Our Left Side (Zemura, Anthony, Billing)

NWCherries98

NWCherries98

Fans' Favourite
Just been having some thoughts on our style of play, form and general look when we play with our full strength side. I've seen a lot of people on here and on Twitter saying that Anthony is playing very badly, can't perform without Zemura and is lucky to even be in the matchday squad. People are finally coming around but you still see people bashing Billing too for being lazy. For me:

1. We absolutely have looked at our very best all season when we have our left sided triangle of Zemura, Anthony and Billing playing together. The interplay we see from these three (usually finished off by Solanke) is routinely excellent and is a big part of why we were 13 points clear of second or whatever it was. Anthony covers Zemura and can find Billing with fantastic slide rule passes, Zemura charges forward and becomes almost a second advanced midfielder, and Billing is the glue that holds everything together.

2. Saying Anthony can't perform without Zemura is nonsense and easily proven so. Zemura was injured for the majority of November, the month that Anthony scored 4 goals, won POTM and was nominated for the Championship POTM. Wingers are probably the most hot and cold of all players, and he's not looking particularly great atm, but I think people are being very harsh on him. He's still been one of our players of the season.

3. Billing is probably our most important player. I will admit that he still has the occasional game where he's not quite on it; these are the games we usually don't look good in. He covers so much distance, he links the play on our entire left side with Solanke, scores goals, gets assists, makes tackles. Without him we look so much more disjointed and poor. More and more people are beginning to realise how important he is to us, but I still think he's underrated. Credit to SP for keeping him purely as an advanced midfielder. In this position, I think he's one of the best players in the Championship- in any position.

4. We're not just looking awful because Zemura is missing. He is a huge miss, and like Anthony is one of our best performing players so far, but there's more to it than that. We have won games without Zemura playing, and we've also won games without Billing (Anthony hasn't really missed any games yet). Our problem is when 2 of these 3 players are missing at the same time; usually Billing and Zemura, leaving Anthony to get the brunt of people's annoyance. If you actually take a look at our losses and more disappointing performances, a clear pattern emerges:
  • AFCB 1-2 Preston: Our first loss. Very disjointed and poor performance overall; we had Mepham at LB and Anthony on the bench. Billing still scored but he had no synergy between Lowe or Mepham.
  • AFCB 4-0 Swansea: The very next game, still no Zemura. However, we started the game with Davis instead, and Anthony playing alongside Billing once more. A nervy start gave way to an absolute romp. Could've been 6 or 7. Anthony scored a brace, Solanke was more involved and Billing was pulling the strings. Anthony was our highest rated player on Whoscored, and Davis was 2nd.
  • Derby 3-2 AFCB: We kept the same team here; while it doesn't follow the pattern, I think this one was more down to the entire team (particularly Billing) being very cocky and not respecting the opposition. We could and should have pushed on and won the game comfortably.
  • Millwall 1-1 AFCB: Another poor performance. No Zemura or Billing. Anthony does not look the same player when you take away his triangle.
  • AFCB 0-2 Blackburn: Perhaps our worst performance of the season. Once again, no Zemura or Billing. Anthony ineffective and hooked on 70 minutes and one of our worst players according to Whoscored. Dire.
  • Middlesbrough 1-0 AFCB: All three playing together for the first time. Torrid performance, Zemura still very rusty and Anthony is now in his worst form of the season, with nothing coming off and lacking the spark between him and Billing, who was also returning from injury and in disappointing form.

Some Stats
The above is basically all my opinion, but the more I was looking up our matches, the more I was interested in seeing a full breakdown of our wins. So that's what I did. This table lists all our results for games started with all 3, all combinations of 2 of the 3 and all 3 starting on their own.

