YES. 100%. Maybe King would get on the end of at least one of the balls that are crossed in?! Or maybe use his pace to get onto the one of the balls that are played over the defence. I really can't believe barmby hasn't tried this yet. He's obviously really strong, full of pace and from tonight we've seen he's got a shot on him... You'd just hope that Barmby has at least considered this, i'd be a bit worried if he hasn't.
We're going in circles here. I just can't appreciate the point as I feel it's a squad/tactical issue rather than Cairney as an individual - Do you have an answer to that rather than re-wording the same point? I think I've just failed miserably in my attempt to not come across as a total arse when saying that
Some points: Problems are lack of goals and no plan b. Cairney has played better in the last two games than he has previously this year. Good first half outing by King. Full backs seem to attack more than the wingers. Lots of standing around. Happy to sit in midfield with the ball, rather than enter the final third. Failed to recognise their keeper needed touches every time he kicked the ball, yet he was rarely closed down. Substitutes don't often change the game for the better for us. Atmosphere is dire. It's not that people don't sing, but rather they don't listen. A chant starts off in E1/2 and by the time E5/6 join in, they are all singing different parts of the chant/song and it quickly dies out. Need to sign Mannone up permanent. Hobbs and Chester were excellent again, either goal was hardly their fault.
I think the sideways passing thing is just a City tactic. It's the way Barmby likes us to play not Cairney's fault. As for his glaring deficencies, he can't defend, so what? If you start leaving quality footballers out because they can't defend what is football coming to? Only 3 or 4 years ago it was common to have one playmaker and one ballwinner, and 2 strikers too! Now every team sets out with 5 in midfield and at least 2 of them are defensive. It's pretty obvious that only one or two players in their half isn't getting us goals so why not try attacking a little bit? Settle for just one of the DMs and put some quality alongside them.
I'm pretty sure I come across as a total are with every post!! There is definitely an issue with the system, not just Cairney, the point I'm making is that to me we looked weaker in the middle of the park with Cairney in there instead of Evans. I don't think all of the players are comfortable with the system Barmby employs, Fryatt needs a partner for us to get the best out of him, the winners or wide forwards as they seem to be in our current style don't offer him the support he needs, for some reason no matter who plays wide seems to come inside at every opportunity onto the particularly bad part of the pitch rather than trying to get around the back of defence and get the ball across the six yard box. We ok very easy to play against at home, if a team plays two banks of four with the defence quite deep our only chance of a break through seems to be a 25 harder from Koren.
I'd say we saw why not tonight, we looked no more likely to score ad a result of Cairneys quality on the ball but looked far more likely to concede a a result of the deficiencies I mentioned.
I thought Cairney was good and if I was him I'd be pissed off with the front 4 tonight, he kept bringing the ball forwards looking up just waiting for someone to make a run behind the defence for him to play it through yet all anyone does is move away and run out wide, not once did someone offer him the simple run off the shoulder for him to play, he just ended up holding onto the ball as long as e could before being forced to turn and pass backwards or sideways, that's another thing he's ****ing good at playing his way out of danger, he rarely gets tackled or gives the ball away. He also offered those forward runs which everyone is banging on that Evans should be doing, and he's got hell of a shot on him. For me it's an absolute no brainier playing him and after a few games he should get more comfortable banging in a goal or two and the players in front will get more used to his game and offer him the right runs. When we're a team that's so easy to defend against by dropping deep we need more than one player who's capable of scoring from outside the box or it's even easier for them. I'd like to see Cairney start the rest of the season.
