London Irish
Well-known member
the full harris said:
Full Harris, it's not that difficult to work out. We deliberately set out to make those games tight and nullify any advantage our opponents might have had in midfield. McGhee's plan worked perfectly. We can't then at the same time complain about not making enough chances - it would have been far riskier for us to have taken part in open, flowing games.
I really can't see McGhee being able to totally transform the way the team play that quickly. We are going to have to get used to the semi-beautiful style of football we play. I don't believe there is that big a gulf in class between the top 8 in Div 2 and the bottom 8 in Div 1, playing the same style will allow us a consolidation period and give McGhee time to pursue options for change in the medium to long-term.
We will start the next season with the same defence (give or take the rumours about Virgs, although El Abd would do fine in his place). This is not really a "footballing" defence, is it? It does its job well, in fact at times, brilliantly, but its not going to support our midfield to build passing attacks.
Charlie has to sit in front of them, he is perfect for this style of football. Then next to him it will be either Chippy or Reid. Chippy's op will give Reid a chance. I think Jonah deserves more chances, he has done well over the past couple of months. Piercy will continue to be a headache for McGhee, but a good one, because it's just not clear what his best position is, either midfield or further forward. Rodger, we'll have to see what the injury has done to him, fingers crossed.
McGhee I don't think quite knows his best midfield combination yet but he has time now to work it out. I think we will still play very direct but hopefully the direct passing will be more efficient and less aimless than it has been on occasions.
Credit to Big Chris for the lovely bit of skill that got us the penalty and promotion, but there are question marks over how many chances he needs to do something like that, we desperately need another striker to link better with Leon particularly to hold the ball, create time for the midfielders to get forward, and then play the efficient pass.
Next year will be tough but we will still have the disorientating factor for the opposition of Withdean and McGhee is a clever enough tactician to grind out the 50pts we need to stay up. But I don't see us playing too differently than we have been for the past 6 months. We will get slaughtered by the better footballing sides if we attempt to play a more open style.
I hope Albion fans get a little bit less snobbish about our style and recognise we have to cut our coat according to our cloth. The kind of control that the likes of Cullip, Oatway and Chippy can put on a game is not "rubbish" football - it may not be pretty to watch but it can render opposition sides impotent and allow us to use our strikers to seize the advantage. Please search your vocabulary for better synonyms than "rubbish".
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