Not so much tinkering up till now by Ole, more like a wholesale change of approach and not for the better at the moment. It's too late in the day to revert back - we need wins now, single point games however laudible are not going to be enough. So how far do we go? With Medel out for a while and given the quality (lack of) we seem to have at fulback, what about trying to push this "tinkering" to the limit? Let's go for three at the back with Caulker/Turner/Cala combo. No out and out full backs, but defensive midfielders playing wide, Cowie and Gunnar for instance. 5 more outfield players to pick would give us a creative midfield pairing - take your choice 2 from Mutch, Daehli, Eikrem, Whitts, Kim - one or two out wide (Noone/Zaha or both), and depending upon that decision, either one up top (Jones/Campbell) or a 1+1 with either of those plus Bellers for instance. Pretty radical, but the times they are a changing, and SOMETHING has to be done PDQ.
Good shout Spark, I think it needs to be done.. Whether OGS REALISES it does is another story! Unfortunately, I think this is us for the season now
something has to be done. i agree, but radically changing the system could backfire horribly, then all the people on this thread who said we needed to change to say 3-5-2 will then come out after a heavy loss and say we should never have changed. we created chances galore against hull. we need to shore up the defence and practice shooting in front of goal, thats what i'd do if i was OGS, not panic and gamble with a new formation.
Fair points there Swamp. Up front, Campbell fails to react to Jones' flick on's. Every game Campbell misses at least one good chance. Only Noone shoots from distance. Jones never seems to be first to crosses into the box. Defensively, I was surprised he played Cala when Turner did so well versus Villa. The 3rd goal was a shocker to concede at this level. Cala looks a better distributor but Turner just gets stuck in which is what we wanted surely? The full backs have been poor all season. KTC flattered to deceive early on but he is atrocious at defending and passing! What can he do in next game? Well it's a home banker so may as well try and defend for 90 and sneak a 0-0. Have to try something positive v Fulham but what? He's paid millions so perhaps he can come out and tell us what his best X1 is, as I haven't a Scooby what it is. Midfield? Well it has to be the weakest at this level for many a year. No pace, no drive and too few passes come through the middle, its all sideways and sluggish.
I don't think you can practice shooting in front of goal - you've either got the scoring knack or you haven't. I played inside left (showing my age) in my earlier days at park level to a guy in front of me called Alan Hughes who was slightly built and no more than 9 stone soaking wet. He couldn't shoot to save his life and looked like he'd get blown over on a windy day. The guy scored more goals than anyone else I've ever played with. Why? Because he hit the ball with instinct not power. He didn't need to practice shooting - he was always in the right place, placed his effort away from the keeper and the ball often just trickled over the line. Me and the rest of the guys would always go for the netbuster but we could never match him on the scoresheets. For all his efforts, Campbell is not a natural goalscorer and Jones needs too much time - I wouldn't back either in a one on one situation with a keeper. Mason is the closest we've got to a natural. Some say he's still a long way off Prem standard and hasn't had a chance to prove it one way or the other, but I'd back him to have got something from those chances against Hull.
disagree there, practice makes perfect and i disagree, campbell is a goalscorer for me, and with the right service will score goals. play TC, john, and get practicing on the shooting....... are you saying that a top finisher like OGS wouldnt be able to offer our strikers something in the way of scoring? mason could offer something different but OGS has seen him train and i'd trust his judgement.
You have a right to disagree - it's what the forum is about. Neither of our opinions makes either of us right - it's just good to chat about the game without the bollucks on here.
Well you can try, and depending on the player you might well have some success, but more often than not it's an instinctive art. We have had some success with Nathan Dyer, some players have the ability, but it is coached out of them in many circumstances due to utilising the players other strengths, for example you could have an Academy CF player, that ends up getting played on the wing because of his pace and accuracy in crossing balls into the box, this I have seen many times at youth setup level, and these players if played back in the hole, or asked to start contributing goals like Dyer has been, will respond favourable to resurrecting their dormant skill, but clearly some strikers that have come through development are amazingly crap, and have never ever had a prolific record, what can you do with these type? not a lot in my view, look at Alvaro, Schecnter, Luke Moore with us pretty much hopeless cases as strikers, you could give them shooting practise every day of the week, but they simply are not mentally saavy in the art of deception in front of goal!.............. PS Ask me what position I played in my younger days?............................
Man marking is your problem, The amount of space hull Had for example to counter attack was the worst i have seen from anyone this season.
Not so Phil - superslim inside left who made killer passes.................(at football and women ) That was always the difference back then between the lads on the pitch and the girls watching us - if you can't kick 'em, **** 'em........... (apologies for going off topic and also to the morally sensitive) Now back on topic - I used to score regularly.
The fact he didn't make the FA Cup team suggests Ole doesn't think he's ready. I do agree we are desperate enough up front to try it though. The return of Bellers should help. He's not a PL quality striker anymore or a natural finisher but he wont pass up as many chances as FC and KWJ do. If he'd played v Hull and Villa I think we'd have scored in one of those games.
Steve - not sure about Bellers and headers but he's definitely quicker on the ground than KWJ. Going to be an interesting team selection this weekend. I wonder who will carry the can for last week. Answers on a post card please to .............................................
If that's the case, you could argue that his petulant swipe at the back of De Guzman's head will cost us our place in the Premier League.
