The reason I am posting this thread, is to get a sensible opinion of this forum how you personally would resolve our defensive problem. Come on Whitey, Dyson, and Hemsworth. No calling one another, just what you have seen and why we fold at times but not at others. I will start by what I think, after watching at home and a few away. We seem to fold around 60 to 70 minutes into the game. We did it on Sat, and against Middlesboro, QPR, Leicester. Charlton. I am not witch hunting any players, it is my opinion. When we kick off we are all fit and buzzing, then in the second half Kennedy, who may have had a blinder, tires and cannot get back. He usually after an overlap where they kick it back down field, is left walking back. There is a hole on the wing and usually Cranie has to get over to plug it. Or it is Perkins. If it is Cranie then we open up in middle and man marking has gone. If it is Perkins, then he starts to tire and our midfield becomes non existent. They take control of the 30 40 yard area and nobody picks them up, and sooner or later we concede. So instead of using Scotland as an impact player, lets have someone to impact in defence. Hassell would be ideal to either play in front of back four, or at back. We could swap Wiseman onto left and Hassell onto right. Another way would be to bring Dawson on to that side so that Perkins does not have to track over and he is a good tackler and for 20 minutes he would put a shift in. If and when Nyatanga gets back he will not be doing 90 minutes so he would be replaced by Kennedy. Or do we go for young Noble Lazarus who can get up and back and has a fair shot in his boots. Maybe O Brien to cover but a bit erratic. Either way we need to impact the defence not the forwards. This is all assuming we are drawing or winning Anyway there are better tacticians on here than me so what is your view.
I don't think anyone actually knows the definitive answer (including DF) and therein lies the problem! Too many options maybe?
Are you saying Dawson is a good tackler or Perkins as I don't think either of them are. That may be one of the things we are lacking in midfield.
Try and play the game in their half instead of ours, particularly in the last half an hour. They can't score from the halfway line. Make them worry about us instead of us worrying about them.
You would think that would be worth a try - it does leave us open to a breakaway goal which is a risk against the better sides but since they seem certain to score if we try and sit back and defend it cant do any harm to try something different Also leaving a player or preferably 2 up for opposition corners and free kicks would seem sensible to me as then there is a much better chance the ball wont come straight back when its cleared - and a good chance we might score on the counter
I'm afraid that sums it up - we'll only stop conceding so many and folding in the last half hour when the manager/management team decide to change tactics and attitude. Personnel changes will be irrelevant because they'll still be adhering to the same game plan.
Totally agree. If we were regularly winning games by 1 goal after a nervous last 20, the tactics could be seen to be working. As things stand though we've proved we can't defend deep, so get the ball up at the other end. For corners, they've got 9 players free as their keeper and the corner taker are out of it. If we leave 2 up, they would normally leave 3 back, leaving 6 attackers to be marked by our remaining 9, including our keeper. Even if they go one on one with the guys we leave up, we still outnumber them by 2 in our box. We'll concede now and again by attacking too much but as you say we are conceding anyway so why not?
We don't have championship quality defenders apart from Cranie, Sir Bobby (who the manager dislikes) and Ramage (who's injured).
I don't particularly agree as I believe Wiseman is now championship quality but that's not the point. My point is that if we tried to play the game at the other end our defenders, championship quality or not, would have less actual defending to do.
If we were to play a 3-5-2 formation Then I'd prefer to see a sweeper at the centre of the three (ala Gary Fleming & Matty Appleby), rather than a another standard centre half. He would have to be a good reader of the game. This would mean he'd know when to cover the two centre halves, when to provide cover for either of the wing backs when they were attacking and when to be able to step up into the midfield, either to start our attacks, or provide an extra body in there if we were being outnumbered. I believe three players would fit the bill, Martin Cranie, Bobby Hassell & Paul Digby. When it comes to having a player 'in the hole' behind the strikers, the most obvious choice would be Paddy McCourt. However, the likes of Mellis, Cywka & RNL would also (in my opinion) be more than capable. I would also like to see us replicate the high tempo approach from last season. With us now having such a large squad, the argument of us not being able to do it over a longer period shouldn't apply, as we should have enough bodies to refresh the team & cover tiredness. Or I could just be talking absolute gibberish, as per usual.
