would've been nicer to get a playmaker CM rather than a DM. I can only think it's with a view to signing him in the summer, if not I think Micks gone mad!!
At last, you're beginning to realise what I've been saying for a few weeks! No, wait, I don't have a season ticket so you know better
Deleted user Now now Lancs, its the lowest form of wit you know!! Anyway, no worries WCP thinks our strikers have enough goals in them, lmfao!!!!
Just got back.........That is just about the worst display I have seen from Town.......We offer our strikers no ammo at all, TBF to Chops & Goldie they both did as well as could be expected with the supply given, If Mick is going to continue with these tactics he would be better off going with Murphy & Nouble they are more likely to be able to compete for the high balls. For me I would go with 1 up front & play with 5 in the middle we may actually be able to create more chances.! Quick summary of performances; Hendo; flapped at 1 cross but made a couple of good saves including a double block towards the end. Stearman; good defensively but nothing going forward Cressy; did ok defensively but wasted a number of crosses & a couple of poor corners. Chambo & Smith both did well again, they look good together, Smith put his body in the way to block a couple of goal bound efforts Midfield 4 (allegedly); all awful, the two in the middle were out fought and can’t pass the ball, to many blind forward balls to nobody in a black shirt, lost the midfield battle, Danns ran the show for them. As for the other two, both should be thrown out with the garbage, Edwards was as bad as I have seen him play all season (and there have been some bad ones) Martin did not even have his usual work rate to fall back on, was guilty of losing possession far too often. McGoldrick; must be wondering what is going on the service forward is non-existent. Chopra; see above but he ran his socks off today, was for me our only real threat. Murphy; at least was able to compete for our high balls forward but was also guilty of being wasteful. Nouble; could have snatched an undeserved winner at the death. Mick; if he is going to persevere with this approach needs to think more carefully about his forward selections as it is no good putting our more technically gifted players in a team that is clearly playing hoofball, defensively we are more solid if at times being last ditch, my problem is if we concede one I can’t see where we are going to create opportunities to get back in the game. Usually a point away is a good point but others around us are picking up 3 here and there, we need to as well...! On this showing today both us & Huddersfield look to be in real trouble.
Good summary Hoopers, Micks approach may well keep us in this league but his style has always frustrated me, it's just not how I like football to be played!! I just hate it when a team go somewhere to get a point at any level it riles me, take the game to the team and if you get beat you get beat. We've got good enough players to beat Huddersfield or at least try!! Like I've always said I think Mick is a good manager but he doesn't help himself sometimes, he needs to take a few more risks and not be soo stubborn, a criticism often given about Jewell was that he was outdated using old systems and old methods, could the same be said about Mick? But I agree, I quite like McGoldrick, he looks a decent player, although somewhat ineffective but clearly he'd be best in a footballing team so why persist with him how we are currently set up?? Play Murphy as an outlet. It ain't gonna be pretty if we stay up but if we go down and we've played like this whilst this is obviously alot of Jewells squad and he would have to take a proportion of the blame but I don't think I could forgive Mick given that he got us out of the relegation zone if we were to go down now after playing so negative!!
Just don't agree. Midfield were poor today but if I was playing with those idiots ahead of me I don't think I'd bother getting out of bed for the game. Would Alex Mathie have got one in eight? Would he heck.
DU, did you go to the game yesterday.? Take a look on TWTD ratings, the worst ratings are for our midfield four.....you are kind of in a minority of 1...
Oh by the way, you don't have to have been at the game to rate the players on there, you can do it on the strength of the highlights, the radio commentary, your favourite players or simply on the virtue of clean sheets and goals, so it's not really a measure I would use to prove a point.
The best argument that it's the forwards who are the problem is that DJ Campbell played ahead of three of these four midfielders every week and was banging them in left, right and centre. It's very clearly not just a problem with one playmaker because attacking-wise it's a total shambles. The forwards don't find space and don't carve out openings. It's far more that than the midfielders not being able to open out a pass, although I would have to say that as a result of that the midfielders seem to have given up trying to do anything worthwhile going forward.