Stats.PNG

  • When we have all three of Anthony, Zemura and Billing starting a game together, we have a win percentage of 86.67%, 12 wins from a possible 15 with just 1 loss. Which is pretty nuts.
  • In 7 matches with a combination of two of any of the three starting together, we have a much lower win percentage of 57.14%, just 2 wins, 4 draws and a loss.
  • We don't have a single win when just one of the three start a game. We have also seen 3 of our 4 losses this season under these circumstances, which is quite incredible.
What does this prove exactly? It proves that we need to keep all three of these players fit and playing together for as long as possible. When they play together, we're title winners. When they don't, we're midtable fodder. It also proves that it isn't just down to Zemura being missing, but actually the wider effect of the dynamic of the three being disrupted over a prolonged period of time.

We have missed Zemura the most, because he's been the one missing the most. The only variable we can't really measure is Zemura and Billing playing without Anthony (he still came on in these games and played a small role). If we saw this and won all our games, Anthony is most likely the weak link in what has been a very, very impressive link.

I think this also shows the importance of having a dominant partnership of players in your side (we know all about this from 2014/14). These three don't just link up with each other, but they link up as a unit with Solanke much more effectively than our right side does. Our right side has been a mismash of Stacey, Smith, Brooks, Christie, L. Cook and Marcondes, and I don't think Christie has the consistent link that Billing and Anthony have with Solanke, nor does he have a solid partnership with the No8 on his side. The prospect of a real goal threat, ball-carrier like Rothwell or Swift to sit where L. Cook currently is is very enticing. I think Christie has the legs, the creativity and defensive awareness to be part of a similar triangle on the right, but these traits aren't matched by Marcondes, L. Cook or Stacey on a consistent basis. I think with a team like this (for example) we'd be near unstoppable:

--------------Travers--------------
Stacey---Cahill--Kelly---Zemura
----Rothwell--Lerma--Billing----
Christie-----Solanke-----Anthony

These are just some thought I was having on all this, be interested to hear other people's opinions.
 
I think that Billing is the key. Parker plays a very unique system and places very specific demands on his number eights, Billing is the only player we really have who can fulfil this role and when he’s not there the whole team suffers because of it. I’ve not been his biggest fan in the past but he’s absolutely pivotal to the way we play under Parker, we can cope with the other two being missing to a certain extent but not Billing. Unfortunately we have a very unique way of playing and a lack of players who can fit into this advanced number eight role that Parker persists with, it’s why recruiting another of this mould is absolutely vital in the remainder of the window. When Billing is out our whole game falls to pieces.
 
Waz afcb said:
I think that Billing is the key. Parker plays a very unique system and places very specific demands on his number eights, Billing is the only player we really have who can fulfil this role and when he’s not there the whole team suffers because of it. I’ve not been his biggest fan in the past but he’s absolutely pivotal to the way we play under Parker, we can cope with the other two being missing to a certain extent but not Billing. Unfortunately we have a very unique way of playing and a lack of players who can fit into this advanced number eight role that Parker persists with, it’s why recruiting another of this mould is absolutely vital in the remainder of the window. When Billing is out our whole game falls to pieces.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, we need those creative triangles to be happening on both sides of the pitch.
 
NWCherries98 said:
Just been having some thoughts on our style of play, form and general look when we play with our full strength side. I've seen a lot of people on here and on Twitter saying that Anthony is playing very badly, can't perform without Zemura and is lucky to even be in the matchday squad. People are finally coming around but you still see people bashing Billing too for being lazy. For me:

1. We absolutely have looked at our very best all season when we have our left sided triangle of Zemura, Anthony and Billing playing together. The interplay we see from these three (usually finished off by Solanke) is routinely excellent and is a big part of why we were 13 points clear of second or whatever it was. Anthony covers Zemura and can find Billing with fantastic slide rule passes, Zemura charges forward and becomes almost a second advanced midfielder, and Billing is the glue that holds everything together.

2. Saying Anthony can't perform without Zemura is nonsense and easily proven so. Zemura was injured for the majority of November, the month that Anthony scored 4 goals, won POTM and was nominated for the Championship POTM. Wingers are probably the most hot and cold of all players, and he's not looking particularly great atm, but I think people are being very harsh on him. He's still been one of our players of the season.

