Supers - it is beginning to look that way and is most definitely worrying. Let's just hope that NA and the team have learnt a valuable lesson from last night and there is a change both in personnel and tactics before we take to the pitch on Sat!!
The thing is whilst changing things when they are not working is in some instances good, doing so and unbalancing the side is less so. Doing it 4 times in one match is may confuse the oposition, it may even have a positive effect, but most likely it will confuse our players. There is little enough time between matches to chop and change in the frenetic championship world, and again whilst no plan B was one of the biggest critisisms of Hootun, these looked more like throws of the dice than plans! Howson out wide??? as for your second point, after Hooton yes we all despirately wanted a more attacking approach this season and in fairness to Houton I'm sure even he would have been more inclined to have a go with lesser standard oposition. But there is no obvious plan of how we will break down oposing teams. Jerome and others look good getting in behind the oposition but when they turn up to defend that isn't happening, so what plan has he got or is employing to overcome this? I can't figure what the plan is? I do agree that the players selected are to blame in part, they really didn't turn up, but as with Hughtun might it be that the players are not buying in to the tactics or ideas of the management. I'm a little worried that Adams won over the dressing room with some promises that might just be holding us back. Martin as CB Whittaker game time Olsson definite starter When fit Hoolahoops too and Redmond (I actually think he might have been rested a bit more, but would not complain to much about his form, though still lacking end product, he is improving) May be there's nothing in that and its imagination and frustration getting the better of me. But I'm not sure how he can keep justifying Whittaker and Martin both playing and I thought Garrido played well earlier this season and with Olsson's indifferent form surely it might be worth a punt to see if he may have the deliveries to get us some goals. Last season dropping Olsson for Garrido would have seemed preposterous and I'm not suddenly thinking Garrido is the best thing since sliced bread, but he has to use his squad, not whole sale changes like Shrewsbury but for replacing out of form players and keeping everyone fresh. As RBF says its about balance, but also genuine competition for places. Totally agree with Supers posts again and RM2 i'd love to have Naughton back. Like RBF I just assumed that he would stick with a winning side, which has some merit but you have to look at horses for courses. And a very on form Middlesbrough away was goona be a very different proposition to Bolton at home. As Supers said he looks tactically niave if he really isn't looking at the oposition and thinking about changing things from game to game then that is a real worry. I'm not looking forward to having to predict the team for Saturday, my head says he must drop some of the underperformers, but my gut is telling me he'll make very few and worst of all persist with the Martin/Whittaker axis of incompetence. Bah!
I had been thinking that, It sort of reminds me of the 10 game run under Hootun. It was an amazing set of results but even during the run there were cracks waiting to bust open. If we draw another blank first half against Forest I can see things going pretty horribly. That said they are not brimming with confidence at the moment (Though they might be if they can beat Brentford) It will be another very average side that we need to get something against. Bah!
Very reasonable and very fair comments Supers. We may not be the best footballing side by a long chalk but we have Mick McCarthy and he has made all the difference! We work, work, work and then work some more and these boys never stop pressing. It is wonderful to see and last night we gave Wolves a real lesson. The scoreline doesn't reflect just how superior we were. There is still a long way to go with plenty of twists and turns but we are definitely back at the business end and if we keep up these levels of performances there wont be many teams in this league who will fancy playing us!
I am not panicking yet but i think the defense is our biggest problem, we should be going on runs of 3 or 4 games without conceding with the squad we have. If R Bennet isn't fit yet i would try Cueller and Turner as they have played together at Sunderland put Martin in his natural position and give Garrido a game . If Adams sticks with the same back 4 yet again it will not be appreciated.
