It’s all about the midfield ...

L

langham

First Team
Week after week we’re overrun in midfield. Not only does Eddie persist with just two but the two aren’t up to the job ...it’s bizarre that he doesn’t see this.

Week after week it’s lateral passing at the back and no serious midfield options - ie no one to carry the ball, hold and pass. Instead we surrender the ball and straightaway the defence is under pressure. My best guess is that Fraser and C Wilson know this and are in despair at the service they (don’t) get.

Gosling, Billing and even L Cook are not cut out for the job. So sell our superfluous players and get a couple of creative midfielders. Yes - risk gutsy Championship players with some flair, or from Europe or elsewhere.... but don’t just sit there as January passes by.

We need skill and leadership in midfield - then we can judge the defence and attack properly.
 
What strikes me is Eddie’s failure to understand that midfield can no longer be a flat line. In the lower leagues, most of the play was condensed to 20 metres either side of halfway. Three flat lines generally served the purpose quite well.

In the PL, teams play from the back and press high. Play is no longer condensed, it’s basically from the edge of the box to the other box. Three flat lines doesn’t adequately cover the depth of the pitch with sufficient numbers.

We need a certain type of midfielder to link the defence to the middle of the park, and another type of midfielder to link between halfway and the attacking third. It’s simply too much to expect 2 players to perform both roles.

We mention 4-3-3 a lot on here but that’s not the true answer. You need to divide that midfield into different segments. Either a 4-1-4-1 (4-1-2-3) or it’s a 4-2-3-1 like Watford. Either way, no more 3 flat lines!
 
Tinpot Club said:
What strikes me is Eddie’s failure to understand that midfield can no longer be a flat line. In the lower leagues, most of the play was condensed to 20 metres either side of halfway. Three flat lines generally served the purpose quite well.

In the PL, teams play from the back and press high. Play is no longer condensed, it’s basically from the edge of the box to the other box. Three flat lines doesn’t adequately cover the depth of the pitch with sufficient numbers.

We need a certain type of midfielder to link the defence to the middle of the park, and another type of midfielder to link between halfway and the attacking third. It’s simply too much to expect 2 players to perform both roles.

We mention 4-3-3 a lot on here but that’s not the true answer. You need to divide that midfield into different segments. Either a 4-1-4-1 (4-1-2-3) or it’s a 4-2-3-1 like Watford. Either way, no more 3 flat lines!
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not replaced David brooks who performs that role so well
 
AFCBade said:
not replaced David brooks who performs that role so well
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the old boy behind me kept saying today ‘all of this would be different if Brooks was playing’

it made me smile... Brooks was a lovely player to watch and integral to the teams success when early last season but he has been written into a level currently occupied by Messi and Ronaldo with the odd fleeting appearance my Mpappe...

If he could have scored a hattrick today and cleared Deeneys goal off the line then he will murder the championship next year...it’s going to be carnage!!
 
langham said:
Week after week we’re overrun in midfield. Not only does Eddie persist with just two but the two aren’t up to the job ...it’s bizarre that he doesn’t see this.

Week after week it’s lateral passing at the back and no serious midfield options - ie no one to carry the ball, hold and pass. Instead we surrender the ball and straightaway the defence is under pressure. My best guess is that Fraser and C Wilson know this and are in despair at the service they (don’t) get.

Gosling, Billing and even L Cook are not cut out for the job. So sell our superfluous players and get a couple of creative midfielders. Yes - risk gutsy Championship players with some flair, or from Europe or elsewhere.... but don’t just sit there as January passes by.

We need skill and leadership in midfield - then we can judge the defence and attack properly.
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Spot on... protects the back and feeds the front... our midfield are doing neither currently...

I can guarantee you though, Eddie will not bring in another midfielder as he believes in Lerma, Billing, Cook and Gosling...
 
Neil Dawson said:
the old boy behind me kept saying today ‘all of this would be different if Brooks was playing’

it made me smile... Brooks was a lovely player to watch and integral to the teams success when early last season but he has been written into a level currently occupied by Messi and Ronaldo with the odd fleeting appearance my Mpappe...

If he could have scored a hattrick today and cleared Deeneys goal off the line then he will murder the championship next year...it’s going to be carnage!!
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I think brooks had a huge influence on the team - could see that last season when he missed games. Having said that, totally wrong to say one player missing is solely to blame for all our problems.
 
