Bits And Bobs

[royalbarclayfan]

Does having two up in attack
Perhaps make us prone at the back,
To just what we saw
With Agbonlahor
Where pace, for once, did make us crack,
And if one, then who should it be
Steve Morison or old Holt G,
Who, after a slow
Start´s starting to flow
More as we´d expected to see

Still no sign yet of Steve Kean
Or other bosses, who may seem,
Precariously
Poised, taking their leave
From any of the Premier League teams,
Could it be a welcome new sign
Of clubs adopting a new line,
Or could it just be
That those who are free
Anyway, probably wouldn´t shine

And if anyone out there´s a nurse
Perhaps they could remove this curse,
On our centre-backs
So that the whole pack
Is ready, when the matches get worse,
No, it´s not the back pass one I mean
But the length of time since we have seen,
Our Whitbread and Ward
Who we can´t afford
To be absent, long term, from our team

And finally, though it´s shame
For Martin R, who had his name,
In the Scotland door
To play there once more
Their loss could just well be our gain,
For if he and Johnson B. too
Are doubtful, then best they just view,
This weeks´ friendly games
And repair their pains
So they´re back when needed by our crew. OTBC

 

[canary-dave]

Hi RBF - I got a bit worried by the title! I thought, "Do I really want to see Bob's bits?"

Great read as usual, and I think the first verse is bang on the money! Regular 4-4-2 does leave us vulnerable at the back, I think the added pressure is what led to Barnett's horrendous back-pass!

Two weeks for PL to sort it out, and I have every confidence that he will

 

[CanariesSoccer]

Good show RBF!

Decent points raised there, with regards to whether we can manage with two up front -

I think we will demolish a few teams at home playing 442, whether it's suitable on the road is a whole other discussion. Unfortunately our "gung-ho" attacking play which has seen us do so well in LG1 and the NPC can't hack it in the EPL. Blackpool lived and died by the sword last year, and I'm confident PL will learn from their example. It's early days yet, but away from home we simply have to tighten up in defence. Our home form will keep us up though.

 

[royalbarclayfan]

I agree with you PC, sorry, I just can´t get used to CanariesSoccer, I think 4-2-3-1 is ideally suited away, it not only gives us plenty of bite going forward, but more importantly helps to keep it tight when we´re defending. Naturally, losing Johnson early on didn´t help against Villa, but we did look far more vunerable with the 4-4-2, than at any stage so far this season.

Not even so sure that 4-4-2 is the best option at home either, but certainly worth a try against the weaker sides, so p´raps we should give it a go against Arsenal

 

[ncfcwonky]

Love it rbf!

But wasn't our formation before a 4-4-1-1 (maybe a 4-5-1 but most media seem to be going with a 4-4-1-1)? If it is a 4-4-1-1 then that doesn't really explain why we defended badly against Villa as all that has changed is an attacking player becoming a striker.

Also, we can't judge our defending in the 4-4-2 on one game. If the 4-4-2 caused defending issues over several games then we would need to worry.

But the 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 works really well for us so we should stick with it.

 

[royalbarclayfan]

Different people seem to call it different things, wonky, I thought of it more as a 4-4-1-1 when we first used it, with Wes being the free spirit behind Morison, but recently Bennet and particularly Pilkington, seem to be getting themselves so far forward that Johnson and Fox ( if it is they) tend to hang back, making it almost into a 4-2-4.

I´d still prefer just the one striker, and the extra man in midfield when we´re away, but p´raps 4-4-2, with the extra striker, is worth a try at home. Certainly we didn´t really get going against Blackburn until we brought on the extra strikers.

Fortunately it´s not us who have got to work it out, but I´m sure young Mr. Lambert and middle-aged Mr. Culverhouse have plenty of ideas.