Thoughts on today (yes I know it was only a pre season friendly)
-the evidence would strongly suggest that we are going to be lining up with a back three/five this season. We haven’t deviated from it once yet this pre season despite clearly lacking the numbers or personnel to play it currently. I see no other reason for doing this other than coaching the players to play in this shape. As others have alluded to, this is concerning considering the lack of both numbers and quality we currently have in the defensive area.
Positives:
-Rothwell looks like a very classy footballer, he glided effortlessly with the ball and his weight of pass/vision look to be PL standard too. I can see why we have been chasing him for so long.
-Hill was very good I thought, barely put a foot wrong. Very solid and won everything in the air against a renowned championship target man. Very mobile and good on the ball too. First impressions are that he has the potential to go very far.
-Lerma played well in the centre of a back three. Dealt with everything he had to well and stepped nicely into midfield while in possession.
Negatives:
-Adam Smith is not a wing back. Friendly or not, he just isn’t comfortable playing there. He just doesn’t pose the attacking threat needed to be effective in that position. If we are going to play wing backs then it has to be Fredericks or Stacey on that side, perhaps even Anthony. It just can’t be Smith because it just won’t work.
-Chris Mepham. Easily the worst performer today which says a lot given that our other defenders were midfielders and full backs being played out of position. He just isn’t good enough. He will cost us goals galore if he plays any great amount of minutes next season.
Final conclusions:
It is pretty obvious where we need to strengthen currently, perhaps the plan is to use Lerma in the centre of a back three who will step out into midfield while in possession. In all honesty I don’t think it’s the worst idea in the world, he certainly has the physical attributes to play there and he is a warrior who will throw his body in front of everything. If Francis can make the switch effectively I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that Lerma could too. We still need to strengthen though, because if we are relying on Mepham at any point this season then we are in trouble.
My thoughts are this. Meps gave away the penalty but I thought he did quite well before this, especially before he needed treatment. For me he was the most commanding of our three centre backs before the treatment. He won his aerials and made some really good forward passes. To say he was easily our worst performer is incorrect I think.
Lerma did a job and passed the ball forward well like Meps did at times. It is a waste him not being in midfield, but he can cover there and has done for his country.
Hill did alright considering his game time. He didn't really do anything particularly special but didn't mess up either. One thing I noticed he looked to the bench for instruction a few times.
Zemura seemed lost as a wing back, isolated without a left winger in support and struggled even more than usual to get back and defend. If he's being played as a wing back, he needs more support from the others.
Smithy isn't comfortable as a wing back. Christie and he didn't link up well. For me Stacey is more natural in this role or Fredericks. Smithy either as a right back or a right centre back.
Billing was playing a little too deep for my liking, but he went on some nice little runs in the second half.
Rothwell looked great. If he's going to play number 8, and Zemura is LWB, they will have to build up a stronger understanding and Rothwell will need to help JZ out more so they can overlap.
Christie huffed and puffed but didn't do so much apart from a nice shot/cross in the first half. He and Smithy just didn't work well together. Christie was lucky to not get booked for some fouls.
Cook did alright but again nothing spectacular.
All in all, today wasn't the best but it was a friendly, so no big deal really. One thing that was obvious to me is that we shouldn't play 3 at the back against weaker opposition. The point of the wing back formation is being able to break when you are doing a lot of defending. When you know you're going to have the ball a lot of the time, this formation doesn't work. We need to be flexible and play this formation against the very strong teams but not against the likes of Southampton, Fulham and Forest.
