I just don't understand Jol's tactics. Why play an offensive line up and try to defend? Okay we picked the tempo up after going one down but doesn't that exactly underline what could have been. Jol says AJ deserved his place over Zamora because of his attitude. Perhaps he would tell us how he marked out of 10 AJ's contribution today. Why can't he see the futility of playing him up front on his own. Two subs 10 minutes from the end - Sa for Davies (77) and Frei for Dembele(79). Too little too late. By running at the opposition - the only one who did - young Frei showed what could have been. What is it that Jol can't see during a game? Doesn't he ever have a Plan B? I'd like to say that today was very Fullamish but I can't - it's poor management. My sympathies to the faithfull travelling few who were again dished up boring, gutless drivell.
Evening Cottager I too thought it was absolute nonsense playing AJ up front on his own, the guy didn't win a header all day long, not that it's his fault of course, the guy is about 5 feet tall! Apparently Zamora was being rested for the Europa game against Odense, but now it's being reported that he won't play there either! I would have had him on the bench at least today, as there was no other striker who could have come on to make an impact. Can someone tell me why our promising academy graduate Trotta is out on loan at Wycombe scoring goals when he could be on the bench for us? Would be better than Sa at least, who is appalling. No Kasami on the bench either was puzzling, no news of an injury, maybe Jol is just resting him to scrape a 1-0 win over Odense. I thought Frei played very well when he came on, don't know what was wrong with Dembele today, but then again not many performed. Signings are desperately needed in January, which is strange as seemed to make enough of them in the summer. Would like to see this line-up against Odense (barring injury) Schwarzer Baird/Kelly Hughes (PLEASE GET RID OF SENDEROS) Hangeland Briggs (Riise again at fault for the goal today) Sidwell/Etuhu Dempsey (bad day but still our best player) Ruiz Murphy (if he's fit) Zamora (we have no other option) Dembele
Ruiz is ineligible in the Europa I just can't understand why Riise Snr has been so poor for us. He was the only one of our signings I thought would be a safe bet.
Had we played offensively we could have won it. That what puzzles me. Why are only aiming for a draw? This is something I can't come to terms with. I don't want to see Zamora in the starting 11 if he does not sort out his attitude. Too much complaining and little effort. Lazy on the ball, no spark, no desire to try. He can stay on the bench and out of England if he does not change...
Apologies Bidders In that case I would have Frei on the wing in place of Ruiz, I think he deserves a start after his cameo today. If we had played the entire game the way that we played after going behind we could and probably would have won, only some fine saves from Vorm kept us out, but surely over 90 minutes one or two would have gone in.
It's not the tactics, it's the players. We play like a team with 9 men. Digger did an ok job yesterday but wasn't ready to return. The team should be Schwarzer Kelly, Senderos, Hangeland, Riise Murphy, Etuhu Ruiz, Dembele, Frei Dempsey And for Odesne Schwarzer Kelly/Baird Hughes/Senderos Hangeland Briggs Davies/Sidwell Etuhu Frei, Dembele, Dempsey Zamora
How has Senderos done for you guys? Always struck me as having excellent physicality but minimal footballing ability! Any time I see an opposition lineup this season, I think "if they'd been playing the Swans' system for a few years we'd get a stuffing", but everyone seems to change their tactics to face us, or is that generally how you line up away from home? I think any team's best bet against us is to pick their best style and try and go for it as much as possible, hoping it'll more than cancel out our tippa-tappa stuff.
Recently we have tended to sit back away from home and put men behind the ball. Hughes's team when away from home really had a go and got just rewards at the end of the season with a significantly improved away record. Senderos has been okay, he's nowhere near as good as Hangeland or in my opinion Hughes, but he's done a steady job not taking into consideration his lapses of concentration.
