Please can someone tell me why the hell is PJ playing 4-5-1 at home! Time and time again yesterday Chopra was completely isolated up top. How long will it be for him to get frustrated with little support alongside him. JET tbh was garbage yesterday and seemed lazy and disinterested in what was going on. How are we going to turn Portman Road into a fortress when we keep playing the same boring tactics. It was obvious that Hull were going to flood the midfield and just hang in for the draw. We huffed and puffed but really created very little. I bet Southampton are crapping themselves about the prospect of playing us at PR on Tuesday night! PJ you are a football man and a good manager but you have to realise that we must play with 2 up front at home. There was a time when teams actually feared coming to the fortress but now all we seem to do is offer a warm welcome while they pick up all 3 points. Come on PJ sort it out! Us long suffering season ticket holders are getting just a bit peed off with these negative tactics. We've got a fantastic goal getter in Chopra but FFS play with a strike partner before he starts getting frustrated.
JWM This is what i have been saying, the problem is that we have nobody good enough to play alongside Chopra. Add to that the fact that we need 5 in midfield to protect the defence and you can see the problem!!
Time to give young Ronan Murray a shot at the big time. Surely can't be worse than the other options. Don't see the need to protect the back four with a DM, if we keep the ball up their end more often then the defense doesn't need protecting does it. If we keep the other team on the back foot and actually give them something to think about then they will be less adventurous going forward, or is it that too simple to comprehend. The best from of defense is attack they say.
As I've said before 4-5-1 does not have to be a negative formation if you have Martin and JAY-E-T getting forward and supporting Chopper with Bowyer supporting from the middle, that said it has not quite clicked yet I'm sure that PJ is aware of the 4-4-2 formation and I'm also sure if he thought it would solve all problems it would be utilized.
We need to carry a goal threat especially at home and 4-5-1 is harking back to the Keane era! I thought we were going to ditch that this year and go back to a 4-4-2. Watching JET so far he looks like a luxury we can't afford!
Pretty sure we played 4-5-1 at home vs Hull saturday as Jewell is away of how abysmal Smith is so he had to have defensive cover ahead. This should change when we have 2 cb's in.
The other thing we completely lack is any creativity in Midfield. If you don't create chances you wont score. Most of the time yesterday we were humping long high balls out of defence completely bypassing the midfield. I felt so sorry for that poor bastard Chopra having to watch as the ball sails over his head all the ****ing time! Have we learnt nothing from the last couple of years? Yes you can accuse me of being negative but watching that tripe yesterday made me realise that we haven't really changed anything at all. No creativity, lazy players mainly JET and absolutely no guile or pace in the final third. Chopra has to have support and a decent target man to play off. You could see that the longer the game wore on without us scoring Hull were going to sieze on an opportunity and take advantage. After all the money spent on new signings we are no better off than we were last season. Yes its only the second game of the season, need time to gel and blah, blah, blah but if we don't get some creativity in midfield and TWO commanding CB's PDQ we will be struggling!
Careful JWM, you are moaning to much, next thing we will have posts on hear moaning about your moaning.....
I personally think Priskin could be a decent partner for chops. Looking at about 70-80% of Chuck's goals last season were from Priskin assists. He has a good touch and an eye for a pass. Yes he is a luxury player and yes his finishing isn't good enough but with a run in the team, a team trying to keep the ball on the deck he could be very useful especially as Chops will do all the running in behind and Priskin can be the link up player. I imagine I'll get the usual "not good enough" response but I fear we're being far too militant in saying how we need to change the whole team, Rome wasn't built in a day and all that and this season is a completely different scenario to that of last year.
I have every sympathy for PJ, the club was in a shambles by the time Keane was finally shown the door. It is not just the first team he has mucked up it is right through the club to the academy. Some of the damage I fear may be irreversible. Rebuilding this club will take time and I hope he is given sufficient time to do so. Where to start from is always a difficult one but a good team is always built on a solid defence, I just hope that by the end of the month our defence is strengthened sufficiently to move this team forward, I really don't want another season of transition, this is getting a little tiresome TBH.
451 would be fine if JET was part of the 3 in midfield and Carson and Martin wide but with no creativity within the three midfielders we were always going to struggle. All I want from Tuesday is an entertaining game with both team creating chances, I'm sick to death of watching us play with 3 like-minded midfielders who are kept quiet by an opposition who pack their midfield and who stop us from playing from the back forcing us to go long to a striker who is never going to be a target man (Chopra) or to a target man who can't be arsed (JET) Either play with two strkers or play with one of Carson / Martin / JET through the middle, it means dropping two out of Andrews, Leadbitter, Bowyer or Kennedy but formation should come first, not players.
I'd like to see a 5-3-2 with kickbacks. Play; Stockdale Ivar Delaney Eastman Edwards (wb) Martin(wb) Jet Bowyer Carson Priskin Chopra
How about wing nuts, knick knacks, backpacks, wack backs, whack nuts or kick nuts, take your pick pack.
