Today I have been giving further consideration to last Saturdayâs ultimately disappointing match against West Brom, how I see the players at the moment and the way I would like to see us go from here. This analysis does draw on comments already made by myself and others that I have agreed with in other threads. Iâm not going to include the goal keeper and back four, they would warrant a thread of their own. How I saw the players on Saturday: SWP seems scared to run at people with the ball. He had a number of opportunities but generally declined to do so. He also spent far too much time facing in the wrong direction. We need him facing our opponentâs goal, not our own. Obviously he was very, very unlucky to have his goal ruled out, but otherwise he didnât look threatening. Mackie on the other hand never turns down the chance to run at defenders. However his energy, determination and desire cannot hide the fact that he is not good enough at this level. His touch was disappointingly poor on many occasions. That said I would still be playing him as he does seem to lift the team. Faurlin made his usual reliable passes, some fantastic passes, tackled effectively, won most of those little headers he seems so adept at winning, took up good positions, tidied up loose possession nicely, and was always available to whoever had the ball, but he still occasionally looks out of place, almost bewildered. I canât quite explain it, but Iâve described him as sometimes looking like a little lost boy at times. Barton is generally effective, but doesnât get up to support the front men quickly enough, Faurlin wonât be doing this, so Barton has to. He does seem reluctant to gamble on going forwards early, we need him to. I donât suppose that he can answer how he missed that chance early in the second half. Helguson has been a revelation this season. He works the line well, and clearly we base most of our attacking play around his head and chest. My only criticism of him would be his shooting. I donât know if anyone else noticed that in the second half West Brom stopped competing for headers with him and just dropped off to pick up the second ball. We need to alter our game at that point but didnât. Had SWP been told to get closer to him, HH could have laid the ball back to him under no pressure and with SWP facing the right way. Bothroyd was very disappointing. He holds the ball up well, but then he is always looking backwards or at best sideways, never forwards. Iâm sure you all remember that goal he scored against us for Cardiff towards the end of last season, where has that gone? How I would like to see us going forwards: I know that a lot of people think that our improved performances are because we changed to 4-4-2, but I think that is actually the problem. I put our resurgence down to the return of Mackie, his energy and desire has clearly lifted the team. I think we attack too slowly and carefully. I would like to see a return to 4-2-3-1 with Barton and Faurlin as the defensive 2, Traore, SWP and Mackie the 3 and HH as the spearhead. Iâd agree that Hill isnât a Premier League left back, but he is a wholehearted performer who will perform to his best week in week out. I think that with the 3 in attacking midfield we should be able to get players to support Helguson quicker, and the inclusion of Traore would give some badly needed impetuous to our attacks. SWP and Mackie should be encouraged to swap positions at will as Mackie, Taarabt and Ephraim did at the beginning of last season when we were at our most fluid. If we attack with speed and movement are always going to trouble defences more, I guess the real question is are we actually good enough to do that?
Some good points raised Roller but personally I think too much responsibility has been given to SWP to score not only from the club but the fans expectation of him, however he has never been a prolific goal scorer so why should he start now? He has always been a provider that scores either break away goals or picks up on loose balls our problem lies in the fact we just have not got enough target men in the box on a regular basis and this is where Mackie should be encouraged to find that space and drift more into central positions, SWP can work the right side and we must rely on Traore to get forward from left back on the other wing. One more point we do not seem to interchanging the front players as much lately and this has been used to great effect confusing the hell out of defenses!
Some interesting points Roller. The most important one being that we don't get enough bodies forward quickly enough. I have banged on about the fact that I'm not a big fan of 4-4-2....here's why: As WBA showed, a team can easily play through us when we play that system. Mackie, although a hard worker will often be caught out wide, as that's where he is expected to be, whilst SWP is poor defensively. This leaves Ali and Barton badly outnumbered, which may explain why you feel that Faurlin looks "a little lost at times". I think he is simply outnumbered. This isn't helped by Barton imo. He still doesn't look as though he's trying his hardest for the cause (we all know he didn't want to leave Toon!) and he often seemed to go missing in the middle on Saturday. I agree that a return to 4-2-3-1 would be the way forward. Having 2 holding midfielders helps to guard against the back 4 being exposed, as they were too often in the 2nd half against WBA. I'd prefer Traore to stay at left back and get him to bomb forward as often as possible, using Mackie on the left of the 3 to help him out when we don't have the ball. The front 4 can then interchange, although with HH up top, it would be the 3 doing most of this. I'd give Adel another chance in the centre of the 3 and start with SWP on the right. As you say, how many times does HH win the ball only for it to run to the opposition back 4? However, even with the current system, Mackie and SWP should gamble more and make runs off HH when he's going for the ball in the air (he often wins it!!). I suspect the rigidity of the 4-4-2 stops them even trying this. Bothroyd should definitely be getting around him for the flick ons etc, but he doesn't, probably because he's a similar player (although nowhere near as good!) and also because he appears to be pretty lazy. 4-4-2 may work better with a DJ or Defoe buzzing around HH?
We ain't asking him to be prolific just be able to slide the ball home from 6 yards into an empty net.
It would also be nice to see us try and play the ball out from the back, instead of Cerny and formerly Kenny hoofing it upfield to no avail. We also need some raw pace in the side, it's the lack of pace as to why we can't get forward quick enough. Btw, good thread Roller, I cant fault yours or Cols analysis. I tried to formulate something articulate and insightful, but it came out like a regurgitated version of yours.
Agree with nearly all of your points Roller,looking at Bothroyd on Saturday was just like watching Ageymang all over again.We definately need to get more bodies in the box when were on the attack.The most important thing is to strengthen the defence,we just don't look like keeping a clean sheet at the moment.DJ could be a very important player for us,what with his virus and then his injury he has never really got started for us!
Agree with a lot of waht you both wrote Roller and Col as well. It's an advantage to be able to play different formations which I think we've shown we can do now. I'd also like to see a fit Adel given another go in the centre of an attacking 3 in 4-2-3-1, and also a fit again DJ playing up front with HH when we play 4-4 -2.
