The Players...

Much of the above is true. But the Players, esp midfield and attack, know we cannot defend. And this erodes confidence. Sides have already learnt to defend deep and doggedly, and punt balls into the box and sooner or later we will crack. Burnley knew that and now most of the Championship does. And if they prepare a lost pitch for us that negates smart swift passing which we are still very good at when the mood takes us. The goals conceded against Millwall and last night were awful. Parks football stuff.
Compare our defence with Brentford, Norwich and Swansea. They defend better physically and as a unit. We have scraped by due to an outstanding keeper ( he has made more saves this season than any other Championship keeper, bless him!). With an average keeper we would already be mid table. Good attacking sides are usually based on solid defences. Until our manager critically analyses our defence we will struggle and JT has developed the same myopia here that led to EH's downfall.
 
thegazzyb said:
I might be wrong but I suspect it might come from our long time obsession with a "ball to feet" playing style. I agree that less rondos in training and more crossing the ball into the danger area might benefit the team's play. It really is a rare event to see somebody play a quality cross or even corner these days, I agree.
My guess is that a cross is generally considered a "percentage ball" and that philosophically we have always encouraged a pass to feet as the better option.
Exactly the sort of thing which is really hard to make effective when the opposition is well drilled and sitting deep. :unsure:
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Agree with the above. The way we are playing though any pass to feet is a percentage ball and a low percent at that though!
 
Not only Brooks, a number of players continually let the ball bounce of their foot a yard ahead and then robbed of the ball. The lack of basic control is alarming.
 
We're too used to the bowling greens of the PL and DC... Not excusing it but our control, and passing pace last night, on a poor pitch, was woeful...
 
If we could, I would look to move on Rico and Kelly. Neither of their positioning is any good, Rico’s crossing is abysmal now (does Kelly ever cross it? He’s normally passing it sideways or backwards?)
If we can get some cash for both then invest in an LB or WB that can defend and cross....
LB is a disaster at the moment
 
Well on COWS young Mepham is certainly singing from Steve Cook's song sheet.
He says pretty much the same things, i.e. some players taking things too lightly, not giving it their all. Seems as though Cookie has at least one ally in the defensive department. I think Mep's is being genuine in what he says. He seems to be onside with Cookie's attitude, which can only be a good thing.
 
SteveJonesLegend said:
We're too used to the bowling greens of the PL and DC... Not excusing it but our control, and passing pace last night, on a poor pitch, was woeful...
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Particularly in the Premier League you see high speed passing that is cushioned perfectly on the foot. I presume that is why slow passing is used as the players know our limitations!
 
JT said it himself, when EH was boss he was one of the players mates,
I think the players don't except him as the boss and just do what they want to do. He needs to get hard with the players and tell players like Brooks, Smith, Kelly to get their fingers out and start playing football.
I wonder if they ever re watch a game together, discuss it, something is not right and really needs to be sorted out quickly.
 
Red Sky said:
Mepham had more of a positive attacking impact in the limited time he was on the pitch than Brooks did. I think he's struggling with the physicality at the moment.

Also while we're on the subject of misplaced passes, for all his endeavour when was the last time Josh King managed a pass that wasn't 2 yards too far wide or long?
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The last time he could be bothered with us ?
 
So.....3 at the back is to blame we said.....So JT Started with a
back 4..
So......2 in midfield gets overrun we said....it's so obvious.....So JT plays the 3 in midfield ...
So.....Brooks is playing shite we said......So JT drops Brooks.
So.....Playing a right footed player at left back doesn't work....it's so obvious......So JT plays Rico.

So.......what exactly did JT get wrong last night;?......genuine question.

First it was Eddie .....442 doesn't work was the cry.....it's so obvious.....now people on here are calling for it again.
Now it's JTs turn.....whatever he does somebody will know of a better way of doing it.....there's a saying in my game .... 'everyone thinks they know how to cure a kicking horse apart from the man who owns it'....
Sometimes the reality is the horse is just a wrong un......it doesn't matter how you train them or how well you treat them they will never fulfil their potential.

Only the players can turn this around.....if they have the character to do so.
 
It’s simple, he hasn’t got them playing as a team. There is no real plan or organisation, other than playing ok for ten minutes and waiting for the other team to score. In terms of last night I think wilshere should have started instead of cook. If he can’t last a game then he should start and go off after an hour or so.
 
fritter said:
It’s simple, he hasn’t got them playing as a team. There is no real plan or organisation, other than playing ok for ten minutes and waiting for the other team to score. In terms of last night I think wilshere should have started instead of cook. If he can’t last a game then he should start and go off after an hour or so.
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You think it's that simple ?....how do you get a group of players 'playing as a team'?.....don't the players have any responsibility to work for one another?....why is that all on the manager?
 