3. Billing is probably our most important player. I will admit that he still has the occasional game where he's not quite on it; these are the games we usually don't look good in. He covers so much distance, he links the play on our entire left side with Solanke, scores goals, gets assists, makes tackles. Without him we look so much more disjointed and poor. More and more people are beginning to realise how important he is to us, but I still think he's underrated. Credit to SP for keeping him purely as an advanced midfielder. In this position, I think he's one of the best players in the Championship- in any position.

4. We're not just looking awful because Zemura is missing. He is a huge miss, and like Anthony is one of our best performing players so far, but there's more to it than that. We have won games without Zemura playing, and we've also won games without Billing (Anthony hasn't really missed any games yet). Our problem is when 2 of these 3 players are missing at the same time; usually Billing and Zemura, leaving Anthony to get the brunt of people's annoyance. If you actually take a look at our losses and more disappointing performances, a clear pattern emerges:
  • AFCB 1-2 Preston: Our first loss. Very disjointed and poor performance overall; we had Mepham at LB and Anthony on the bench. Billing still scored but he had no synergy between Lowe or Mepham.
  • AFCB 4-0 Swansea: The very next game, still no Zemura. However, we started the game with Davis instead, and Anthony playing alongside Billing once more. A nervy start gave way to an absolute romp. Could've been 6 or 7. Anthony scored a brace, Solanke was more involved and Billing was pulling the strings. Anthony was our highest rated player on Whoscored, and Davis was 2nd.
  • Derby 3-2 AFCB: We kept the same team here; while it doesn't follow the pattern, I think this one was more down to the entire team (particularly Billing) being very cocky and not respecting the opposition. We could and should have pushed on and won the game comfortably.
  • Millwall 1-1 AFCB: Another poor performance. No Zemura or Billing. Anthony does not look the same player when you take away his triangle.
  • AFCB 0-2 Blackburn: Perhaps our worst performance of the season. Once again, no Zemura or Billing. Anthony ineffective and hooked on 70 minutes and one of our worst players according to Whoscored. Dire.
  • Middlesbrough 1-0 AFCB: All three playing together for the first time. Torrid performance, Zemura still very rusty and Anthony is now in his worst form of the season, with nothing coming off and lacking the spark between him and Billing, who was also returning from injury and in disappointing form.

Some Stats
The above is basically all my opinion, but the more I was looking up our matches, the more I was interested in seeing a full breakdown of our wins. So that's what I did. This table lists all our results for games started with all 3, all combinations of 2 of the 3 and all 3 starting on their own.

View attachment 7113

  • When we have all three of Anthony, Zemura and Billing starting a game together, we have a win percentage of 86.67%, 12 wins from a possible 15 with just 1 loss. Which is pretty nuts.
  • In 7 matches with a combination of two of any of the three starting together, we have a much lower win percentage of 57.14%, just 2 wins, 4 draws and a loss.
  • We don't have a single win when just one of the three start a game. We have also seen 3 of our 4 losses this season under these circumstances, which is quite incredible.
What does this prove exactly? It proves that we need to keep all three of these players fit and playing together for as long as possible. When they play together, we're title winners. When they don't, we're midtable fodder. It also proves that it isn't just down to Zemura being missing, but actually the wider effect of the dynamic of the three being disrupted over a prolonged period of time.

We have missed Zemura the most, because he's been the one missing the most. The only variable we can't really measure is Zemura and Billing playing without Anthony (he still came on in these games and played a small role). If we saw this and won all our games, Anthony is most likely the weak link in what has been a very, very impressive link.

