Fully agree with 1-4 Just want to be entertained dont expect to beat the big teams but just need to have some fun but feel with the attitude of the stewards who are intent on turning the home crowd into a theartre environment while the away fans do as they please and the back passing sideways passing non attacking style we have adopted so as to survive does not make it the electrifying day out it should be Point there with all the sideways passes I saw yesterday I assumed we would probably bringing in Sammy Clingan in the summer
Let's be honest there is nothing new it's been going that way for a while. 4) Even though his injured and Bunn has been an excellent stand in but we need to keep Ruddy.
Actually I think you'll find Carrabuh is one of the most constructive posters on here - would you rather he just sat there nodding his head and changing his opinion like the wind like so many in here do? I personally find him one of the most interesting posters on here, and find it astonishing the amount of unqualified stick he gets on here from people with a fraction of his knowledge of the game. He gets called stubborn, I would say he's just sticking to his guns, and I've not seen anything in the last two months to suggest that his opinion is as ridiculous as some would have you believe. I've seen yet another reference on this thread to the "all out attack" style of football we played under Lambert - when are people going to get it in their heads that we never played all out attack??!! Perhaps we did in League One but certainly not in the Premiership. Honestly, some people really don't have a clue
Excellent post TMC. Yes, I was one of those who mostly disagreed with his posts on the old 606 and as you point out, he brings a touch of realism to these boards. I don't quite agree with his dislike of Hughton, but other than that he tells it like it is!!!
Until yesterday I was OK with him staying, I am of the opinion now due to the constant flow of evidence from this season however that he will be taking us backwards next season. I have no idea how Van Wolkfswinkle (if we sign him) will make the slightest bit of difference unless that midfield is allowed to broaden its horizons.
Sorry Jarrold but I wholeheartedly disagree with this, the whole trouble with our passing is that we don't go sideways enough. Its to the wings at the first opportunity (half way line) and the ball will stay there until a long cross comes in to hit one person. Sideways passing stops the opposition attacking (providing you keep it), it creates time to think, it creates space and it creates confidence and momentum through sustained possession.
Tactics aren't my strong point, as I'm sure other posters have noted, so I'd like to ask a genuine question. Over the last ten games or so, why does there seem to be no one available in midfield when we have the ball, so that all we can do is hoof it forward (and invariably lose possession) rather than pass it around? Is it because we can't trust Johnson to pass it accurately enough so we don't dare risk that kind of game? Is it because the players are out on the wings and too far away for close careful passing? Is it because the midfield is still lying too deep?
I'm hardly a tactics guru, but we seriously miss an on-form Wes in the middle, as he acts as the link for all play to go through. In the 4-4-2, our central midfielders are tasked with breaking up play, but they are asked to sit pretty deep, which creates a gap between them and the strikers, who rarely came short. That meant all the DM's could do was shift the ball to the wings, and hope Snodgrass or Pilks/Hoolahan could put something into the box from out wide. The DM's are too afraid to commit forward to help out. It also doesn't help that neither of the players in that position have the range of passing to create something from deeper. Johnson is excellent at breaking things up and the simple stuff, but I've only once this season seen him try to play a ball over the top to try and get someone in behind the defence. Fox is out of the picture, and Howson is in poor form at the moment. When Tettey was playing well, another feature of our play is that he wasn't afraid to carry the ball and get into more advanced positions, he was actually hitting shots from the edge of the area! That has really happened since before Christmas now, and we miss it. So basically, with the 4-4-2, we're solid defensively because we really have 6 defenders, but our only attacking threat comes from out wide, set pieces, or long balls up to Holt in the hope he'll win a free kick, or get some kind of knock-down. But, 4-2-3-1 offers us more options. Wes, when playing well, is always making himself available to be a positive pass when the DM's have the ball. He provides the ground-level link to Holt, and tries to bring others into play. At the moment, Wes has been either out of form or out of position, so he's been less effective at this. Going forward, for now I'd like to see us play 4-2-3-1 with Hoolahan central, and Kamara wide left (the rest pretty much picks itself, but the occasional game for Fox would be nice). That way we should still have some kind of central link-up play, and when the ball goes right, Kamara would be tasked with getting into the box to support Holt, giving defenders two threats to contain. Snodgrass has actually been pretty good at this, but Pilks/Hoolahan have provided less service than Snodgrass has, so he's had fewer opportunities to get into the box. Kamara has the pace and aerial threat to do this, and Johnson should be able to help cover any defensive gaps left by him over-committing. Kamara ran an awful lot on Saturday, so I think he'd be able to get back pretty quickly, even if he is tired out after an hour. Into next season, I think the 4-2-3-1 is still the way to go, but I think we need a Defensive Midfielder with more vision, to help launch attacks from deeper (and create competition) and an attacking midfielder to compete with Hoolahan (Butterfield maybe?). Another important signing would be a new Centre forward with more pace. Currently defenders know they can catch up with Holt, so can take a high defensive line, which closes up the space between the lines that Hoolahan has to work in. We've seen when Kamara came on late that his pace caused defences to sit deeper, giving us more space to build in. A kind of Holt/Kamara hybrid would be nice, to act as a target man and an out-ball for the defence when needed, to win knockdowns and threaten in the box, but also have the pace to potentially get away from defenders. A LB and CB would complete my summer signings. A budget of £20m doesn't sound unreasonable, ~£2m for Garrido, ~£3-4m for the CB, see if Butterfield can play Hoolahan's role in pre-season, and spend large chunks on the DM and CF. I suppose a left winger to push Pilks/Kamara would be nice too. I'd play with a single striker home and away, but when away play Johnson with the new DM, and at home, either give Howson/Tettey significantly more freedom to push forward, or in games we should really, really be winning, Surman to offer extra creativity. Just my $0.02 anyway, and I'd love to see what other think.
