Good point about us not having anyone on the posts in order to be ready to break. I'd prefer us to man the posts tbh. Can't agree about Traore. He did ok but excellent? No. Simpson will never be a wing back imo and Isla will be a permanent fixture there when available and if fit.
What did we learn yesterday? Isla and Yun should be our starting wing-backs. Ferdinand is still class. Don't ask Dunne to make a pass. Remy is still class. Put someone on the post at corners. Faurlin is still class Don't ask Barton to take set pieces. Zamora is still pony. Unanswered questions: Is Austin good enough for the Premier? Who should be our No.10?
Traore won all his headers and snuffed out Jellyfish which Bruce saw as a pen Both wingbacks positional play top drawer but as a team Roller on the money re our speed of break It will come as often with the ball with wing backs the ball travels sideways a lot looking for gaps Hull used to this system kept it tight as we are the home team ... That maybe Harold getting the basics right first Agree already it's screaming out for a number 10 with quick vision The ball is worked across in theory before feeding this absent number 10
Spot on, other than Zamora. The man is now and always will be a legend! Traore improved as the game went on. For the first 20 minutes he didn't win any headers and was terribly out of position. Don't get me wrong, I like him. I just want him to be more adventurous.
I appreciate the write up, Col, and agree with most of it. One disagreement was Traore who I thought had a very good game. I love his pace and his leap for headers was awesome. Remy was very impressive, creating chances out of very little, and showed what Charlie should aspire to. I'm sure he'll find his feet. We really, really need Loic to stay. After a strong start, Dunne faded badly with clumsy challenges and misplaced passes. I'd play Ned: he's not nearly as strong in the air but he's got the legs. Simpson was probably our worst player. I liked the 3-5-2 formation which I think worked well for us but Simmo was the weakest link. Harry probably thought he owed him this chance after last season but I can see Isla being the starter when fit. Joey's passing was disappointing and his set piece delivery was irritatingly poor and, because of this, we didn't put them under pressure at corners nearly as much as they did us. Overall, I thought we played well and the performance holds a great deal of promise for the future.
Harsh on Traore who looked a class act in the first half at least and only faded along with the rest of the team when Hull shut up shop after their goal. He suits 3-5-2 perfectly IMO. Generous to Austin who always seemed to be a fraction of a second too late to everything. That fraction making all the difference to a striker of course. Hopefully he will sharpen up but I do wonder if he may have stepped up one level too far.
Fair enough lads...........maybe I was wrong about Traore. just the way I saw it. I feel he needs to get forward a lot more and use that pace and crossing ability. He's far from being a problem though, as much as I'd like to see Yun given a go.
I agree with you Col. But you already knew that. Traore has undoubtedly improved over the last year, but his concentration will always be suspect. In this formation the wing backs are the most important players. Yun looks a better bet to me, but if he's not up to it we need to buy someone who is. Simpson won't get a kick this year unless Isla gets injured or we abandon 3-5-2.
Something wrong with that end of the ground could be the refraction index ? At one point Traore was 17 odd feet off the ground I wasn't aware he could jump so well unless the opposition wing back/winger is a salmon then Traore has that position taped I also looked at times at the shape the five were in and it looks good and I believe they were under orders to contain and I expect that to be the case for a while the team beds in As soon as Green got it anyone notice he only punted if he has to Previous games Green was guilty of some awful kicking IMO and a waste of the system when Hull got the ball the five were in position most of the time ... Excellent stuff IMO When we got it always 3 options and two of those were Traore
He's one of my many blind spots mate. You are of course right, it will take time to grow into this shape, I lack patience. Spotted you from the Gods in the Loft, perfectly placed to advise Barton on his dead ball technique.
I don't think any of us are far away from each other with what we saw. However, in the first half, we were right in line with Traore at the loft end and for the first 20 minutes he was all over the place. He improved a lot though and I just want to see him get forward more, as his opposite number Elmohamady did.
I think that Traore did well when you consider he was up against Almahamady. I thought it was a good battle between them and they each cancelled the other out. He will come up against many who are far worse.
No point imo getting hung up on Traore, as he will be fine as the left wing back the more he plays (he did foul jellyfish for that penalty shout btw.......right in front of us). The other right wing back must be Isla. Get Ned back in and we'll be ok I think.
Fantastic writeup Col, and I'd agree with your proposed 11 for next week. Hoillet should certainly have started in place of the late-comer Mutch. However I do feel we might need 3 more classic midfielders away from home where we'll be a little more combative & defensive. Maybe Hoillet at home, Mutch away? Speaking to a few on the Spurs board, they feel they'll target our "slow back 3" with their pacy attackers. I expect Harry will switch Dunne with Onouha for this reason. I could kind of see what we were getting at with the back 3 yesterday though. Our attackers pressed high, forcing Hull to punt it long more often- and then our 3 best headers were at the back to mop up (although it went tits-up in the 2nd half). Starting Dunne in this way may be more effective again the 'direct' PL teams. Direct, spurs are not though.
Cheers. Yep, you're observations may well be right. I suspect another problem with our CBs is that none of them feel comfortable playing on the left except Dunne. I'd possibly like to see Henry played away from home too.
Surely Hill would be comfortable on the left? As for Traore, he worries me. A wing back should be adept at defending as well as attacking, and I'm not confident that he is really up to either discipline. The fact that Yun does not get a game is also concerning; do we believe that he is better than he really is?
I was 100% inline for their corner that led to the goal as I stand with the stewards ... Boris the Chelsea supporter and we both didn't think it went out
