Aim before the season = top 10. I thought play offs were realistic, anything higher no chance. Funny game football. IF ( 23 has alluded to this in another article ) we could only have hung onto Forest/Blackburn late on, and not bottled a 2-0 lead at home to Huddersfield we'd be sitting top of the pile. However, as things stand we are currently 9th, one point off. I really do think we'll make the top 6 this season. Best squad we've had in years. Berra is class at CB, Murphy + McGoldrick are a very good pair at this level then we have the like of Williams/ Bishop. Hell, we even have some Collison to look forward to along with Ambrose, a young Henshall and C.Stewart to come back. I think Mick has generally done a very good job in approaching two years into the job. He gets more right than wrong and we're moving forwards nicely. COYB this squad is talented and can definitely make the top 6 this time around.
Well ain't that just typical. They've been dire all season, it was looking like one of the easier games and then BAM, they sack the man in charge and will probably start their revival against us.
Warky, how could we ever get an eight goal lead when as soon as we go two up we sit back and defend on the edge of our penalty area?
A more positive thread for once. Yes, a wake up call at the Pool, we either get back to our September form and prob eek out a 1-0 win, or...... throw another game away! Take yer bucket and spades chaps and you can always head to the beach to cheer yerselves up! But as Westy says, there is much to be pleased about the squad and general developments on a shoe string, and Mick must take heaps of praise with that. But not for his recent tactics IMO. 3 dead ringer wins and thrown away in last 10 or even extra time is not good enough in this league. Lets see more Henshall please. We can and must get it together starting Saturday and then have the most marvellous festive run to a very merry Xmas! I am bringing the lady up for 3 days and plan ton fit a game in. I rather believe that we will.... Have a great week-end Warky and the General! Do they still have those naughty postcard old fashioned machines on the pier!
Either use Henshall now or loan him out until January. In all honesty, Mick is VERY unlikely to pick Henshall/Williams AND Bishop in the same side. Unfortunately for Henshall, the other two are better albeit in different positions. Though, with Mick stating about making changes that could perhaps lead to a new approach/system with 4-3-3 scrapped at the pool.
Wouldn't be surprised to see MM use 3-5-2 at blackpool, the 2 centre backs pick themselves, as does Parr and Mings out wide. the 2 holding players could probably be Bru and Hyam, with Joniesta playing just behind Didsy and Murphs.
Gotta be worth a go hasn't it. No offence no Sammon but right now he should NOT be in the line up. Happy to have him in the squad though. I think there may be a good couple of changes at Blackpool, perhaps a shock or two also.....
I thought Sammon did alright in the last game. He hassled the defenders and chased the ball down well. He may not score many but I could see his benefit to the team. It looked like we missed him a bit when he went off, just one of the reasons for me that we couldn't hold the ball further up the pitch.
We wont go with wingbacks. We have said every week for about the last 2 years that with our players its the obvious formation but MM seems very sets in his ways. For Sammon see Nouble - a non goalscoring striker who seems to try hard but really doesn't do much. Hardworking but mainly ineffectual. Maybe a bit harsh but basically true in my eyes!
I haven't seen a great deal of Sammon but I think although he's not superb with the ball, his movement is very good, he offers an extra outlet when we're on the ball that McGoldrick and Murphy do not provide, someone running the channels and that ball over the top or in behind the defence, sometimes I think Murphy and McGoldrick can be a bit static as a pairing. Not only does Sammon offer another outlet be he creates space for other players, particularly Murphy, who I think is benefiting from playing alongside him
The problem with having Sammon in the team (with McG and Murphy) is you're sacrificing another body in midfield, which is why we are being pegged back late in the game. Teams now know that we will run our socks off for 70 minutes, and we'll get knackered in the last 20 mins. It's no coincidence that since we've gone 3 up front, we've conceded late in pretty much every game. We need to go back to a 4-4-2, and stop teams from attacking us in the last 20 mins. Because we are so knackered in the last 20, we are not good enough to play keep ball, we keep hoofing it up to Murphs or Sammon, but it's coming straight back, and as we only have 3 in mid, teams are finding it easy to get past our midfield. So, to go back to the original post, i'd give us a C- (could and should do better in the next third of the season)
I'd agree with alot of that. I think Sammon has made us more dynamic upfront because of the space he creates and his movement but the last half an hour of each match we play it's like ground hog day. We play 100miles and hour in the first half come the last half an hour our players get tired which means we can't play the high pressing game we rely on and we aren't great at keeping the ball, so we end up being fairly open in midfield Mick then thinks we need to hang on, takes a striker off and brings a CB on which ultimately means we get deeper and deeper because you haven't solved the problem which is suring up the midfield and this inevitably means we concede, this has happened frequently this season!!!
2 good posts Ptc and Stretchy... so who de we put in the middle to push on and prevent us falling back? And should we then take off Sammons? Answers pse on a nice Blackpool pc... so long as its... pc!
I would like to see Anderson back on the right as i think he offers a bit of both attacking and defending , but the problem then would be what do you do with Williams? You could play with a narrow 4-3-1-2, have Skuse, Hyam and Collison (if fit) in the middle, with Williams given a free role. You then have to get Murphy helping out left mid when required, and Williams on the right - given us a 5 man midfield, and hopefully stopping the ball getting to our third. Failing that, drop Williams and going with a traditional 4-4-2.
