Why?

The first half tactics tonight left me bewildered.

Why did we play Kennedy at Right Back ? The lad is so left sided it is not true, yet Danny chooses to play him on the right. Playing Nyatanga at Left Back compounded the error. He does not have the ball skills to play full back.

After the initial 15 minutes, we switched to 4-3-3 with Brek Shay central. The two forwards split right and left to engage the Blackburn full backs in the hope of protecting our full backs. The plan did not work. It simply dragged O'Gady and Proscewicz too deep as the full backs attacked us anyway, and it left us depleteted in central midfield, because in O'Brien and Jennings we did not have the players who understood the requirements of the system. Dawson was left to cope on his own and fail because he was outnumbered time after time. The back four did not help either. Because of the threat of the pacey Blackburn forwards, they dropped too deep too quickly giving the central midfielders too much ground to cover. The tactics failed miserably because the players were unsuited to them

The improvement in the second half did not come because Dawson was substituted. As usual, Digby was too deep and in consequence was not able to influence the game much. It came because Kennedy reverted to Left Full Back. Eventually, Shea reverted to Right Wing in order to protect O'Brien at Full Back and some sense was restored to the structure of the team.

I am very happy with the point. Blackburn must be scratching their heads and wondering how the extra 2 points got away.

 

He is very good at falling over in the box.

I think that I argued that he is not fit and that it will be 10 games before he can complete 90 minutes whereas Perkins is fit. My concern was that we do not have enough players in our current squad who can run for 90 minutes and therefore Danny must use his substitutions in order to rest players rather than change things tactically. I did not see anything in his 20 minute cameo to change my mind, but if we need a player to go down in the box, he's the one to use.

How did you think Kennedy did at RB as compared to, say Wiseman.

 

Further tactical thoughts.

I know that many posters are not interested in the tactical side of the game, preferring to criticise individual players for their performances. I think that tactics often explain a poor individual performance, and with the occasional exception (McCourt is one because I believe he is a loose cannon, better suited to circumstances when a loose cannon is exactly what is required), I prefer not to criticise players.

Against Blackpool, we played 4-4-1-1 with Mellis providing support for O'Grady from mid-field and Jennings and Shea playing on the wrong sides. I thought that the system worked very well for an hour, and was very impressed by O'Brien, who has the engine, but possibly not the pace to play on the wing. Then the pace of the game told on the new recruits and one or two of the others with suspect endurance. Blackpool took over for the final half hour. Since then DW has signed Proschewitz and probably felt the he needed to give him and O'Grady a try as a pair, even though the team has been suspect in mid-field all season and beyond when playing only 4 across the middle. Jennings and Shea reverted to their proper sides (though I know that Jennings prefers cutting in from the left which allows him shots as goal using his better foot). Mellis was absent, but there are plenty of players who could have fulfilled the support role in a 4-4-1-1.

It took only 15 minutes for DW to see that Blackburn were overrunning our mid-field. He saw their full backs as the main problem and decided to try and stop them by going to 4-3-3 (not a diamond as some have suggested because Shea was not required to get back into a mid-field four when we did not have the ball). O'Grady split left and Proschewitz split right. Their job was to restrict the full backs whilst Shea kept the two centre backs occupied. Dawson went to the centre of a mid-field three with O'Brien and Jennings squeezed in at either side of him. He did nothing about the main problem, which was that Kennedy was ineffective at right back and Nyatanga was displaying that he might be a decent central defender, but he certainly is not a left back. Unfortunately, the changes did not work. Jennings and Shea were ineffective in their new roles and the Blackburn full backs continued to attack our flanks, pulling O'Grady and Proschewitz back into defensive formations where they were required to make tackles, with the expected result that they mistimed a few.

At half time, DW withdrew Dawson, more because of an over-fussy, inexperienced ref and the fact that he was only a booking away from an early bath, than because of a poor first half performance in my opinion. Nevertheless, he stayed with the system that had not worked for the majority of the first half, now with Digby in the centre of mid-field. Those who have read my comments on Digby before will know that I think that he plays far too deep to be much of an influence going forward. I hold the same opinion of Hassell in that mid-field holding role. It is the equivalent of playing three central defenders. Many have stated that this was the key to our improved second half. I disagree. I thought that there was little improvement until Nyatanga was sacrificed to enable Kennedy to revert to left back, with O'Brien going to right back. Even so, I felt that we were fortunate to get the penalty.

I was in line with the referee for the incident and felt that whilst there was a leaning in on the part of the defender, the Barnsley player could have stayed upright if he had chosen to do so. The assistant referee had a better view than me, but I would have been disappointed had it been given against Barnsley. The only remaining tactical change was that Shea reverted to right wing for the final 15 minutes in order to give some protection to O'Brien. Once again, there were some tired bodies by the end, and I still feel that lack of fitness will be a telling factor in our attempt to retain our Championship status. If reports are to be believed McLaughlin is out for a month and DW must come up with a better solution before Saturday.

 

Not only do I not work in the game, I was not even very good at it. I do have a good seat, an active mind and a thirst for more knowledge about the game though. I post in the hope that I will find another poster who has a greater understanding of the game than I do and one who is willing to share their knowledge so that I can learn more about the game from their insights. My problem is that I enjoy the game on two levels. The first level is the emotional level that all other posters enjoy, and which sustains on its own when watching a winning team. The second level is the one that most other contributors are not interested in, and do not share my willingness to discuss. This level is in the deeper understanding of tactics and game play involved in the modern game. It helps sustain me through the bad times until we are able to put together a better team, when hopefully I will be able to devote more of my energies to the emotional side of the game again.

 

Seen it from the highlights now and am still far from convinced. Would you have been happy if it had been awarded to Blackburn? That it the key question.

 

Your point is a valid one if we are using wing backs. The last time that we did this successfully was when we had Stones and Golbourne who were bottomless pits in terms of pace and endurance. I do not think that either Kennedy or McLaughlin fall into that category. For me, the midfield must be prepared to do the hard yards, which means that they must complete for all of the space between the back line and say the half way line. This is partly about your back line closing down that space by keeping a high line and partly about closing down the space available in order to stop the opposition playing and spoiling the timing and direction of passes to the front players. Digby and Hassell step forward from the back line to make interceptions and by doing so the win the praise of the fans, but they play too deep to play a proper part in the ongoing battle for midfield supremacy.