wanted to do this earlier and was scripting on the drive back yesterday but decided this morning that I couldnt be arsed, gave myself a slap so here we go I havent been since the Southampton match so was interested yesterday to make the comparison in performance and style of play - especially when AR said after the Sunderland game that there would be some changes although I didnt notice any significant changes first the positives pitch looked in good nick and there were probably more there than I expected given the recent results have reservations about Anthony Kay but was impressed with his defensive abilities thought that the back four generally did OK stifling the big telegraph pole and nearly as big telegraph pole playing for them, thought Macindoe had an OK match hmmm thats about it except that it would have funny had it not been against us, their sub ready to come on, their fans chanting you dont know what you're doing, with his first touch the sub turns a defender and scores negatives - I have speed read the last 4 pages so I doubt I will add anything except to say that those who have commented recently about the team being one dimensional and that if/when the wingers are shut down, there is no plan B. I think that pretty much sums it up Howard is/can be a class act but I was frustrated for him for most of second half when the ball was being knocked up in the air for an aimless kick and run. It could have been almost any home match last year observing the way that Nardiello dismissed Richards in the second half when he had shot wide from the edge of the box rather than passing (to Nardiello), this wasnt just competition between strikers, this was a lack of respect for a team mate. I suspect that the spirit of togetherness does not go all the way through the team - and if each striker is trying to score single handedly whenever they get the ball, it could be a long time before we see our next goal. what should AR do? fortunately I am not one of his advisers so I can say what I like but if in earlier games we were playing good touch football, getting into position and looking dangerous, why change. I think its a little unfair to say that the individual players arent good enough to play in this league, its the tactics that arent flexible enough - we didnt even do the simple things like the wingers swapping sides playing a target man with 2 wingers was what got us promoted to the premier league (I concede that having a solid defence, Redfearn, SJH probably helped too) but for me keep the wingers, have the target man but also have plans B and C that dont involve reverting to aimless kick and run