Right we need to have a formation and ideally stick with a team for a period of time only making a couple of changes if needed .
Players need to build up relationships on the field . The problem with a defeat is that immediately everyone feels loads of changes is needed.

if you keep changing loads of personal and where they are playing all the time then that isn’t any good ..
 
bpl234 said:
Right we need to have a formation and ideally stick with a team for a period of time only making a couple of changes if needed .
Players need to build up relationships on the field . The problem with a defeat is that immediately everyone feels loads of changes is needed.

if you keep changing loads of personal and where they are playing all the time then that isn’t any good ..
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Couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately I don’t see Tindall doing this and that’s why I’m now 100% against him now
 
As much as I'm feeling very against Tindall right now, there is a big part of me that thinks a lot of this is on the players. It doesn't matter what formation you play when you have the first touch of a trampoline. A complete lack of the basic ability to control the ball and find teammates with simple passes is not on Tindall- we saw the same thing last season with EH.

You can also factor in that, as lukewarm as our performances have been for most of the season, every other time we had a disappointing game we did bounce back with something decent the next game. Idk what more you can do when the players consistently need babying and picking up from bad individual performances across the board against mediocre teams. Even within games, the amount of times we've had a shite first half and then turned it around somewhat proves to me that, at least in some instances, the players are simply not doing what they're told, are given a bollocking, and then turn it around.

Does JT need to take responsibility for this? Absolutely, he's in charge and the players theoretically play the way they are set out to by the manager. But some of these individual performances from these players have been absolutely diabolical. In terms of what I'd like to see next, well:

------------Begovic------------
Stacey---Cook---Kelly---Rico
------Pearson----L. Cook------
Brooks-----Wilshere-----Junior
--------------King--------------

I think, on current *cough* form, this is what I would like to see. I've bolded the players that I would feel comfortable starting every game, and are the closest thing I can call a spine. Begovic and Cook have been good, L. Cook has mostly been good, Stacey isn't world class but I believe in him to be honest and always put in a shift, and Junior atm seems to guarantee some kind of goal or assist, with Danjuma providing competition there.

The areas in red are what I would consider problem areas that need addressing, whether it be internally or through the transfer market. I don't think Cook has a good partner in defence, Mepham has on the whole been poor, Kelly has been shunted from position to position and suffered for it greatly, CCV has been OK but not inspiring IMO. Ironically, and I hate to tell some of you, but Cook's most consistent partner in terms of defence has been the departing Simpson. My gut is telling me that if we were to keep Kelly in LCB with Cook, that would eventually turn into a good partnership like it was in the PL.

Left Back is turning into a massive problem, but I think this has been self-inflicted in some ways. I know some of you don't like Rico, and yesterday was a Marcos Painter-esque performance, but I really do feel that if he had been given a solid run of games in one position, he would have settled in rather nicely. But we've flip-flopped formations and roles so often that our defence has no identity anymore. I do not think Smith at LB is the answer, I don't want to see it. He needs to be pushing Stacey for the RB slot and vice-versa. I would rather see Zemura there than Smith to be quite honest. I think we just need to bite the bullet and stick with Rico until he shows the player that I really do believe is in there, have Zemura be the back up, and keep Kelly as a CB. I might be wrong but that's the most logical solution I have.

RW is another problem area...Brooks is class, and I am hoping dropping him and the improved performance from the bench is a sign of a change in fortunes. Otherwise I think we might struggle unless we bring someone in, is Ritchie the answer? Perhaps...perhaps not.

Finally, I don't think we can count on Solanke to fire us to promotion, he's simply too inconsistent and fragile in terms of confidence. I don't even blame him that much, he's always had the price tag hanging over him, and his general play this season has been quite good. I might be being harsh on him, idk. King is a very good player IF he turns up, but can we count on him to do that? Surridge is too limited a player to be starting for us, hasn't shown enough consistently to be taken seriously as an option.

These are the question marks I have with some of the players; you might agree, you might disagree. I think Pearson, by reputation alone, should replace Billing and the underratedly shite Lerma of the past 18 months. Wilshere is self evident, and should be the creative midfielder we need. And I'm sure that even Gosling, if he doesn't join Watford or something, will play a role with his winning combination of no skill and sheer force of effort.

These are my thoughts, am I talking ****************?
 
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stanthevan said:
The manager sets the team up and decides tactics. He is currently getting it abysmally wrong. The players are underperforming because of his leadership and lack of authority. It can’t go on.
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I don't think too many people would've complained about the lineup last night that team is good enough to beat anyone on paper. He's made mistakes but last night the players seriously let him down.
 
Topfarrier said:
JT deserves plenty of criticism ......and i'm not someone who over reacts to poor results but the players should be getting more flak than JT.......Yes the formation is a mess but but no formation would mask the fact that the players are massively under performing .....the likes of Brooks and Kelly are an embarrassment .....how on earth Kelly gets picked ahead of Rico only JT knows....a CB trying to head the ball clear with his eye shut ffs!........i'm not calling for Jt''s head but he's got to realise we can't go on like this......drop the players who are taking the piss because he'll be the one who will pay the price.....the next game will be crucial....if he lets those players get away with that then he really isn't the man for the job.
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I guess bed wetting is allowed now.
It’s so easy to be an Uber supporter when the teams winning . Now is the time for support and your one of the first rats to leave the sinking ship .
 
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