the latter and Orban might have just been gossip but if the interest was genuine it does say something.
I agree re Jobe but feel like I've said this numerous times about Neil but he doesn't have the profile of the DM for me. Has the ability to be metronomic but when you look at Samed highlights it's like two totally different players. I'd love to know behind the scenes if it's 'we see dan as a 4' and are developing as such or he's the fit option we have to play there as he's arguably more 6/8. It would be surprising if they do see him as a 4 in solo pivot considering for the first 2 seasons of our Championship stay Evans and latterly Ekwah played there. For me it's not a dig, i just don't think he's a 4. Has the profile and characteristics to play a bit more advanced, has the ability to be receiving on the turn with the game around him, not ahead of him as it is now.
Highlights that we are still short in the striker department. Connolly was and is not the answer and it's not his fault. We needed an option after the summer and he's cheap, available and on a redemption arc. The bids for Bamba and co highlight that we could have arguably seen them as the 9 and isidor on the left. Funny old game
It's a real conundrum isn't it. He doesn't seem at all comfortable as a 4 but an 8 needs to be making strong runs into the box, shooting from outside the box and getting in a few headers as well, as Jobe does. It's up to the coaches now and I suspect they'll persist with him as a 4, if he doesn't like it I think we should consider a replacement. I'd be gutted if he didn't really make it here but he's approaching 23 years old now.
I honestly couldn't disagree more. I personally want Neil nowhere near the final 3rd, surely yesterday proved that? In a possession dominant team he is perfect for the deep midfield role. Look at what Winks was doing for Leicester last season, Flynn Downes for Southampton last season, Tanaka for Leeds this season, Josh Cullen for Burnley, Morris and Hackney for Boro. None of them are physically imposing players, all of them are ball playing midfielders in possession based sides and look great. He isn't getting in Jobes position as the ball carrier and ball winner and he isn't getting in Riggs position as the more advanced midfielder. So for me you either play him where he is or you don't play him at all. We need to dominate the ball. It would get the best out of our players. We have some of the most secure in possession players in the league, O'Nien is a fantastic ball player, Hume is incredibly composed when he inverts, Jobe rarely loses the ball, Rigg is comfortable, Roberts is the perfect winger in a possession based system. So my opinion is either we persist with conceding possession and replace Neil or try and control games more and realise Neil is very good as a deep ball player.