It's certainly a mixture of both although I do feel our strikers are being hard done buy due to poor service but at the same time none of these bar Chopra are what I consider to be strikers likely to score alot of goals. DJ was a better player than any of our forwards (except possibly an in form Chopra), that is why he scored the goals plus we were more attacking when he was in the team, it appears Mick since the goals have dried up, due to him replacing DJ with strikers who struggle to score, has gone much more defensive, so we are now providing strikers who have struggled to score anyway with little service!! Have to say I see your point about the lack of intelligent movement upfront, as we are playing defensively we need outlets upfront and McLean and McGoldrick just aren't. I think McGoldrick has the intelligence to find space in a freeflowing passing team playing behind the main striker but not in ours. These 2 just offer us no outlet upfront whereas I believe Murphy and Chopra do. Murphy can hold the line and be a target for the long ball whereas Chopras movement is also very good playing on the shoulder of the last defender which offers another outlet as seen against blackpool!! If we're playing how we are playing we need outlets upfront
Murphy I think is the only attacker to come out with any credit. He has been excellent and worked tirelessly. Chopra's got the feet but he's just not fit. I think I'd have to be playing Murphy and Chops up top and stop Chopra from running around until his fitness improves, just have him sit firmly on the centre spot until we're on the attack and Murphy should be a satellite around him. I think we'd see the supply improve dramatically if they know where to find the forwards.
There is just no pleasing some people! When things aren't going right on the pitch a section of the fans always target a scape goat in this case McGoldrick! They say hindsight is a wonderful thing. No one on here was even mentioning Scotland let alone wanting him to play a few months ago! People that say McGoldrick isn't a goalscorer either know **** all about football or go round with their eyes shut. He was the top scorer in League 1 before we got him which suggests that as a team we aren't playing to his strengths and giving him the service he needs! Edwards is clearly passed it and Martin is a headless chicken and I'm afraid Drury just isn't good enough! And before we all wax lyrical over DJ 2 of his goals were pens and 1 was a blatant handball where he just got lucky
I posted this in another thread but DJ's stats are 10 goals in 17 apps. 3 of the goals were penalties so if we are talking about our attacking threat in open play these should be excluded, 1 was possibly an own goal and another he scored with his hands so they are more luck on his behalf. DJ was a class player, but if even he can only get 5 legitimate goals in open play in 17 appearances then I think it is more a problem with our midfield. If our strikers were through on goal and kept missing chances, then yeah I would blame the strikers. But the fact we only had 1 shot the entire game (bbc stats) and it was on target I think says more about a lack of chances created than anything else. From the radio commentary it sounded like the strikers were doing well with what they were given, but you can't expected them to do it all by themselves. I'm glad Mick has made us hard to beat, because in the position we are in we need to be solid. Last time I checked we needed 15 points in the last 15 games (based on previous seasons) so draws and the occasional win are fine by me. An away point on one of the worst pitches in the league is a point gained in my mind
Oh Spaniard you do like to bring up my name alot don't you...... I say support a player when they go for a barren spell, its not always best to chop and change every game, if it was down to some of the moaning buggers on here T.Smith would be working in Macdonalds but given the time he has shown himself a very good player.
JWM can I just point you toward the name of this thread written by yourself before you start saying there's no pleasing people. I'm not scapegoating McGoldrick by anymeans, I just don't think he'll score many goals for us, I think the only people who think he is a goalscorer are those who think Mick possibly could never sign a striker who doesn't score very often. Yes he scored goals at Coventry, in a lower league but he's only scored 20 goals at this level in over 120 appearences, that's not a great record and he was knicknamed McGoaldrought, he'll likely score more in a good footballing team behind a main striker, so I don't really see what he adds to us currently, as I say given how we are playing atm I'd prefer to see the less talented Murphy play instead as he would give us an outlet and more balance upfront!! DJ may have been lucky with some of his finishes but his movement and style of play meant he was there to force an error or be an outlet for our players, McLean and McGoldrick don't do this, well not to the same effect which is why Chopra has scored as many and had more chances to score than either McLean and McGoldrick have in less than half the amount of appearences!! As for Edwards, I don't think anyone would have said he looked past it when he was playing RB but because now he's played on the RW and looks terrible going forward he must be past it!! Also this does not mean I'm going to matches and booing the player, you can support the team but still have an opinion on our or a players weaknesses!!
From the radio commentary it sounded like Edwards had an absolutely awful game, it's just a shame we don't have the depth of players to sub him off. If JET had been on the bench I think he would have been a great sub to have, even if he didn't do anything he wouldn't have been worse than Edwards but could have possibly changed the game!
