Doncaster Rovers vs Brighton & Hove Albion ***** Official Match Thread *****

[GT49er]

I'm growing increasingly annoyed with people questioning the frequent decision of gus to keep barnes on and take off cms.

I'm not questionning Gus's decisions, nor am I going on about dropping Barnes - clearly Gus thinks he is doing a job for the team, and I'm not about to argue with Gus.

Taking off Barnes for Vokes would require a change in shape. You then have to rearrange the entire team, and have an issue of everyone adapting to new positions mid-match.

Professional footballers should be able to do this - and we've had plenty of practice at adapting - every time we've gone down to ten men!

Taking off CMS works because it doesn't require that reshuffling, Vokes becomes the man up front.

Hardly a 'Plan B', though, is it?

Like him or not, keeping Barnes on the pitch for the full game has been a feature of our undefeated start to the year. Perhaps we should trust that gus knows what he's doing instead of clinging to the "4-4-2 two wingers, cms and vokes up front please" attitude.

And without trying to out-guess Gus, I would still LIKE to see CMS and Vokes together for a while, just to see how it goes. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:20 might have been a good opportunity.....

 

[el_ciddy]

Only just got around to watching the Football League show on iplayer, bit unfortunate to show Buckley attempting to shoot at a really tough angle into the side netting instead of putting a cross infront of goal.

CMS' goal before that was a strange one, not the cleanest finish I've ever seen

Still a shame not to win but satisfied not to lose at least.

 

[Acker79]

I'm not questionning Gus's decisions, nor am I going on about dropping Barnes - clearly Gus thinks he is doing a job for the team, and I'm not about to argue with Gus.

Then perhaps my comments aren't directed at you. I'm talking about the people who criticise the decision every week it happens, generally the same people who seem to hate barnes.

Professional footballers should be able to do this - and we've had plenty of practice at adapting - every time we've gone down to ten men!

Perhaps they should. But we are a championship side, with many players making that step up for the first time. The changing of the formation late in a match when it isn't necessary risks offering up an opening as the team moves around, and our opponents (who are also professional footballers) should be able to take advantage.

Hardly a 'Plan B', though, is it?

I think it is. CMS is a pacy harry the opposition force them to play it quick, hopefully force them into a mistake kind of player. Vokes is a win the the ball hold it up and give the team a chance to catch up and support kind of player. It doesn't change the shape of the team, but it is something different up front, as witnessed by

1-0 down v palace, vokes on for cms 1-1
0-0 v leicester vokes on (for navarro) cms off, 1-0 win

It isn't always about plan b, though. We were winning against Ipswich when CMS was taken off for Vokes (and we went from 1-0 to 3-0), sometimes it's about giving Craig a rest after job done, sometimes it's about needing someone to hold the ball up and relieve pressure instead of someone forcing our opponents to play the ball back into our half and keep us under pressure

And without trying to out-guess Gus, I would still LIKE to see CMS and Vokes together for a while, just to see how it goes. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:20 might have been a good opportunity.....

They played the first 58 minutes of the millwall game together. That wasn't a great game for us.