In fairness the club are trying to improve that. They've got him a personal coach. please log in to view this image
One odd thing about Martin's tactics that were occasionally apparent in the Championship and I imagine could become glaringly obvious in the PL. We play very high risk at the back, then play extremely safe in the middle. It just seems completely the wrong way around, we take big gambles with our defensive passing and then totally nullify any threat we might have to boot.
Martinball in a nut shell. We are too proud to lump balls into tall paul. When it would probably be more successful
I get why we switched to a back three at the tail end of the season, losing Bazunu meant we couldn’t rely on McCarthy with his feet and playing out the back like we do, the back three gives more short out balls, but without someone being able to hold the ball up top like Adams means we have no way of getting up the pitch. Smalbone and Aribo, just don’t have the pace to carrry the ball, which meant we only relied on KWP down the left and then we had the issue of just having his forward options only being out wide, with Smallbone and Joe plodding behind him. We need a central focal point, we improved 2nd half because Smallbone played centrally and higher up the pitch. A few tweaks to the tactics and a couple of improvements to individuals should see us be more competitive
Yeah, I think we can be competitive, but we need to make some astute signings this week to be so with any kind of consistency.
Thing is, as has rightly been said above, everyone does the mad bastard passing stuff at the back, but what they also do is then carry that mad bastard passing thing on through the lines toward the top of the field where they then try and do a football goal (largely because they're better at football than us). Rather than just pass it back again. The other thing to recognise is that Leicester and Ipswich haven't found it too easy yet either (yes I know Ipswich have had a horrid couple of fixtures, but even so).
Nothing to get unduly upset about or excited about today. I echo what everyone has said about the midfield duo of Aribo and Smallbone. Aribo was at least willing to turn on the ball or receive on the half turn but after looking reasonable last week he was back to looking like a player who can’t balance on one leg ever mind run with a ball. Bambi on ice. RM simply has to get better and more proactive with his subs. Smallbone and aribo were both done on 60. He has people up high watching the game and it was so obvious they needed to come off. If he had been braver there Aribo doesnt try and pirouette out on the edge of the 18 yd box. I think there will be a bit of a villain of the week for the first few games. New players like archer and Mateus, Taylor and co will take a little time to bed in. RM will end up starting Dibling before too long I’m sure and if he can hold down a spot I’m a lot happier letting Charly go. That big hole in front of goal is a problem if we plan to score a goal this season…
Totally agree on this but also, I worry about that formation if he persists with it much longer. Especially for Arma, because... As we have all seen and know full well from prior experience, Adam Armstrong is a massive confidence player and regardless of what anyone claims, there is 100% going to be a thing in his head about playing at PL level and producing the goods and knowing that he didn't do the business in his last two seasons at this level When you have a confidence player who is very much a finisher rather than an all-rounder, playing a weird 3-5-2 formation with split strikers where he isn't even seeing the ball anywhere near the box - and is about 50 yards away from his 'strike partner' - is a sure-fire way to drain away all his confidence quickly and turn him back into a shell of the finisher he was last season
4 goals in 70 appearance at PL level apparently. He needs someone to play off at this level if he’s going to be even slightly successful. Maybe we put Stephens up front as a win win to changing formation and keeping him in the side
I don't think the 3 at the back is a problem in itself tbh. It's the combination of 3 CB's, 3 CM's, and no CF which is the issue imo. Last year when we played a back 3 it was essentially a 3-4-3 and we still had a focal point up top. Jack was stepping up to make a 3rd midfielder when necessary too. Completely different to what we saw yesterday. I still can't believe we played 70 minutes at home to a relegation rival without a striker tbh and seemingly only changed it when we conceded. Really bizarre.