I agree with pretty much all of that - I just feel that the back five, plus McKenna and Evans, is a little too defensive. The reason we concede so little seems to be that we practically have a back 7. Granted Evans and McKenna do get forward from time to time but not enough. The midfield pair should contribute evenly to attack and defense - whether that be two players doing 50-50, or one defensive, one attacking. At the moment I feel that McKenna and Evans are about 75% defensive and 25% attacking, which is why I say I wouldn't mind sacrificing one for Cairney. To be honest though I wouldn't mind dropping Koren out of the team. Guaranteed I get told off for this but other than his 10(?) goals, does he really contribute that much? Granted those goals have bagged us several points, which could be vital.. but my point is - is it enough to earn 90 minutes every game? He just doesn't appear to do much. It's like he's performed for only 10 minutes collectively all season - ie, a highlight reel of his goals would literally demonstrate all that he's done this season. I'm not convinced I've made my point very well, but I know what I mean
Did anyone else notice the difference between the two teams during half time? The southampton subs had a coach with them and they were doing proper warm up exercises whilst ours just stood around doing a silly keepy up game........ shows the difference in attitude between the two teams, maybe why they are top of the league!
I said this during the first half that i would be tempted to drop koren. He does seem to have gone off the boil somewhat. The problem then would be who to play there instead. Im not sure we have anyone that is really suited to play in that position other than koren
Yes I noticed this too, when you think about all the intricate planning that goes into the players' daily lives (what they eat, what they do, rest:work ratios etc.) it seems bizarre to me that substitutes are just having a game on the pitch while the opposition are warming up properly. Apart from anything else they were contributing to the wear on the pitch!
I wouldnt mind king being given a go up front as that is clearly his normal position. He cant be much worse up there than what we already have. Managers trying to convert fast strikers into wingers is one of my most hated things in football. If you sign a player as a striker because you have been impressed with him as a striker then why try and play him on the wing! I dont think i can name one striker that has been succesfully converted into a winger, we tried and failed to do it with ***an and we now seem to be trying to do the same with king
That's just utter madness about Koren, yes apart from scoring 10 and assisting at least half the others you mean, his link up play is vital to our style and he may of gone off the boil a little but we'd be a far worse team without him. Far worse.
This was the conclusion i came to in the end! As i said, its finding someone to replace him and do a better job there that is the problem and i dont think we have anyone!
It was just a thought, not a strong statement. I haven't gone to a great deal of games this season (but will be there for the remaining home games) and all I've really seen are his goals, other than that I've not noticed much contribution. And Brough, I don't think we have anyone to replace him in that role, I was thinking more about switching to a 4-4-2, therefore his role wouldn't exist. I would like to see us play for a few games without Koren though, but at this stage of the season there's no room for experiment.
Not sure I'd want to be dropping Koren, but I'd be interested to see Oli given a go in that role. Sure he's a pussy, but he can pick a pass.
Cairney was quality today. For me he was the best person on the park. I'd love him to do what he does when in the Koren role ie in between the oppositions defence and midfield. I would love to see a midfield 5 on Saturday of Evans and McKenna as defensive midfielders with King wide right, Koren wide left and Cairney in the hole behind Fryatt. Some of our fans don't understand what Barmby is trying to do. Watch Swansea play - they play their way out of trouble at all times and Rogers doesn't have a go if someone tries something that doesn't go right. It's clear this is the way Barmby wants to play.
Time to throw caution to the wind and change the formation? Mannone Rosenior Chester Hobbs Dawson Brady McKenna Evans Garcia King McLean Sacrilege! Dropping Koren and Fryatt!
Clearly the best player for us was Josh King. He was fantastic. Anything dangerous went through him. Tom Cairney is a player who games just pass by. He's slower on the turn than Olofinjana. He's so one-footed it's ridiculous, everything is about getting nice and settled on the ball so he can do something average on his left foot. And it takes him ages to get to that stage. The game slowed down every time he got the ball. From how people talk about him on here, I was expecting defence splitting passes...he did nowt. One good effort on goal in the 2nd half. Good job it fell on his left, if it was on the other side we'd have had to wait 30 seconds for him to switch it over, and by then possession would be lost. Do you seriously think he was the best player on the pitch? Better than King? Maybe you should watch a different sport. Evans came on, won possession a number of times and charged forward in support of the forwards. He was pretty much showing Tom Cairney how it's done. I don't think our Tom has had a decent game since the Premiership. I can't remember who it was against, but he had one decent game and I think his entire reputation is still based around that. For me, he offers nothing.
