Grant McCann: "Just kick it down channels. Every time you get the ball, knock it down the wing, you'll beat them easy. Right, off you go." Richie Smallwood: "Is that it? What about who we mark at corners, and all that motivational gubbins you usually come out with?" Grant McCann: "You don't need that against this lot. They don't play full backs. Their wing backs push up on both sides at the same time and can't possibly get back. Their centre halves don't cover the full back positions. Their midfield don't cover the full back positions, they just don't play anybody there." Richie Smallwood: "Really?" Grant McCann: "Yes, really. Just hit it down the wing and you'll smash them, it's a piece of piss." Two 'n half hours later Grant McCann: "Told yer."
And we do like our 3-4-3 .. which is getting us ar5eholed every week.. New coach needs to change this from day one to stand any chance. Not hold my breath tho..
Knocking it down the wing is what we did. Aimlessly. Passsing it down the wing is what they did. Creating overlaps, playing decent football.
It’s a big issue but I don’t think we’d be any better playing a back 4. Considering Styles is a wing back rather than a full back & Vita hasn’t been seen yet & presumably not ready we’d have probably played Ben Williams or Kitching there. On the other side Brittain is more of a wing back & Jordan Williams has been in & out with injuries so you probably have one of him or Sibbick playing at right back. Also Brittain is our most creative player. I know he hasn’t been at his best this season especially yesterday but he is so if we take him out where’s the service coming from? It’ll be interesting to see who plays where if we do go to a back 4 after the international break. Maybe if Vita’s fit he’ll play left back with Jordan Williams at right back. I wouldn’t be surprised or against Brittain playing on the right of 3 central midfielders. Feels like we need some energy in there. Collins Brittain or Williams, Helik, Anderson, Vita Brittain or Benson, Gomes, Styles Leya Iseka, Woodrow, Morris - would be a team I’d be interested in seeing. Like many I agree Woodrow deserves to be dropped but I can’t see it with him been captain as well so I’ll include him. Fingers crossed Morris is back at least as an option off the bench.
It really was that easy for em. I can't recall us ever been so wide open for so long in a game without any tactical tweaks to shore things up a bit.
IMHO as long as we continue playing three forwards but not defending from the front we will continue to have huge gaps elsewhere. At the moment they are down our wings and in central midfield. Rejig the formation but leave three up front and it will be somewhere else. I don't understand the advantage three forwards gives you unless you intend to pin the opposition back into their own half and we don't anymore. It just puts you at a huge disadvantage elsewhere.
Its incredible that everyone can see it apart from the management' 343 just isn't working' talk about flogging a dead horse' i'm beginning to think that the board are instructing them to play this formation otherwise it would have been changed before now surely...
Agree. I think we can get away with playing 3 forwards as long as the rest of the team is fit enough to cope. It’s fine having 2 central midfielders when you’ve Alex Mowatt in there that can run all day but when it’s a half fit Benson & a not fully fit Gomes in there it’s a tough ask.
Mowatt can run all day, he's got lungs of leather, and he used to have Palmer alongside for 60 minutes and someone else for the final 30, so it was doable. And three forwards in front of him running themselves into the ground, defending from the front, and when they were spent, three more. We no longer defend from the front. We don't have Mowatt. We don't have anyone like Mowatt. What we have aren't fully fit. They're being asked to do an impossible job. The manager couldn't see that so was inevitably sacked but the coaching team can't see it either.
It worked last season due to our intensity, application and fitness. This year we have non of the above....we need sorting and that has to come from a competent coach in this division.
As well as the issue with the strikers not defending from the front so playing 3 there is a waste of time - I think the best wing backs are primarily defenders who can also get up and down and put a decent ball in (eg eaden, barnard, Thompson etc), as good as styles may be as a player he’s not got the defensive qualities, brittain hmm maybe? - what’s for sure is the entire back 5 (when they are meant to be a 5 have no idea what they’re role is in that moment) All in all I just don’t think we’ve got the right players with the right attributes to play it.
It doesn’t matter what formation we play, if we have a midfield 2 with 42 years and less than 50 first team appearances between them, they’ll be inconsistent at best. Being dominated by a midfield that contains Richie Smallwood, who imo is quite a way of championship standard, shows we need to be better there. I’m amazed we’re still not starting with an extra centre mid. Whether that’s as a 3-5-2, or a 4-3-3/4-5-1 I’m not sure, but we need the extra body in there.
its been same going back to when Toby Carvery used to rampage down wing and then everyone used to moan when attack broke down and other team got in on left ,he aint superman wingbacks need cover from fast holding midfield or centre back, ours about as fast as snails
Spot on! It's so glaringly obvious what teams need to do to beat us, which is precisely why most of them do.
