Am I alone in thinking Pedro could be a proper player for us? He’s not a lone striker, he’s not a hold up player, he has no strength, speed or physique but he has a brain and a decent touch and keeps popping up in space. Play him in the right system I reckon he’ll score plenty at this level.
I agree he ran his socks off today, lots of runs don’t get played. He should’ve had one of theirs sent off too as he’d left him for dead with his movement
There’s been a lot of negativity on here today regarding the players but I think most of them are really struggling for confidence, not just as individuals but also as a team/squad. I know we’ve lost a few of our best players to injuries or a ban but I still feel like there’s enough quality in the squad to get us out of this mess. Hopefully, with the week to work with them, Daws and the rest of the staff can get a bit of belief back and come up with a way of playing that gets the best out of the players available. He really needs to move away from playing them out of position too. That definitely doesn’t help, as we saw with Drameh today, he’s not a bad player but had a mare today. It’s a problem position, so maybe it might be worth going to a three at the back and play Giles on the left, with Drameh on the right, moving Coyle inside alongside Jones and Hughes. We then have a lot of midfielders vying for two spots but maybe that’ll create some good competition. Ideally I’d prefer 4-2-1-3 but it still leaves us with the left back issue. It’ll be interesting to see what they decide and how it works. At least it’s better that watching us keeping on doing the same thing every game and coming away with a point or nothing at all.
Sort of see what you mean, but it's hard to be effective these days without at least some of the attributes you list. Initially I just thought he needed to get match fit and up to speed. That clearly wasn't the case. I now see him as a waste of a shirt. Perhaps he looks decent in training, when the intensity isn't the same as match day. Hopefully he doesn't start a game again for us. Might still be an option against tired legs for last 20 at a push.
There is space for a goal scorer in a system that doesn’t require your striker to be more like a giant holding midfielder.
Agree but the current system needs the forward to be far more involved than pedro is able to Give us a good old 3 5 2 With pedro n bedia
I think it's a tactical question with Pedro. He suits Walter's style perfectly - staying out of the buildup but always being in the box to meet crosses. In a Walter team that was playing well he'd score loads I think. But in say a Rosenior team I think he'd be totally unwanted because he can't link up and is slow. Suspect our next manager (and Dawson in the meantime) will be closer to the latter and he'll probably not be favoured. But then you can guarantee there'll be times where we get loads of balls in and whoever is up there lacks Pedro's ability to attack crosses. That always seemed to be the case with Oscar when he was at the club - when he was on the pitch nothing would go into the box, and when he wasn't it'd be cross after cross.
It was difficult to judge after Daw's having charge for such a short time, there were still glimpses of TW influence still, particularly in defence, but I thought second half things did improve a bit, particularly when Bedia and Burstow came on. Drameh was taken to task by Doak, who looks some player, and was at fault for the first 2 goals. I thought Simons had a reasonable game, Palmer also, he certainly tries to get us on the front foot, a lovely ball through to Pedro, and the defender should have got his matching orders, a definite red card. Kamara had a reasonable game, he looks is if he is still short on confidence. Omur is just wasted on the wing. Bedia and Burstow look better suited to our sort of game, Pedro just doesn't get enough type of ball that suits him. The defence just needs getting back to basics, often that are just too far apart and don't operate as a unit, they need to do what Liam did when he first came, get them organised. Let's hope with a week before the next game, Daw's can start to instil some confidence back into them, listening to Burstow's post match interview, TW relationship with the players was frosty, with little one to one inaction. Clearly has been a nightmare appointment, Acun needs t get the next one right.
Good paragraph in particular on the defence John.It's not functioning correctly,you could run a bus or two through it at any given time? Lewie Coyle is a good defender but all too often lately he's being asked to do far too much.He's fast becoming our one and only outlet up the right wing,I really don't know where Omur was supposed to be playing yesterday but Coyle was running the whole right side of the pitch by himself at times? We,as you say,need to go back to the basics here,tighten up our defence and let our midfield and forwards do the talking attack wise...
Next line up injuries permitting Pandur Coyle Jones Hughes Giles Simons Slater Kamara Longman Palmer Burstow
cheers Ernie, as always it seems there’s some should/would/could’s but ultimately another 3 points lost…
