Improving our Defense

What is your view on playing Woodrow at the attacking point of the diamond?

 

I have not seen anything in Halme that suggests he is the answer to our defensive issues. In terms of strength I would suggest he is the weakest of our centre halves and he also has mistakes in him.

 

I'm up and down with it. He's a great finisher so ideally you'd want him in the box. But, imho, he's also a great player so I want him on the ball (I know he had a stinker against Reading but I don't believe that to be the norm.) If I were to choose someone to be on the ball in midfield as Brown and Chaplin make their runs it would be Woodrow. He's the one who could play the right pass. He can also shoot from distance like a good midfielder and arrive late to get on the end of crosses from the energy brothers.

That sounds like I'm convinced. I'm not. But that front 3 is on fire so I wouldn't change it. My efforts would be directed toward the defence. And I wouldn't be relying on new recruits. I don't think there'll be any, certainly not the type who can just walk into the team.

The whole back four and one of the midfield taking 5 steps backwards in any given position would be a start.

 

Those are all opinions that I can respect, well reasoned and articulate. My problem is that when I compare Woodrow to the player who in his prime, would have be ideal for the job (Craig Hignett), he comes nowhere near that ideal. He is not as mobile as Hignett, not as good a passer as Hignett, not as quick as Hignett etc etc. He is a very fine striker, but to play him at the head of midfield is to deprive us of a very fine striker and bestow on us a very average attacking midfield player. Do not get me wrong. Brown and Chaplin are exactly right for the roles that they have been given, but by playing Woodrow in midfield, we have undermined the value of one of our key assets, in my opinion. Could Woodrow be on his way out? I think he might be.

Changing so many players in the summer was a big mistake, if also unavoidable. I have seen it many times before. No matter how careful you are, it is hard to get the players to gel quickly enough, even if they have experience. With young players, it is doubly difficult, and to do it, having been promoted is just about impossible, especially so given the gap that now exists between League 1 and the Championship. It would be pure folly to repeat that error in January. I do not want a lot of changes. I think 2 coming in and perhaps 7 or 8 going out would be just about right. As you will know, I am much more systems oriented, than player oriented. As a consequence, I always look for ways of improving things through changing the system, before reaching for the cheque book. (Does anyone reach for the cheque book anymore, or is that just for dinosaurs like me.) I do not like the press, and if it was dropped, we would concede far fewer goals. (We would also score fewer goals as well.) The press is fine when you have players as good as Liverpool's, but is a liability in other hands, especially ours. Defensive cover for the diamond is fraught with problems, and it is hard for novices to learn, so I would drop that as well. I doubt whether we will do either, but that is what I would do.