Went to the game on Friday, a cracking waste of £70 all in all. Thought we looked o.k. but to passive in possession and not enough cutting edge and penetration going forwards. Anita, Colback and Dummett were dreadful for me. Anita picked up when moved inside late in the second half but if we have Tiote and Sissoko available for the next game I would have them in the squad. The two of them might not be the most popular at present but they are good players at the end of the day and are by far the best we have in CM roles regardless of our personal opinions of them. Tiote holding and Diame and Sissoko in front of him is a hell of a lot more pace and power which we will need going forwards based on what I saw on Friday evening. Teams are going to sit back and wait to get a chance from a set piece or a counter attack all season and we will need more than what we showed on Friday if we stand a chance of making the play offs.
This is the problem and was the same last season. I don't think we're bad but if a team sits there and asks questions of us we haven't got the answers. Passing isn't quick enough or accurate enough. I want to see us sign Hughes. Also someone who can carry the ball forward but hopefully Diame will do that
Love Will Hughes! Cracking prospect and has a bit more creativity, craft and gall than all our current CM's.
Dont play two DM's!!!!!!! If im a CM coming up against Newcastle, I would be having a field day, Colback aint gonna spray balls or bust a gut to get in the box, Hayden was very cautious perhaps under instruction to stay back. Therefore the opposing midfield are free to play their game with no real threat from the middle. No player to mark and run with, nothing! If your gonna play two or even three with a CAM, the players need to be up and down, i find we over commit out wide and under commit in the middle. Diame should hopefully balance it out a bit. Shelvey is so much more useful than colback, yeah Shelvey makes mistakes, but he tries more direct passes, he wants to get forward and play football!
Yep massive Will Hughes fan. I don't see why we are playing two holders. Just drop Colback and play a box to box midfield alongside a ball player. Or play two up top. If you are playing Perez in the hole anyway, why do you need to be so cautious. He can pick up the oppo holding midfielder like Beardsley used to. (or Arma if he is playing which judging by Perez's display he might be)
This is it for me. I think if you want to play 2 DM/CM you go two up top, if you want 3 CM's you have one holding and two bombing on to support the lone striker as almost AM's. I don't think I saw more than 3/4 of our boys in the box at any point on Friday. If we do continue with the current formation I think we need Mitro up top as we can't hold the ball up long enough to get bodies past the ball. We are looking to play in behind the back four, down the channels leaving the front three pretty much grafting for the ball all on their jacksie with no supporting midfielders players getting on beyond them or offering them an option. Also need to learn to move the ball side to side quicker. Shelvey and Anita did it better once in the center but it was too late by then and Fulham had camped out 20 years from their goal.
Diame ACM and Shelvey and Hayden the two CMs. I'd certainly prefer to have Shelvey putting balls through to the forwards rather than Hanley, Dummett and lascelles lumping the ball over everyone's heads like they did against Fulham. I don't know Diame's game very well but I'd be tempted to play him and Shelvey at CM tbh - one to spray the ball around from a deeper position and one to drive forward with the ball at his feet. I don't like the way managers see these CM positions as passive and only about stopping the opposition. Both players should be able to create and score IMO, especially in the Championship where your opponents will typically have less quality to hurt you and therefore less need for defensive midfield specialists.
Did Diame get out of first gear? He was a passenger in many of our championship games last year - the championship doesn't suit his game anywhere near as much as the premier league does
i don't know what Sissoko is like to be fair but Diame should dominate every championship game he plays - he rarely does
