Ollie is too stubborn and does things none of us would do including picking Yeni ahead of Shodipo Have Gladwin as 1st sub. Playing Grant Hall in midfield. Come on Ollie, that is absolutely scandalous Playing Washington up front, on his own, AT HOME. Playing as well as we did 2nd half and losing in the last 5 mins is relegation material as is losing to the likes of Rotherham and Wolves and not breaking Derby's sequence which I guarantee happens next game. It pains me to say it but if there are 3 worse teams in our division it's only 3. We need to realise asap what's happening. I am sure the fans do but IH and the players need to wake up as once (when I feel, not if) we hit the bottom 3,it could be too late to turn it around as we don't seem to have the stomach for it. Hope I am wrong but I like to think I know enough about football to smell this particular rat a mile away. Sunday needs to be.. Smithies Perch Onouha Hall/Lynch Bidwell Shodipo Ariel Cousins Polish winger Polter/Sylla and Washington No Luongo, no Chery as they mess up whatever system we have.
IMO we should replace Holloway with Rowell now if we can while he is available, if we can't get big Sam or Pulis, sell Washington ASAP and bring in a striker who can score. Easier said than done. You say you'd replace Yeni, but I just read he was about our best last night on WLS.
If relegation means the board Lf an friends f off then bring it on!! Clubs rotten from top to bottom! No leaders on or off the pitch!
Perch had a good game...Hall did too, as did Cousins No problem with Bidwell, Luongo, Lynch or even Ned. But no teeth up front..Yeni was moved from pillar to post...not sure he knew what he was expected to do, Conor was anonymous.....and Chery did nothing
Agree 100% regarding Luongo and Chery. Both flatter to deceive and while on paper they are central to the way we play they actually provide no kind of hub for the rest of the team. Also agree that playing Hall as a holding midfielder was a shocking choice and underlines the growing criticism of IH's selection policy. Other obvious examples are thinking that Washington can ever play as a lone striker (or indeed even as a striker at this level) and playing with zero width until the belated introduction of Shodipo. There is no doubt that IH has done what he is good at and brought a lot of team spirit to the dressing room but this is being cancelled out by naive tactics.
Why is playing Hall in front of the back 4 so terrible. To me it seems to work, and should lead to r=the backs being freer to play as wing backs. I can make loads of criticisms but that is not one of them...
Beth, you really must try and get along to a game now and again. Hall is an awful midfielder with a terrible 1st touch and no passing ability .Reminds me too much of Ollie of old, square pegs etc. Sad we don't have a 20 y o in the reserves that is a proper midfielder but then that could be said about many positions.
Stan dupp. ..I am a ST and for all my sins, I go to (nearly) all matches. I disagree entirely with you about Hall...He is solid in front of the back two...his touch is ok....and he is athletic .. Off all of Ollies faults....Hall as a holding midfielder instead of Sandro or Henry, is n
At the moment on current form (last 8 matches), we are bottom of the form table with 4 points. That, more than anything, will send us down. Our form, even when we were winning the odd game, was poor so this hasn't suddenly happened, it's been creeping up on us all season and now we are just one win ahead of the relegation zone. So many other teams are picking up points around us and I wonder whether we have the balls for a battle...
let's try Hall and Lynch together in central defence and put Onouha on bench. whatever we do, we need to try something diff as current strategy is clearly not working. who then becomes captain?
Players who look good, or at least adequate, in theory aren't in practice. This has been the case for 5 seasons. The only ones I can think of who consistently did their job to a decent standard were Ryan Nelsen, Richard Dunne and Charlie Austin. Isla and Vargas could have delivered if they were played consistently in positions which they excel in. Smithies is getting there. Buying new players or changing formations and managers feels like Titanic deck chair arranging. What the **** is wrong with this club? It's beyond me, I still look at this squad and think 'yeah, that's ok, or perhaps better than ok' when obviously it isn't. I am almost beyond caring.
Thats my point exactly. I like Ned a lot, honest player, and I suspect a very honest and loyal person...I LIKE HIM A LOT...but he should not be our captain Joey Barton...... hated him, nasty slimy backstabbing eogotistical freak Who would I perfer to have as a captain on the field in the next match vs AVilla...Joey. When he wanted it to be, he was a magnificent motivator...but when he wanted it to be...for his own agenda. So if he was here now, and buying in to the team...this team would be in the play-off places...but conversely, if he considered it not worth his bother...we would be even worse off than we are now...in the bottom three with a team at is own throat So we need someone in between the two, we need Clint I hope we have the person in Lynch, who I hope and believe will become our new captain
I would go for Lynch because, as long as he can stay injury-free, he is looking like our best defender. a captain shouldn't be important as we are not talking cricket here, but I feel we do need a 'leader', one way or another.
