The last two games were very much must win games and we won, so fair play to MM, if this was desperation or just a tactical change to suit our opponent's, I`m not really bothered because the confidence these results will bring (especially Murph) is priceless, and the players themselves clearly love playing this system. However, we played this formation at the start of the season and produced great football (with defensive errors I know) and got some really decent results which had us fans singing and dancing-until we played Reading. After that game MM withdrew into his shell and refused to employ the 4-3-3 again with disastrous results. Now I`m not going to suggest that we play gung ho football every game because some games we will need to grind out results and get scrappy 1-0 wins, but, there will be other Reading games and I wonder if MM will revert back into his shell and adopt a more defensive set-up. I hope he has learned by his mistakes and start every game 4-3-3 and change and adapt as and when needed, as Spanish said on another thread 'we need to play to our strengths and let the opposition worry about us rather than the other way round' And on another mistake link, has ME learnt his lesson from last season, and will he, this January, allow money to be invested in the team at this crucial time (god knows we payed the price for no investment last January) we are only 4 points off the play offs (still cant get my head round that considering our recent performances) and approaching the transfer window, we definitely need a few new players in a variety of positions to be able to push firmly for promotion. So credit to MM,(even though I am still firmly in the MM out brigade) but don't lose you bottle now, stick with this formation, and ME you MUST back your management this next window. Lets not see the same mistakes made this season as we did last season
The way Murph was playing last season Sears was a great addition to support him I admit, but our lack of signing defensive and midfield cover cost us greatly I believe
So you think we don't need any other players then? I suppose some people are very content to remain a mid table second tier non- entity
No what I mean is we don't need to be looking for players as cover.......we should only look at bringing in a player that improves our starting eleven. And I said at the start of the season that I think we can at least finish in the play offs and should be pushing for automatics with a fair wind.......so can't see how that is being content with mid table.......
I see no hard evidence that our "lack of investment" cost us during the second half of last season, indeed our investment has gained us a potent goalscorer. Derby's investment in Jan didn't help them. It can be argued that it is paying off now but there still no better off now than they were at this point last season. On the other hand, what has been working for us since Mick arrived is sensible recruitment. Why change a winning formula? Our last two transfer Windows have improved our attack no no end ("on paper "at least), it does appear focus now needs to switch back to the defense but I trust Mick to be a better judge of which players can play right back - for example - than me. I remain disappointed that our great start has fallen away from us and the bad run appears to have put our whole season at risk. though ive regained some confidence that we will get playoffs again. Still at least two thirds of the seaon to go, the gap to sixth is not insurmountable.