Keep the ball, pass and move and press the opposition high up the field. Stop dropping to the edge of our own box once we've scored a goal to 'protect the lead' it hasn't worked properly at any point this season. Get a better centre back than MVoto who is blatantly only any good when the ball is in the air. On the deck he's a liability. Get a new left back as TK isn't anywhere near Championship class in any aspect of his game particularly passing wise. He's also too slow yet lacks the positional sense to be able to have a good starting point to alleviate this problem. Speaking of pace - and this won't be popular with a few of you but Hassell isn't the answer in defence. His lack of pace will now count against him, just as his height does against bigger teams. HOWEVER, I do Think he's the perfect player to sit in front of the back four. He has the perfect knowledge of the game and the league to play that position with ease. I'd pick him over Dawson there every day of the week. Start marking properly from set pieces! Mark a man not an 'area'. This tactic is as old as the hills AND WORKS! Attack the ball, don't let it come to you. Finally, fight and hassel and harry for every second ball. Too offer are we found wanting in this area. That's about it. Easy innit.
For me it's about concentration. In a game we look comfortable for 80 minutes, but in for 5 minutes a half we seem to switch off and usually get punished. Middlesbrough is a fine example, switched off in first half for their 5 mins not long before we got our first. Then obviously at the 80th minute and we let 2 in and they hit the bar just before. God knows how you teach them to concentrate though!
Attack is our best form of defence. When Bassett was manager we would concede 3, but score 5. We for once have a lot of attacking flare, we need to make the most of it. Hopefully too "Tangs" may prove to be fit enough to play & we get Ramage back & or our supremo sees fit to play BH
Saturday we ended up under the cosh because washday started pressing further up the field. We had no out let. Again.
I've said all along that I'd prefer us to set up using the 3-5-2 system. And that I'd have Hassell as a sweeper. Pretty much what BigLil has already outlined further up, and for the reasons he's given. Summat like this: --------------------------Butland-------------------------- --------------------------Hassell--------------------------- ---------------Cranie---------------Ramage/Nyatanga------- Wiseman----------------------------------------Noble-Lazarus ----------------Mellis-----------Digby------------------------- ------------------------Paddy------------------------------- -----------------Pedersen----O'Grady------------------------ I've seen little evidence this season to suggest that the so-called 'toilers' are making us any harder to beat, or more solid. So I'd like to see a side without the likes of Etuhu, Dawson, Perkins etc. I'm also not sure Fox is any better than what we already have. His ability seems to be his passing. He doesn't win owt in the tackle or in the air, and is not really a threat going forward. So I'm of the opinion that Mellis/Digby/Cywka could provide summat similar or better in the middle of the park. Although having said that, Fox is hardly a bad selection in there. Just as I'd quite happily see RNL/Mellis/Cywka in the hole instead of Paddy if need be. Which goes to show we have myriad permutations. The two players who have played regularly that I don't particularly rate are M'Voto and Kennedy. And even with the Ramage/Nyatanga injuries, I still think we can do without picking Big John and TK. In fact, I'd be interested to see how we get on without the latter especially, because he's been the most selected player since Flicker took over on New Years Day. The one constant in what has been an ever-changing team, and a defence that sheds goals at an alarming rate. The actual (not made up) fact that our defence was at it's most solid/secure when Hassell (and Foster) was in it is not lost on me, or many others. And despite Flicker's ignorance of this, I refuse to just pretend that he doesn't exist. I would happily do so, had I ever seen evidence to suggest that Bobby was no longer good enough. I haven't. In my opinion, he's as good as we've got in a number of roles, and brings with him a vast amount of experience and a desire for this club that no other player has. Bordering on silly to ignore him whilst selecting the likes of Kennedy.
