Reading between the lines..............its the midfield that is now the problem

Which is a complete turn around from last season when the midfield was our only strength
McIndoe, Howard, Togwell, Devaney

It seems that only Howard is worth his place now.
Togwell is no way near as good as De Silva at passing the ball
And the wingers brought in are not getting the best out of our forwards

But brick by brick I think Davey will build it

 

Yes, I think that the problems are all there to see for those who are looking.
I have every confidence that Davey will sort it when he is able to do so.

 

'Midfield the problem' - 'forwards the problem' - 'defence the problem' etc etc....Talk about constantly over analysing and looking for excuses.

Has it not dawned on anyone but sometimes it might because the oppossition are purely and simply better are than us??

 

The point is thay yesterday, no, Wolves were not 'purely and simply better than us'
We had them severely rattled in the second half.
In previous seasons we would have crumbled under their 'up and at 'em ' approach.
We weathered that in the first half, had some luck and the scoreline was 1-0, this meant we had a chance in the second half. We were well up for it and Wolves tired.
I thought that the whole point of this board was to have football banter about our beloved team?
maybe I have got it wrong

 

But surely if the opposition were "purely and simply better than us", we have to look at where the opposition are better than us and improve that!

 

I thought we'd had a problem with midfield for a few seasons

We need to find a balance with them.

It's either that we are conceding too much because they aren't providing cover for the defence and too much is coming through onto the defenders, or we start to combat that and it turns around to not providing the support for the forwards.

 

The goalkeeper and defence is one if not the best in this league

Although they are getting some stick on here, in my opinion the attack is much much stronger than last season (and that includes the whole 5 of them!!!). Then again, could it be worse than last season. Doubt it.

De Silva has shown us what a midfielder can do
McIndoe has shown us what a winger can do
Take Howard away from the midfield and the midfield now looks poor in comparison to the defence and attack

Get wingers that can put passes through for Stan to head or Kayo to run on to and we will see how good our attack is
Get a midfielder who can dominate the middle of the park but can also release the ball early for the attack and again this will show how good our attack is

 

RE: The goalkeeper and defence is one if not the best in this league

Wolves made our midfield look better in the second half, by sitting back on their one goal lead. If it had still been 0-0, I don't think we would have seen as much of the ball. Why were players slipping so much for? I've never seen so many players fall on their ass in such a short period of time before.

 

Agree with that Nudger, since De Silva went back to Everton our mid-field have not performed. It needs a player of the Hoolahan mould or someone similar. We havn't got that pace and drive to combine with Howard to create havoc going forward. Most teams that have come to Oakwell this season have by-passed our mid-field with ease, that's why we tend to play so deep and put pressure on our defence,and thats why we create so little from open play. We have no playmakers, i'm sure Davey knows this and will be trying to bring somebody in soon.

 

Where ya been?

There hasnt been much &quot;sparking&quot; of debate since you went offline.</p>

Its good to see you back.</p>

 

This strong attack,

when is it gonna turn up?

 

yes it does lok a lower quality turf than we usually get..Fisons do a much more durable mid field grass seed..tough and long lasting

 

Yes, I'd agree with that.... was thinking the same a few weeks ago.

Folks were happy to blame Odiwotsit and Mosssttto for lack of goals, for example, but really it was blatantly obvoius that the service to them had dried up. The same problem applies now there are 2 different strikers.
The midfield was not operating, Howard was, and still is, out of form, so who else is there to provide for the strikers?
So I do agree that at the moment we are falling down on account of a poor midfield showing.

 

In many cases it's in the bank balance where they're better than us!</p>

Not a lot we can do about that.</p>

 

The problem with the 'Midfield' is

They are too involved in defending to support the attack. Monday night we spend almost all the first half under the cosh, defending in depth.
All the forward balls were lumped over the midfield and were coming back straight to the defence. Midfield could have been in the Legends bar for what effect they were. There is a sad lack of the ability to pass the ball on the floor.