We haven't scored a goal away from home since the 1-1 draw at Brighton in September. That Brighton game was followed by 1-0 defeat at Blackpool where we showed all the aggression of a dead sheep. Then we went down at Millwall by the same score because the same sheep turned up and were bullied by a by a team set up tactically to win the game. Holloway clearly out-managed Slade with arguably far inferior resources on which to draw. Worse was to come in the next one with a 3-0 drubbing from another bottom 3 club at Bolton - truly a game to forget. We showed a fraction of the effort of, and let's be honest here, another very poor side who'd been whipped up by Lennon to get a result. Then it was on to Brum. Another blank scorecard for us but thankfully Brum were as bad - maybe even worse - but we were firing blanks with Kiko and ALF. The question is, was that point at Brum progress in any other sense at all other than the fact we got a point from it? If we get anything against a really decent side like Watford there needs to be something more radical in Slade's magic bag. Hanging his hat on the home results is a diversion. If I'm being honest, I'll have to say that the four home wins we all keep hearing about have been far less convincing performance-wise than many would like to believe. More of the same away from home will be a disaster and there's no way he's going to get this club in contention by the end of the season.
Dai - the away form is obviously poor especially when you consider the opposition we've faced - all four of the clubs we've just floundered against Blackpool, Millwall, Bolton and Brum have been bottom 6 contenders all season. I'm just as concerned for our home form. We have not been convincing at all. We've never looked comfortable against the last four except possibly Leeds who are just hopeless. This needs some inspiration to go with the perspiration - not that I've noticed much of that from a few out there. They ndo try but it just ain't happeneing like it should.
could be a tell all game this weekend, Watford have lost their last 3, Derby at home and Ipswich and Brum away. ALF needs to start scoring now or get Jones up there. However having said that you are only 3 pts out of the six, funny league this one.
Compared to what we did under Ole there has been progress in that we have a more settled club, players know their roles, a number of players have been told to look for new clubs and the biggest plus point, the return of Turner to give more strength, organisation and communication at the back (okay we all now his distribution is not the best but his defensive attributes outweigh that at this level and he is a real threat from corners and free kicks). How he and Morrison deal with the little and large threats of Vydra and Deeney will be key for us to get points tomorrow. However, to move things on from here Slade needs to show more imagination in his team selection and tactics otherwise he risks being regarded as a latter day Dave Jones. With up to 10 to leave we must hope Slade sees what the fans see and get people in to make us more combative in the middle of the park and someone who knows how to find the back of the net.
4-4-2 won't work away from home. The game is not set up these days for 2 wingers who keep on drifting in, rather than getting to the byline and crossing for the forwards. And even if they did Macheda and Le Fondre are as poor a front duo as there is in this league meaning any chances would be spurned. Best chance for a goal is a free kick, or corner. City need to IMO adopt a 4-5-1 with Morrison or Daehli sitting in front of the midfield due. That means dropping Le Fondre. Even when he is clear on goal as at Millwall he failed to chip the keeper. Mind you Macheda's one on one effort at B'ham wasn't much better. 0-0 would not be a bad result tomorrow. Win your home games, draw the away ones is an established pattern for promotion. City need to look possibly at better away chances than Watford. Unfortunately they have had most of the bottom 6 already away and have been hopeless. The next bunch include high flying B'mouth Norwich, Charlton & Boro. Cannot see much joy at any of those. A win away will come. Won't it? But not tomorrow IMO.
Stabilisation was obviously the way to go after Ole's erratic policies. To paraphrase what Slade has said, without a stable base off which to operate, you can't go forward. That's been his priority and to a certain extent it has come off with more or less the same dozen players featuring in his first 8 games, as opposed to Ole who used a staggering 25 in a similar period - that was just crazy. The point is, where do we go from here? There has to be a certain degree of variation because the opposition and circumstances vary - they aren't the same for every game. There's a danger that Slade's "one size fits all" approach could be our downfall. I'm prepared to admit it's still fairly early days and having Tan allegedly hovering in the background setting out his own stall can't be helpful, but at grass roots level where Slade should be operating, he has to mix it up at some time to suit the job on the day. Sticking with the same system and personel in the hope that it is going to work every time is as much a hit and hope policy as Ole's poor judgement multi-change tactics. If he continues to do that and doesn't get the results, he's not the manager we needed. I'm more than prepared to give him a chance, but once "stabilised" he has to move on, otherwise the best we could say about his appointment is that he kept us up.
Good points OS. His seeming refusal to alter the formation away from home smacks of stubbornness. An attribute which sets managers apart is the ability to adapt team personnel and formation to suit the opposition. When City have gone 1 down in their away games under his stewardship, the reaction from the bench (and thus the team) has been pitiful. That needs to change. As City have yet to go 1 up in an away game in recent memory, one cannot predict what the team reaction would be. Probably would be to hold onto dear life for what they have. Another problem City have as stated in the WM today by Jason Perry is the lack of pace on the break away from home. Craig Noone is by far our quickest player but he seems to have lost a yard of pace since returning from injury. I've all but written this season off, if they make the top 6 them who knows what will happen but to do that City need to put a run of 3-4 wins together. I don't think Vicarage Rd is the place to start.
4-4-1-1 is good for away matches. Im not a fan of playing 4-4-2 home or away tbh.. Depending on the players then 4-3-2-1 is a good formation to use.
What would "progress" be anyway? Stopping them scoring would be a start, but we must also be capable of a more postive side to our game. Watford haven't failed to score in any of their games at Vicarage Road so far this season whilst we've failed to score on the road since September. They score well and only the top 2 have scored more so far so we've got a reral task on stopping them. They're a much better side than Brum where we did at least shut them out and chances did come our way only to be squandered. Five across the middle properly supporting one up front will be needed to get anything out of this, and even Slade just recognising that would be regarded as progress in my book. A few on here including me have suggested that Jones up front instead of both Macheda and ALF to get that 5th man in the middle would be the way to go, but I wonder.
The biggest progress was he agreed to bench Macheda. Jones was the epitome of a target man needed for an away game like that - Macheda could never do that job. Jones looked pooped in the second half but he'd done his job. ALF looked sharp around him and was very unlucky that a lot of Kenwyne's flick ons didn't drop quite right for him.
One day all those flicks and touches will come off and we will slaughter someone. I just don't know when.