I think this also shows the importance of having a dominant partnership of players in your side (we know all about this from 2014/14). These three don't just link up with each other, but they link up as a unit with Solanke much more effectively than our right side does. Our right side has been a mismash of Stacey, Smith, Brooks, Christie, L. Cook and Marcondes, and I don't think Christie has the consistent link that Billing and Anthony have with Solanke, nor does he have a solid partnership with the No8 on his side. The prospect of a real goal threat, ball-carrier like Rothwell or Swift to sit where L. Cook currently is is very enticing. I think Christie has the legs, the creativity and defensive awareness to be part of a similar triangle on the right, but these traits aren't matched by Marcondes, L. Cook or Stacey on a consistent basis. I think with a team like this (for example) we'd be near unstoppable:

--------------Travers--------------
Stacey---Cahill--Kelly---Zemura
----Rothwell--Lerma--Billing----
Christie-----Solanke-----Anthony

These are just some thought I was having on all this, be interested to hear other people's opinions.
Click to expand...

Anthony has done really well considering this is his first season in the first team. He needs to become more clinical but there is room for improvement with everyone. Football supporters are fickle and can go from calling a player a genius to not fit to wear the shirt within weeks. Anthony and Zemura have a great natural understanding and Billing fits into that well too. Christie started really well but has not been as good for and while. He needs more help from interaction with the right back and right-sided midfielder I think. I'm not sure we'll get Rothwell, so I'm going to suggest Stacey as the right-sided attacking midfielder. That way Laird or Smith when fit will be able to interact with him and Christie, Christie cutting in and Laird/Smith and Stacey making runs to the wing. I think that would be an amazing right-sided formation.

Scott Parker seems to want to play Lewis Cook. If he's determined to play Lewis, then Lewis needs to be in a defensive midfield role and Lerma more advanced. Lerma's best position does seem to be deeper, though. Priorities are an attacking right-sided midfielder who can actually attack and has a good shot on them. That doesn't seem to be Lewis Cook. Another priority is getting more goals from our wingers because we're too dependent on Solanke. Anthony needs to be a bit more decisive with his shots I think and Christie needs to kick the ball harder and not near the goalie so much.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Waz afcb said:
I think that Billing is the key. Parker plays a very unique system and places very specific demands on his number eights, Billing is the only player we really have who can fulfil this role and when he’s not there the whole team suffers because of it. I’ve not been his biggest fan in the past but he’s absolutely pivotal to the way we play under Parker, we can cope with the other two being missing to a certain extent but not Billing. Unfortunately we have a very unique way of playing and a lack of players who can fit into this advanced number eight role that Parker persists with, it’s why recruiting another of this mould is absolutely vital in the remainder of the window. When Billing is out our whole game falls to pieces.
Click to expand...

I think Christie could fulfil Billing's role as a left footer if he were as natural a scorer as Billing, but he's not.
 
NWCherries98 said:
Just been having some thoughts on our style of play, form and general look when we play with our full strength side. I've seen a lot of people on here and on Twitter saying that Anthony is playing very badly, can't perform without Zemura and is lucky to even be in the matchday squad. People are finally coming around but you still see people bashing Billing too for being lazy. For me:

1. We absolutely have looked at our very best all season when we have our left sided triangle of Zemura, Anthony and Billing playing together. The interplay we see from these three (usually finished off by Solanke) is routinely excellent and is a big part of why we were 13 points clear of second or whatever it was. Anthony covers Zemura and can find Billing with fantastic slide rule passes, Zemura charges forward and becomes almost a second advanced midfielder, and Billing is the glue that holds everything together.

2. Saying Anthony can't perform without Zemura is nonsense and easily proven so. Zemura was injured for the majority of November, the month that Anthony scored 4 goals, won POTM and was nominated for the Championship POTM. Wingers are probably the most hot and cold of all players, and he's not looking particularly great atm, but I think people are being very harsh on him. He's still been one of our players of the season.

3. Billing is probably our most important player. I will admit that he still has the occasional game where he's not quite on it; these are the games we usually don't look good in. He covers so much distance, he links the play on our entire left side with Solanke, scores goals, gets assists, makes tackles. Without him we look so much more disjointed and poor. More and more people are beginning to realise how important he is to us, but I still think he's underrated. Credit to SP for keeping him purely as an advanced midfielder. In this position, I think he's one of the best players in the Championship- in any position.

