Same old, same old....

[Bozza]

I wonder if Forest, Blackburn and Bolton thought the same? Palace have slidden down the table since Holloway took over, who was doing well at Blackpool who are also going downhill.

Most of that is largely irrelevant as both Forest and Blackburn are complete basket cases of football clubs right now with little tie to reality. Bolton are in a massive financial hole and, so, are desperately trying to find a winning formula to get them back to the PL.

 

[rocker959]

One of the best posts ever!

Agreed

 

[Steve.S]

Re:Craig Noone. You have three very good wingers plus other back-ups. A club wants to pay substantial money for one of them (who is talented but often not worth a regular place in the side given the other options), raising funds/reducing wage bill and freeing up money for other signings. What do you do? It's a no-brainer. Good luck to Noone who has done well at Cardiff but we got decent money or him and, at the time, it was a sensible move for everyone.

Thanks for that, three very good wingers, yet rubbish at corners and crosses. Look where Cardiff is

 

[trueblue]

Thanks for that, three very good wingers, yet rubbish at corners and crosses. Look where Cardiff is

There's nothing wrong with the deliveries most of the time (certainly in open play), so I don't really know what your point is. We have several players capable of putting the ball right on someone's head but when our small side is surrounded by giant defenders, it's not likely to work too often.

 

[Steve.S]

There's nothing wrong with the deliveries most of the time (certainly in open play), so I don't really know what your point is. We have several players capable of putting the ball right on someone's head but when our small side is surrounded by giant defenders, it's not likely to work too often.

Again that's when you need to change your tactics. CMS should have been playing on the shoulder of the defender and we should have got the ball forward quicker. We could have tried KLL in the middle and he has the pace. It's about playing the side in front of you and that means deploying various tactics. We are slow at getting forward and that gives teams time to park the bus. This ends in our defenders having a lot of the ball and they move it sideways and sideways then maybe back and when they do put it forward, like you say the defenders out jump us time and time again. At home we seem to get suckered punched time and time again.

 

[trueblue]

Again that's when you need to change your tactics. CMS should have been playing on the shoulder of the defender and we should have got the ball forward quicker. We could have tried KLL in the middle and he has the pace. It's about playing the side in front of you and that means deploying various tactics. We are slow at getting forward and that gives teams time to park the bus. This ends in our defenders having a lot of the ball and they move it sideways and sideways then maybe back and when they do put it forward, like you say the defenders out jump us time and time again. At home we seem to get suckered punched time and time again.

But we did try to go through the middle and, as usual, got crowded out around the edge of the box as we end up having to attempt almost impossible through passes. CMS will only come into his own if a team is holding a high line, otherwise we have to use the wings to get around the back of them - but then we don't have a player in the centre with the instinct to put away the chances we create from the flanks. There's little point CMS playing on the shoulder of the last defender if that defender is only 15 yards from his own goal and he has no space to run into. I think Lua Lua in the centre would be pointless as he doesn't have the same movement as a centre-forward and is poor at finishing one-on-ones.

I agree that the tactics need tweaking. I'd like to see us getting Dobbie as the attacking man in midfield and Hoskins involved too.. but not quite sure how if we also want Buckley, Lua Lua, and CMS in the team. Diamond formation maybe at some point with Bruno and Bridge providing the width - but that's the end of the wingers, so can't see it happening.