AFCBade said:
I think brooks had a huge influence on the team - could see that last season when he missed games. Having said that, totally wrong to say one player missing is solely to blame for all our problems.
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He’s an excellent player and huge prospect. But the problems around this team wouldn’t be resolved just by him.

He’s young he drifted in and out of games last season and was more affective in some games than others.
 
i think it was last season when I heard or read one of the most memorable quotes about Lewis Cook: "The more he doesn't play, the better he gets".

I think we're seeing the same apply to Brooks this season.
 
It’s hard to pinpoint the reasons we are not performing this season....of course we have had injuries to players, but then so have other teams like Newcastle and Crystal Palace.
The bottom line is that we haven’t really strengthened over the few seasons with any success and therefore haven’t been able to consolidate as I think we might have done. The gambles that we have taken on recruits like Solanke,Mepham,and Rico and more recently Billing, and Kelly just haven’t reaped any true return....only Ake, King, Brooks, Lerma and Stacey look close to something that we need to have to compete It is significant that Mings and Mousset seem to be thriving under their new clubs and questions whether we have the necessary coaching staff to really get the best out of some?...our old guard of Francis,Surman,Gosling and Daniels look out of depth generally and the metamorphosis from solid Championship players to consistent PL quality performers has waned. Smith and Cook have improved since we came up and we have found a decent keeper in Ramsdale.
Fingers could be pointed at Fraser for disrupting the closeness of the squad with his want away stance, and maybe Callum Wilson has become embroiled I this too?...after such bad injuries do we expect too much from Callum and even Lewis Cook?
However I have suffered the real bad times at this club and also been thrilled by the highs that we have had....I came away Sunday just thinking that we just don’t have the players to keep us up anymore, we huffed and puffed but too many mistakes are being made and we have lost our way quite alarmingly tactically and inthe current abilities of our lot on the pitch.
Sad because you always want to believe that we are good enough to hold our own in this league but it is blindingly obvious that we can’t.....yes maybe Howe and Tindall have just done all they can to propel us and he has shown that he is not god....just human and fallible like the rest of us mortals.
 
I agree with most of the above, but we do have significant injuries.

Yesterday we still had King, Brooks and Danjuma out. We still haven't seen a minute of league football from Kelly.

Mepham and Stacey were really starting to look the part.

Aké and Smith unsurprisingly didn't look match fit.

All of the above clearly consistently interrupts any chance of a settled team and formation to create identity.

Having said that, our best performance of the season was at Chelsea playing one forward.

The following week we were solid against Burnley until Billing was taken off.

Surely to God it is now time to at least flipping try Cook Lerma and Billing as the middle three?

We simply have to go one up front and try and get some meaningful possession and increase the tempo.

I am resigned to relegation, but two wins in the next nine days and its game on. Lets at least go down fighting.

If we do go down, there is only one Manager I want. There is only one Manager who could ever have done what we have witnessed over the last ten years.

He deserves our loyalty, which I think on the whole he has, despite 9 defeats in 11, and a relatively depressing 14 months (at this level).
 
He HAS brought in someone to replace Brookes. Unfortunately that player is generally played wide and only has any influence at set pieces. At all other times he barely looks like a footballer.
 
I worked in I.T. , now retired. The way we play reminds me of people at work who used to make a mistake and then try running the same jobs on the computer the same way again next day and the next day.
It didn't on any of those occasions either. They never seemed to learn.

It seems we are in the same loop with the Cherries too. Change it Eddie, the records broken.

If we lose against Norwich and Brighton then Eddie will walk. Do or die now I think.
We're behind you Eddie, change it..
 
TCherry said:
I worked in I.T. , now retired. The way we play reminds me of people at work who used to make a mistake and then try running the same jobs on the computer the same way again next day and the next day.
It didn't on any of those occasions either. They never seemed to learn.
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were you on the windows 8 development team?
 
DartGuru said:
He HAS brought in someone to replace Brookes. Unfortunately that player is generally played wide and only has any influence at set pieces. At all other times he barely looks like a footballer.
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Totally agree. Either play him in Brooks’ role or don’t play him - luxury player out wide and disappears completely in most games
 
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