Tom Cairney is being assessed before tomorrow night's game. Otherwise, all okay apart from the two long term injured pair. Bristol City have become our bogey team at the Cottage of late and there is of course 'That man Flint'. Their away form this season has been impressive as is their goal scoring (and that without our erstwhile loanee, Cauley Woodrow, most of the time). They'll play 4-4-2 and tight at the back. For us, home form is an issue - we've conceded more goals than we've scored - and something needs to change. - Have lost patience with Ayite, despite him scoring a perfectly good goal on Saturday wrongly ruled off side. Since returning from injury he's been more out of the game than in. - The pairing of Fonte and Kamara simply isn't working and the Gaffer has to decide on one or t'other. - Norwood is high on possession but low on potency and not sure he helps our beleaguered defence enough. - Kalas and Ream have struggled in recent matches and Bristol's Reid and Djuric 'aint going to give them a break. Bringing in Odoi, with three at the back, has to be worth considering. - Button's distribution on Saturday simply reinforced comments before that game. So, shaking it up a bit but not too much since the Gaffer won't do that: ........................Bettinelli............... ..Fredericks..Kalas..Ream...Soares... .......................McDonald.... ...........Cairney...............Johansen.. ....Mollo..............Fonte........Kebano... Yup, no Sessegnon. The lad needs a rest.
No doubt Slavi will be playing his only known 4 3 3 mostly failed system, but presumably apart from Button the majority will be playing in the wrong position. I do so hope i am proved to be wrong,and we can get to winning ways and climb the table ,but at the moment its only apathy and frustration for me.
I'm happy to keep the system as long as we change the emphasis - quicker passing, more desire to play forward as a first option. I agree with Cottager about the Fonte/Kamara combination. Unless we're going to go for 4-4-2 (or 3-5-2 for that matter), it should be one or the other. While Fonte may be, as Jokanovic says, 'good enough to play in any of the attacking positions', he's not as good as our other options for the wide roles. As I've said before, I'd pick him ahead of Kamara, but it should definitely be one or the other in our usual formation. If all of the midfielders are fit, then McDonald, Johansen and Cairney pick themselves. That said, I have a higher opinion of Norwood than Cottager. I thought in the first half against Bolton he was the midfielder who was most consistently looking to play forward and make things happen. Cairney had some superb moments - like the pass for the disallowed goal - but also took too long on the ball on several occasions. I wouldn't drop him, but I'd want him to speed up his decision making and play with more intensity.
Cairney is a way off being match fit Captain and when he is, he feeds off Johansen doing the hustle and bustle stuff in midfield. Norwood didn't do that for him on Saturday.
I think many of us (myself included) would be content with a draw at your place tonight. We have Diedhiou out injured - although Djuric has done well since coming back from injury - and arguably our best defender Baker is only 50/50 for tonight. We like to attack with pace and keep the tempo going. Our heads don’t go down after conceding anymore either but if your chaps are fit you should keep us out - or even nick it from a set piece.
I honestly can't remember the last time we scored from a set piece. It might have been Cairney's textbook-perfect volley from outside the area against Wolves last year.
Sorry I’ve just read my post back and it reads quite conceited and aloof - sorry it wasn’t meant like that at all. Our game is all about pace that’s all I meant - not to suggest you will need to park the bus or will be restricted to set pieces - im not underestimating you and no offence intended
And none taken redandwhite. Think we're well aware of what you're capable of. Just to follow up Surlyc's comment, the last time we scored from a corner was Boxing Day - says he hoping to get that monkey off our back tonight!
We are also a pacy team, so I'm not too worried about that; if you want to play football, that matches well for us. We're wasteful in terms of turning chances into goals but against a high tempo team we usually get our goals at the end when the energy eventually drops. What we are prone to is defensive errors down the middle - you'd do better just to pump long balls into our area, we can't deal with them at all!
The man in the middle is Scott Duncan. please log in to view this image We've never seen Newcastle born Duncan at the Cottage before. Yup, the second in quick succession from that neck of the woods and equally diminutive as Saturday's muppet. He has however ref'd us once this season. The 3-1 away win at Nottingham Forest, when he booked 2 of theirs. In all he's managed 15 games this season so far and dished out 40 yellow plus 3 reds. Will it be trick or cheat from the Geordie whistler tonight? Well, I'll leave you with this ominous quote from the Wolves captain after their match against Cardiff ... "referee Duncan should have taken a firmer grip on Cardiff's time wasting".
Sorry to butt in on your thread guys - hope both sides have a good game tonight - but that last piece from the Wolves captain got my hackles up. Isn't it funny when a team gets beaten they blame the other side for time wasting when in actual fact Wolves shied away from the fight all that game. They thought they were chocolate under Santo, and before the game their odious fans predicted they were going to beat us by 3 or 4 clear goals. Santo was out-managed by Warnock on the day and his side outplayed on the pitch - they were caught like rabbits in the headlights. Of course we only beat them because we time wasted. Although universally condemned, time wasting (various degrees of) is part of the modern game - how is it that the players in the team leading by the odd goal in a game are the only ones who suffer from cramp in the last 10 minutes?