4. We're not just looking awful because Zemura is missing. He is a huge miss, and like Anthony is one of our best performing players so far, but there's more to it than that. We have won games without Zemura playing, and we've also won games without Billing (Anthony hasn't really missed any games yet). Our problem is when 2 of these 3 players are missing at the same time; usually Billing and Zemura, leaving Anthony to get the brunt of people's annoyance. If you actually take a look at our losses and more disappointing performances, a clear pattern emerges:
  • AFCB 1-2 Preston: Our first loss. Very disjointed and poor performance overall; we had Mepham at LB and Anthony on the bench. Billing still scored but he had no synergy between Lowe or Mepham.
  • AFCB 4-0 Swansea: The very next game, still no Zemura. However, we started the game with Davis instead, and Anthony playing alongside Billing once more. A nervy start gave way to an absolute romp. Could've been 6 or 7. Anthony scored a brace, Solanke was more involved and Billing was pulling the strings. Anthony was our highest rated player on Whoscored, and Davis was 2nd.
  • Derby 3-2 AFCB: We kept the same team here; while it doesn't follow the pattern, I think this one was more down to the entire team (particularly Billing) being very cocky and not respecting the opposition. We could and should have pushed on and won the game comfortably.
  • Millwall 1-1 AFCB: Another poor performance. No Zemura or Billing. Anthony does not look the same player when you take away his triangle.
  • AFCB 0-2 Blackburn: Perhaps our worst performance of the season. Once again, no Zemura or Billing. Anthony ineffective and hooked on 70 minutes and one of our worst players according to Whoscored. Dire.
  • Middlesbrough 1-0 AFCB: All three playing together for the first time. Torrid performance, Zemura still very rusty and Anthony is now in his worst form of the season, with nothing coming off and lacking the spark between him and Billing, who was also returning from injury and in disappointing form.

Some Stats
The above is basically all my opinion, but the more I was looking up our matches, the more I was interested in seeing a full breakdown of our wins. So that's what I did. This table lists all our results for games started with all 3, all combinations of 2 of the 3 and all 3 starting on their own.

View attachment 7113

  • When we have all three of Anthony, Zemura and Billing starting a game together, we have a win percentage of 86.67%, 12 wins from a possible 15 with just 1 loss. Which is pretty nuts.
  • In 7 matches with a combination of two of any of the three starting together, we have a much lower win percentage of 57.14%, just 2 wins, 4 draws and a loss.
  • We don't have a single win when just one of the three start a game. We have also seen 3 of our 4 losses this season under these circumstances, which is quite incredible.
What does this prove exactly? It proves that we need to keep all three of these players fit and playing together for as long as possible. When they play together, we're title winners. When they don't, we're midtable fodder. It also proves that it isn't just down to Zemura being missing, but actually the wider effect of the dynamic of the three being disrupted over a prolonged period of time.

We have missed Zemura the most, because he's been the one missing the most. The only variable we can't really measure is Zemura and Billing playing without Anthony (he still came on in these games and played a small role). If we saw this and won all our games, Anthony is most likely the weak link in what has been a very, very impressive link.

I think this also shows the importance of having a dominant partnership of players in your side (we know all about this from 2014/14). These three don't just link up with each other, but they link up as a unit with Solanke much more effectively than our right side does. Our right side has been a mismash of Stacey, Smith, Brooks, Christie, L. Cook and Marcondes, and I don't think Christie has the consistent link that Billing and Anthony have with Solanke, nor does he have a solid partnership with the No8 on his side. The prospect of a real goal threat, ball-carrier like Rothwell or Swift to sit where L. Cook currently is is very enticing. I think Christie has the legs, the creativity and defensive awareness to be part of a similar triangle on the right, but these traits aren't matched by Marcondes, L. Cook or Stacey on a consistent basis. I think with a team like this (for example) we'd be near unstoppable:

--------------Travers--------------
Stacey---Cahill--Kelly---Zemura
----Rothwell--Lerma--Billing----
Christie-----Solanke-----Anthony

These are just some thought I was having on all this, be interested to hear other people's opinions.
Click to expand...
Great post ....but you know Druss is going to be absolutely seething that you've replaced Lewis Cook.
 
