So, out of interest, what position should a squad as talented as ours be in? Particularly as the majority on here would agree that we're a number of players short of a top of the table team.
14th according to some. Then the same ones tend to whinge that we should be higher wjen level on points with playoffs going into Xmas.
I seem to think (although I could quite easily be wrong) that during our promotion seasons we didn't get too affected by injuries and were always able to cover the losses, sadly it seems in the last few seasons we've been hit by injuries to really key areas, now some may say we should have more depth, and I agree, but we really do have shyte luck when it comes to injuries recently.
There seem to be more injuries across the top 2 divisions currently. Listened to some ridiculous stats about Premier league injuries - something like 180 out of 600 out. When we play Boro on we'd they'll have 8 out, when they had 10 missing last sat. Some are saying it's schedules but I'm not convinced that accounts for it. Not every PL side has European games and we play more in a league season in the championship anyway. I'm wondering how much it is to do with the lack of give when studs are planted in your average synthetic-stitched hybrid pitches they all play and train on these days. Maybe the downside to playing beautiful football on billiard tables into winter comes at more of a risk than those mud-bath rolled flat with sand type pitches that were all too common only 20 years or so ago? Just a thought.
Remember when they played Vinagre as an attacking fullback but Slater inside left to shore it up a bit? Might be a way of getting natural width in the side without any wingers. Coyle and Christie on the right?
The level of fitness and the exertion on the body is much higher than it has ever been. The diets, the training schedules, all the science monitoring and backing everything up. Nowadays they are pulling every last drop of physical performance that a players body has to give, I don’t think we were quite where we are now 20 years ago.
Perhaps. Im not saying the game isn't better as a result of modern techniques, it most patently is, but it's the prevelance of certain soft tissue and ligament injuries that makes me wonder of there's some difference in interaction with non-standard studs and the kind of turf that's now commonplace that's exacerbating it all. I'm not buying the number of games ****e. Play more, train less. Physical load is the same on a 3 game week. You have spent money on a squad, so use it. And besides, players would rather be playing than training anyway. Which says something in itself. Dunno, I accept the level of athleticism is greater, so players are pushing boundaries more. Guess it's just gonna become even more of a squad game going forward.
We make way too much of an issue of people like Slater or Traore playing on the wing. Realistically Slater is the obvious player to come in tomorrow and unless we tweak the shape of the midfield to not have out and out wingers, he'll be on the wing. People obsess over "correct positions" but sometimes you don't have the ideal player available in every position and at times it makes more sense to play a good player slightly out of position than to play a worse player. Slater on the wing has always been fine, he often scores goals from there. Traore has had a disappointing season on the whole, but he's had good and bad games both in the middle and out wide.
And on injuries. We really haven't had all that many this season. I'd guess no worse than the average championship team. Last year we had 10 or 12 players missing for every game throughout the autumn, and even once it started to clear up it was still 5 or 6 for most of the second half of the season. This year we had a brief spell were we had 4 or maybe 5 out, but mostly it's been no more than 2 at a time.
Dunno if Vinagre's available, but once or twice Slater inside left with Vinagre the overlapping fullback has worked.
I don't think we've been cursed any more than anyone else this season. It's just unfortunate that all our natural attacking width is injured coming into a key spell in the season.
I think we've found during the season that we're short of out and out wingers. In pre-season it looked like we'd have plenty, but Allahyar has lost his way for whatever reason, we missed out on Rak-Sakyi on deadline day because of another deal falling through late on, and Vaughan seems to have stalled a bit too. It's left us with two trusted wingers so whenever one is injured (and often Lokilo is) we're immediately short. I'm sure it'll be a priority to address in January, but in the meantime, we have an array of talented players who can fill in there who some clubs would dream of being able to choose from.
Always a tough place to go, listening to Liam's pre-match presser he mentioned 3 at the back as an option. With 2 wingers out and would be happy if they did go with 5 across the midfield, Christie or Coyle on the right and Vinagre on the left with Slater/Seri/Morton in middle, with 2 up from Delap and Twine. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Recollection for me is Aluko going down during 12/13 - and replacing him with Boyd and Gedo - and perhaps Faye struggling with injuries at times, but outside of that it was a reasonably fit squad. In 15/16 though I thought we had a lot more issues with fitness with Huddlestone, Diame, Hernandez etc. struggling to play three games in a week.
He said the words "go to a 3" but I think he was talking about the midfield, not a back 3. He's said before that he never wants us to play a back 3 out of possession because it doesn't fit in with the high pressing he wants us to do. We do at times have 3 at the back when we have the ball but I wouldn't ever expect to see us play an out and out 3-5-2 under Rosenior.
I wasn't commenting on "what position should a squad as talented as ours be in" and I didn't even say "a squad as talented as ours". The OP was commenting on the achievement of how he has "turned the ship around". I simply pointed out that so he should have done, having "...inherited some talented players and been v well supported by our owner in 2 transfer windows".