Can't understand why NA purchased a couple of centre halves and took another on loan not to regularly play any of them. I can't be the only one scared by reading Turner's interview before the game in the EDP stating how well he thought he and Rusty were gelling and how solid the defence was. I can understand looking at the stats that before last night's debacle we had one of the meanest defences in the league which, I feel, hides the problems we have had. I can't imagine that it is overly taxing to defend when your midfield is dominating matches and possession. I reckon if you compared the number of goals we've conceded to shots on target our ratio must be one of the highest in the league. On top of this defensively we seem to make one or two absolute howlers every single match. Sometimes punished, sometimes not but we are giving the opposition far too many easy chances. The repeated lack of a cutting edge up front is also a major worry as we seem bereft of ideas. I don't think we are playing in too attacking a manner, I just think that the individuals in the defence are making far too many mistakes and we are being punished for them. We currently have a back five with an out of sorts keeper, a God-awful RB, a decent RB being player out of position ostensibly to aid his international career, a solid CB playing reasonably and a good LB horribly out of form making loads of mistakes. The obvious solution is to drop SW, put Rusty into his best position, bring in one of our CB's and then if MO makes another mistake throw Garrido into the mix. I think that our reserve back five on current form could do just as good a job as the incumbents who collectively could do with a kick up the backside. I would love to see Naughton back.
I'd happily see Garrido back in the line-up for Saturday. We conceded two goals in the four matches he played. He also has the delivery that we have been lacking. At this level he is an excellent fullback. Harsh to pin-point Olsson alone, but that's the way it is if your form is poor. I would like to see: Rudd Martin Cuellar Turner Garrido Redmond O'Neill Howson Lafferty Jerome Hooper Not going to happen, but that's what I would like to see.
Totally agree with you General, especially after the evidence of last nigh'ts tactics and substitutions!!!!
That's the perverse thing after the wrong team was played against M'brough, I could see him changing it, when a bang out of form Forest might actually be there for the taking and the team could prehaps be the right one again (Well barring the horribly out of form defense anyway. Bah!
I had the feeling that there was something circular about the arguments being made here and now I'm more convinced than ever. Don't get me wrong, I'm as concerned as everybody else about the performance at Boro, but I think a lot of 'hindsight' is being used unfairly. Other than the controversy about playing both Martin and Whittaker, did anyone really disagree with the chosen line-up before the match? JR you criticise the subs used, but what would you have done after we went 2-0 down? Bring on another defender? At half-time people on here were talking about doing another Cardiff (2-4). Praise has been heaped on Lambert for bringing on attacking subs, but suddenly that's naive and all wrong. What starting line-up would have been better? What exactly could have done at half-time to try to turn the match around? Criticising in hindsight is all very easy.
As I've said before I like Adams philosphy on football. I think that he is a good man manager and made some good signings. However I think some of the decisions he has made this season has cost us points. 1) Insistence in continuely starting Hoolahan irrespective of the system we are playing. Hoolahan at best is a bench starter / impact sub and if playing he needs to be played in his favoured position. Fortunately injury has now helped us out. 2) Insistence in playing Martin at CB. Martin is fine as emergency cover, but he is not good enough to play week in, week out at CB. Further more he is our best RB by some way. 3) Insufficient use of the squad, particularly midfielders. This will be a long hard season and surely the point of having quality in depth is to make use of it. Why Tettey, Howson, O'Neil & Redmond all played on Saturday and again on Tuesday night I really don't get. Johnson started the season well and was constantly played, strangely enough his performance levels dropped. He needs to chop and change the team around more to reduce tiredness in players and give other teams something to think about.
Martin is absolute clown at centre back, his whole entire attitude this season has really annoyed me too, he seems to think his the number one centre back at the club and it's now his strongest position just because his played there at international level, the man is utterly deluded he seems to think his some reincarnation of Beckenbauer or Moore Sadly even in his more competent position the back up is poor so unfortunately we have play captain fantastic.
Don't forget that Cuellar played as a right back for Villa. Clearly it's not his favoured or best position, but Martin O'Neil chose to play him there ahead of specialists in a Villa defense that was pretty tight. I'd hope he is capable of putting pressure on Whitaker and Martin in that position if they are not performing.
Good point not sure if Adams rates any of the new defenders, I know when they have played they haven't been too great but even Gary Doherty would get into this defence. I do think our problems at the back are mostly psychological, last season we had weak leadership on the pitch and I think we have the same problem at the moment.