Said it before,stick Senderos in the c/f role for a couple of games A big bustling guy , we have the craft skill around him, so we need someone to poke it in the net. To quote Brian Clough of some years back. "All my teams need to be successful is 5 greats GOALKEEPER< CENTRE HALF, TO SKILLFULL INSIDE FOWARDS, and a big tank who can HEAD AND SHOOT STRAIGHT.adequate hard workers can fill the other positions. We have 4 of those already.
I'm only talking about away games here, FFC4, and we do invariably indeed look like a 9 man team. As Bandit says, primarily because we play too deep and isolate the single front man. Also we play too narrow and fill the midfield with players who are not natural defenders. To my mind these are clear managerial decisions and therefore tactical. Other, I would grant you small examples - Why, when the opposition get a corner do we pull all 11 back making it difficult to get out of our own half? Why, when we get a corner do we stand in a line with nobody running in late to attack the ball? These situations happen too often not to be on the instruction of the manager.
C58 the 11 man defending of the corners it has been a question for years. At least one forward or midfielder can stay up to ease some of the pressure... Bobby is coming back to defend due to his size and has been doing a great job on the first post heading many corners out... But AJ can't understand...
I thought you boys gave a very good account of yourselves, you played some great football, and had it not been for Vorm, you would have definitely taken a share of the spoils, our keeper was the difference yesterday in my view, all the best for the rest of the season lads!............. please log in to view this image
I think I'm correct in saying that this season we haven't been able to come from being behind to win a game. The closest we've come is the 2-2 draw with Man City. On saturday we didn't start to play our better passing game until we were 1-0 down. The same can be said of the Tottenham, Everton and Man City games at home, and Newcastle away. Is Jol too cautious in the first half of games, and away from home seems to rely on looking to not lose rather than going from the start for 3 points. Except for the WBA game, I can't remember us pressing hard from the start of an away game.
I think you have answered your own question SuperBri. Maybe we should now ask whether he is out of his depth?
Jol is not out of his depth, may be gives too much credit to his opponent. And now let me throw in a theory that I just thought of. We have an old squad and keeping the same tempo will be difficult week in week out and especially playing 2 games per week. So Jol's approach is to contain the opponent for the first 45-50 minutes and then the squad is pushing for a win playing exceptionally well. Definitely they have various stats and blood results that show the level of the players' strength. Given we have already played almost 30 competitive games he needs to maximise the strength of the squad. The youngsters are not yet at the level that can play continuously in PL games and look at Arsenal. They don't even play all the youngsters. Qualifying to the next round of EL is important to get the money from Uefa. Going out in the next round I expect a transformation of the team and less rotation. If we are still in FA cup will be a good stage to push for a good finish and a cup run... Just a thought!
I think this board is divided between those who like him and those who want him out of the team at all costs! His detractors say he's more likely to make a mistake than Aaron Hughes, while his apologists (including me) argue that he's more comfortable on the ball and a better passer than Hughes, meaning we are less likely to waste possession with him in the team. Personally, I don't agree that he's more error prone than Hughes, although his errors are more likely to be criticised when they occur because he doesn't have several seasons of goodwill to draw on with the fans. I think Chris Baird is challenging the pair of them for the second centre-back spot, and is possibly my preferred option ahead of both of them.
Really? I haven't heard much about Baird to be honest, but interesting you rate him that highly. Senderos is, despite his detractors as you say, a very experienced CB who has probably played a ton of CL footie for Arsenal(?) but I've always felt if he was in my tea I'd never be comfortable with him on the ball, like I am with Ashley Williams, for example.
Baird is still probably the most underrated player at the club, so it's not surprising that you haven't heard that much about him despite him not being relatively young. He plays for unfashionable Northern Ireland and came from Southampton in the Championship, so I wouldn't expect the media to fawn over him. He plays centre back, right back, defensive midfield and central midfield. A modern day utility man!
I think, and shoot me for saying this, that I took with a pinch of salt all of Lawrie Sanchez's signings after he appeared to sign half the NI team! I am glad, however, that you've been left with some quality players out of it. (Sanchez did sign Baird, right?)