Absolutely dire performance. No heart at all, appeared completely disinterested. No discernible tactics, no partnerships, no direction. Odd team selection, even odder substitutions. Second to every ball and while our opponents were treated lightly by the referee, when it happens -every- -single- -game- then the blame is on us. Bristol City simply beat us at our own game. I still believe Joka can fix this. But he needs to sort whatever issues he is having (he was right that we should not have sold Aluko, but if he can't get over that then he has to walk away) and imprint one vision onto this team. Disillusioned tonight.
The words of SJ “That wasn’t the best version of us,” he admitted. “To be honest, Bristol City played better football than us. They played at a different pace. “I changed the shape to try and find a solution and get a clean sheet and be a little more solid from the back. This plan didn’t work well and it’s completely my responsibility. Sorry but I didn't see a shape change, it was the same old, slow possession allowing the opposition to get back and defend in numbers yet nothing about the defence seemed more solid.
One again slavis plan was sussed within the first 10 min,but as Bristol s manager said, Fulham are a very good side, knowing this we knew we would have to change our tactical formation as the game progressed. Did we change our modus operandi no we, through our coach only having plan A no matter what,we persisted as before, It was so noticeable that even at half time he failed to address the vast gaps that existed through the centre of our defence created by his stereotype method of play.,The sending off of Kamara made little difference ,as his contribution was negligible. It appeared that the last 20min was played with 8 men Fonte & Soares putting in no effort whatsoever, which somehow resonated as time went on throughout the team. I do hope some of the Slavi supporters can give a valid reason for a coach who seem to have no tactical ability or cannot motivate, what is on the whole, a talented group of players. I stayed unlike many supporters to the bitter end often looking up to the heavens for some divine intervention even an undeserved draw but plan A prevailed. We are now in the wrong half of the table so something must be addressed be it a change of tactics, or the tactician, I appears that Kline our analytical adviser left, or was pushed this afternoon.
I watched a rather dodgy poor-quality live stream of the game and I admit I thought this was true - you had what looked like 2 decent shouts for a penalty turned down in the second half (1 foul and 1 handball) - and a few seemingly blatant fouls went unpunished. Like I said, it was a dodgy stream and they didn't do slow-motion all-angle replays so I might be wrong, but it looked like the ref was lenient towards us a bit. Thought you chaps played better with 10 men though - forced Fielding into making a couple of good saves. Having said that; its about 8l00dy time we got the rub of the green with the ref....!
Totally disagree rosc. Last night he played plan B and plan C and on that performance we now know why he hasn't used either before. Plan B started the first half 3-5-2. Realise that I've been advocating three at the back for some time but never did I imagine that they would play like complete strangers. Plan C started the second half 4-4-2. Ah, memories of the infamous Kit triangle but with so many square holes etc etc.
Cottager,we must agree to disagree . Plans B & C were played ?,To me there seemed little evidence of it. Regarding plan B you say made them look like novices, then surely the fault must be in his training sessions in which communication between players and coach is somehow lost ,never more evident than last night. We all wish to see a successful team and revolving door managers is not the answer, but managers and coaches are paid to achieve no matter what division, and after some 15 months or so this is not happening,my worry being if there is not a dramatic improvement in our performances we will undoubtedly lose several of our most talented players in the next transfer window. True or false Slavi is the highest paid coach in the championship. In the close season spent over 10m on goalscoring forwards Has amassed less points per ratio than Kit did.
We will indeed rosc. However I'll try and bolster my case by quoting Jokanovic: Plan B starting 3-5-2. "I changed the shape to try and find a solution and get a clean sheet and be a little more solid from the back. This plan didn’t work well". When he decided on this change is anybody's guess but where you are correct is that they sure as hell didn't put much practice into it on the training ground. Plan C going 4-4-2 at half time. “We were a bit confused in the first 45 minutes. In the second half we tried something different". And that didn't work terribly well either. This time though I'd look more at the players. The body language, with the exception of McDonald and Soares, was awful. Probably unfair to highlight him, but our captain spent more time time looking at his feet than what was happening around him.
I didn't think Fonte looked too bad as a centre forward, but by that time any support (and the game) had gone. AK kept going out to the right in search of the ball as well - our lack of a RW is really hurting everyone at the moment. Sessegnon was clearly frustrated by the same issue as he frequently ended up on the right as well and let's not even mention Fredericks. My concern is that players like Johansen & Fredericks are great when the team is winning but can turn toxic when they get frustrated. We need leaders to step up in this team (aside from McDonald that is, he is trying his hardest already). Lastly, David Button has to be dropped. I have never seen a player who responds so badly to a negative atmosphere, even if it is not aimed at him. He is clearly a good and talented keeper but once his head goes down, any ability/composure/skill/communication/leadership seems to evaporate in an instant. The centre backs then lose confidence as well and we cannot defend at all. Bettinelli may not be a more talented player on paper, but he definitely needs to be restored to the team right now.