I think the criticism of Anthony has been very harsh. He's built up a great partnership with Zemura and Billing and then has been expected to perform at the same level when one or both are missing. To expect him to play the same way with Davies or Marcondes is unrealistic, he's still young and needs the guidance of someone with Billing's experience. For me, he's got bags of talent and a great future but those stats tell it all. I've felt for a long time that Billing has a dominant personality, as some tall people sometimes do, and if he is happy the team is happy. The negative side of this is an unsettled and factional dressing room if he's not happy being played deep by EH etc. The upside is that when he gets what he wants he becomes a good influence on the younger players who look up to him, figuratively and literally, which is the case with Anthony and Zemura, who he seems to have taken under his wing.
 
NWCherries98 said:
Just been having some thoughts on our style of play, form and general look when we play with our full strength side. I've seen a lot of people on here and on Twitter saying that Anthony is playing very badly, can't perform without Zemura and is lucky to even be in the matchday squad. People are finally coming around but you still see people bashing Billing too for being lazy. For me:

1. We absolutely have looked at our very best all season when we have our left sided triangle of Zemura, Anthony and Billing playing together. The interplay we see from these three (usually finished off by Solanke) is routinely excellent and is a big part of why we were 13 points clear of second or whatever it was. Anthony covers Zemura and can find Billing with fantastic slide rule passes, Zemura charges forward and becomes almost a second advanced midfielder, and Billing is the glue that holds everything together.

2. Saying Anthony can't perform without Zemura is nonsense and easily proven so. Zemura was injured for the majority of November, the month that Anthony scored 4 goals, won POTM and was nominated for the Championship POTM. Wingers are probably the most hot and cold of all players, and he's not looking particularly great atm, but I think people are being very harsh on him. He's still been one of our players of the season.

3. Billing is probably our most important player. I will admit that he still has the occasional game where he's not quite on it; these are the games we usually don't look good in. He covers so much distance, he links the play on our entire left side with Solanke, scores goals, gets assists, makes tackles. Without him we look so much more disjointed and poor. More and more people are beginning to realise how important he is to us, but I still think he's underrated. Credit to SP for keeping him purely as an advanced midfielder. In this position, I think he's one of the best players in the Championship- in any position.

4. We're not just looking awful because Zemura is missing. He is a huge miss, and like Anthony is one of our best performing players so far, but there's more to it than that. We have won games without Zemura playing, and we've also won games without Billing (Anthony hasn't really missed any games yet). Our problem is when 2 of these 3 players are missing at the same time; usually Billing and Zemura, leaving Anthony to get the brunt of people's annoyance. If you actually take a look at our losses and more disappointing performances, a clear pattern emerges:
  • AFCB 1-2 Preston: Our first loss. Very disjointed and poor performance overall; we had Mepham at LB and Anthony on the bench. Billing still scored but he had no synergy between Lowe or Mepham.
  • AFCB 4-0 Swansea: The very next game, still no Zemura. However, we started the game with Davis instead, and Anthony playing alongside Billing once more. A nervy start gave way to an absolute romp. Could've been 6 or 7. Anthony scored a brace, Solanke was more involved and Billing was pulling the strings. Anthony was our highest rated player on Whoscored, and Davis was 2nd.
  • Derby 3-2 AFCB: We kept the same team here; while it doesn't follow the pattern, I think this one was more down to the entire team (particularly Billing) being very cocky and not respecting the opposition. We could and should have pushed on and won the game comfortably.
  • Millwall 1-1 AFCB: Another poor performance. No Zemura or Billing. Anthony does not look the same player when you take away his triangle.
  • AFCB 0-2 Blackburn: Perhaps our worst performance of the season. Once again, no Zemura or Billing. Anthony ineffective and hooked on 70 minutes and one of our worst players according to Whoscored. Dire.
  • Middlesbrough 1-0 AFCB: All three playing together for the first time. