JamesAndTheGiantHead
Well-known member
No El-Abd. Everytime the ball went anywhere near him last season I'd breathe a sigh of relief before he'd even touched the ball. Consummate pro.
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so.......what IS going wrong for us defensively?
- Thread starter turienzo's lovechild
- Start date
Lush
Mods' Pet
Interesting comment. I guarantee there'd have been a bit more passion on the pitch this evening if El-Abd had been playing. Mind you possibly a red card too as it went pear-shaped.
JamesAndTheGiantHead
Well-known member
But would it have gone pear shaped? Touche...
Defensively we need to press higher up the pitch as a team - too often only CMS pressuring opposition defence. A few points generally though:
-- Noone, Bridcutt & CMS are untouchable
-- I would definitely get Vincelot back into the team - for the first few games he played we were on a good run of form - but probably in midfield and leave Painter at left back (got exposed tonight by a class young, pacey winger and lack of midfield cover - even if he did hospital pass dunk and get him suspended for saturday...).
-- Don't think Vicente is quite sharp enough yet - looks very short of match time but when fit enough would like to see him in the hole behind CMS.
So potentially (when fit/no suspensions):
--------------------- Ankergren
------Calde --- Greer --- Dunk --- Painter
----------------Bridcutt --- Vincelot
Barnes/Buckley --- Vicente --- Noone
------------------------CMS
-- Noone, Bridcutt & CMS are untouchable
-- I would definitely get Vincelot back into the team - for the first few games he played we were on a good run of form - but probably in midfield and leave Painter at left back (got exposed tonight by a class young, pacey winger and lack of midfield cover - even if he did hospital pass dunk and get him suspended for saturday...).
-- Don't think Vicente is quite sharp enough yet - looks very short of match time but when fit enough would like to see him in the hole behind CMS.
So potentially (when fit/no suspensions):
--------------------- Ankergren
------Calde --- Greer --- Dunk --- Painter
----------------Bridcutt --- Vincelot
Barnes/Buckley --- Vicente --- Noone
------------------------CMS
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mreprice
Active member
It would be nice to have him in the team.
Would he be a better ball-winning midfielder than Vincelot or Navarro? That's the gap we have in the squad. Dunk is covering for him fine at the back.
mreprice
Active member
This side and shape looks good to me. I'd consider Hoskins as well in that Barnes/Buckley spot.
super-seagulls
Soup! Why didn’t I get any Soup?
I think vincelot has to start instead of Painter.
Garry Nelson's Left Foot
Well-known member
This is a side/shape that I'd like to see. As far as I can tell (from the games on t.v and radio commentary so I might be way off) the midfield is vital to the way we play. What I can gather about this league is that the midfield is a bit of a battle area. It's strong and fast in there and if we don't take control it leaves our defence over exposed. We need to be able to compete in the centre of the pitch. How the team is currently set up we only have Bridcutt who is able to regularly win the ball. Which is fine, it just means that when we're in possession we need to keep the ball and wear the opposition down that way. The problem lies, I think, in that at the moment we don't keep it well enough. Dicker seems very hit and miss in possession, as does Harley. If we're going to give the ball away cheaply we need to fight for it back, except we only have Bridcutt...
So, with the players we have available it might be a better option to play 4-2-3-1 and have two midfielders who can win the ball and will offer the defence some protection. It will also allow the more attacking/creative players the licence to do what they do best. There's no denying we have a squad that is stacked towards attacking players and this formation in my opinion would allow us to utilise more of them at the same time.
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Weststander
Well-known member
Love this tonight because, as everyone's finally agreed about the lack of pace (apart of the excellent Bridcutt), in centre midfield and fullbacks.
Calderon just as liable & rightly dropped.
Dicker may be good passer, but just immobile. Painter so so slow. Swansea made the hard decision on him & so should we.
From WSU carefully watched our full backs over the last few weeks, and I wasn't fooled by wins & draws.
CP for the last 70 minutes had Murray to target, and then about 4 with pace & power to move through off him. A game plan, with pace.
Vincelot from now on, please Gus, and if TB lets you another class full back in Jan & mobile powerfield centre midfielder.
Calderon just as liable & rightly dropped.
Dicker may be good passer, but just immobile. Painter so so slow. Swansea made the hard decision on him & so should we.
From WSU carefully watched our full backs over the last few weeks, and I wasn't fooled by wins & draws.
CP for the last 70 minutes had Murray to target, and then about 4 with pace & power to move through off him. A game plan, with pace.
Vincelot from now on, please Gus, and if TB lets you another class full back in Jan & mobile powerfield centre midfielder.