Minority Report v Brentford

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Red Rain, Apr 17, 2017.

  1. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    As regular readers will know, Minority Report is not about a detailed description of goals, chances and events. It is about impressions, formations, structures and talking points. Many people are not happy with it, but it is what it is. And today, it is mostly about Brentford.


    It was a game that was wide open, the sort of game that is only seen when the prizes are too distant for both teams to reach and the threat of relegation is over for another season, with both sides happy to let the other play. It makes for great entertainment, but the spark of competition is missing, so it leaves me hungry for proper football. It also makes it hard to tell what might have happened under normal conditions. You see, as the players kicked around in the warm-up, I was convinced the team would appear in some form of 4-5-1. It was not the sight of Josh Scowen on the right wing that most surprised me though, it was the appearance of James and especially Moncur in a central midfield two that really surprised. Now I know that Moncur was voted MotM, and I know that he was impressive in the second half driving forward towards goal, but the question I ask myself is this, has the lad actually proved anything by playing in a two in this sort of fixture. Personally, I doubt it.


    Regular readers will have noted my concerns about 4-4-2, and today did little to still my beating heart. The reason was that to my eyes the Brentford system of 4-1-4-1 changing to 4-3-3 in possession seemed to work so much better than our system, particularly in transition between defence and attack. Of course, Brentford had some very good players and they were very quick, but I also liked the way they cut long balls to a minimum and advanced by passing to feet. Roberts and McDonald are used to having a physical presence in front of them, and both seemed ill at ease having just a one small guy to mark between them. The two breaking players from the Brentford mid-field seemed a mystery and on many occasions, no-one in our defence or midfield seemed to be marking anyone. It was a function of the Brentford system that narrowed play in the centre of the pitch and overloaded us on the edge of our box. Others will point to all our long range shots, and the chances we missed with only the ‘keeper to beat, and of course they would be right, just as still others will point to the penalty save. At the end of the day, it has finished 1-1 and everything else is irrelevant. As always, the Minority Report does not focus on the obvious. It focuses on the questions and ideas that interest me. Brentford are more established in the second tier, and as far as I am aware, they have become established without spending a fortune. They have elected to invest in pace, instead of height and presence, as many of the richer clubs have done. They have shown us an alternative way to go when we look for a new team this summer. Obviously, there are more questions than answers just now, but Brentford have helped to show us another way that might involve shopping abroad, if only we can find someone with knowledge of that market.
     
  2. orsenkaht

    orsenkaht Well-Known Member

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    Yes - it was an end of season game. Almost like a pre-season friendly. Systems and the relative pace of the two sides were of interest, but I suspect of limited relevance going forward.

    We know for certain that James, Kent, Armstrong, Janko and Jones will be gone come the summer (Hecky has said none of the loanees will return). It looks highly likely that Roberts, Scowen and Watkins may also go elsewhere. There must in addition be question marks about Williams, White and Jackson being kept on. Our wage structure appears to envisage something in the region of 4-5k per week for the better players (with maybe up to 7k for the captain?) That is well short of the 9k per week that Patrick Cryne cited as the average Championship wage. So we have sub-Championship wages, the CEO is still not finalised, and Hecky will have only around 6 weeks in the summer to integrate perhaps 10-12 new players. Hopefully some of them will come off in the way that other recent recruits have, but it's a big ask and a short timescale. I agree that the option of shopping abroad might offer a way forward, but do we have the contact networks for that market?

    The other area of concern is the head coach himself. He is Barnsley through and through, and that terrific 'memories' video last week highlighted that. But as a well-regarded young coach with an impressive CV, could he realistically resist an approach that might quadruple his wages? He has a young family and knows how fickle football is. There could potentially be three bigger clubs within 25 miles of us disappointed not to have reached the Premier League within the next six weeks or so, and what Hecky has achieved will not have gone unnoticed. What could he do with the larger pools of young talent and potential that clubs of that size have at their disposal?

    I'd like to feel that there was a plan to take the club forward that might guarantee Hecky remaining, but I've no idea what it would look like.
     
  3. John Peachy

    John Peachy Well-Known Member

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    PEACHY'S ALTERNATIVE BULLITIN THE BRAIN:


    We had 25 shots on goal. Nearly one every 3 minutes.

    Before the match I feared for our creativity. Wrongly.

    Moncur was superb. I suspect he was signed in the summer as Conor's replacement. Taken a while but Hecky has a hell of a player there.
    Just need a replacement for James now. That will be a hard act to follow, he is class. In the "old days" we would have been able to sign a player like that, but it isn't the days of Glavin & Futcher. It's the days of shopping at Aldi as Keef once said. Thing is, at least for now we haven't got Keef, we have a genius, called Paul Heckingbottom.

    How we were so wasteful in front of goal should be our only concern. Bradshaw's goal drought will end soon I suspect.

    Good end of season match with some great football. On another day 4-1 to Barnsley.

    Roll on next season. In Hecky we trust.

    COYR
     
    Xerxes, redrum, ubique_tyke and 3 others like this.
  4. Dja

    Django Well-Known Member

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    I don't understand why there's any question marks over Jackson. Done well when he's played & only out of the side due to Roberts & MacDonald & if Roberts leaves he's in a prime position to take his role in the team
     
  5. Merde Tete

    Merde Tete Well-Known Member

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    Jackson looked extremely shaky against Forest at home. Having said that Roberts had an absolute mare that day as well, but Jackson looked like a rabbit in headlights. I'm sure there's a solid player there, otherwise we wouldn't have signed him. Just depends how long it takes him to get up to speed. Roberts and Gus made the transition look easy, but not all players will.
     
  6. SirPsychoSexy

    SirPsychoSexy Banned Idiot

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    Jackson is decent back up, but not good enough to be a regular Championship starter, he's too light weight for a central defender.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  7. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    That is extremely down beat for you Mr Khat, not like you at all.

    I don't know if you can remember my post Wembley, "After the Party is Over" piece from last year. I was convinced that our players weren't good enough, that both our playing strategy and our business strategy would be rumbled in the higher division and that we had only the one season in the second tier ahead of us. I was spectacularly wrong. Equally, there is no doubt that we have punched above our weight this season as we have taken on teams which make us look like the corner shop taking on Sainsbury's. In the main, we have lost to the teams with big budgets and competed against the teams with smaller budgets. Our home record has been pretty much as I envisioned in my "After the Party is Over" piece. But our away record has seen us home safely. I suspect that there are reasons for that in the way that we set up away from home that cannot be replicated in home games. Nevertheless, although home supporters have struggled to find a silver lining, and as a result our season has been very average, the team as a whole has not struggled as I thought.

    The positives from last May are still positives. The club has a good reputation for improving young players and selling them on at the right time. If I was the agent of a young player looking to give him his next move, Barnsley would be high up my list of possibilities. The player will get the best chance that there currently is in football and if he shows any potential at all, he will get first team football opportunities and later a move to a club who can pay higher wages, where he can cash in on his talent. Clubs from higher up the pecking order will have noted the opportunities that we have given to their quality youngsters in our first team, and they will be anxious to take advantage of that, even if they need to pay part of the player's wages. As CVs go, the club has written a pretty decent one in the last 9 months.

    Last May, I got it wrong. I wrote off my team because I under-estimated the ability of the players and particularly the back room staffs. I did not know what was going on out of my sight and knowledge. However, they all proved to me how wrong I was and I am not making any predictions for next season this time. I am going to wait and see how we invest this season's transfer income and hope that August will find us in even better heart.
     
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  8. man

    mansfield_red Well-Known Member

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    I'd say we definitely deserved the win and outplayed Brentford for the most part. The OP makes it sound like we got battered and were lucky to draw.
     
  9. Merde Tete

    Merde Tete Well-Known Member

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    A bit early to be drawing that sort of conclusion. Steve Davies didn't exactly hit the ground running did he? Limping maybe......
     
  10. orsenkaht

    orsenkaht Well-Known Member

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    Never downbeat, Mr Rain - only realistic!

    The team has not struggled across the whole season. But post January: Pl 14 W 2 D 7 L 5 F 13 A 16 Points 13 (out of 42). Extrapolated across 46 games, that would give us 42 points! All is not lost - provided we can find new players of the quality of the ones we had prior to February. Otherwise - it may be different!

    And I agree we can be in good heart come August - provided we have the same head coach! (Which will not be known prior to 30 April!)
     

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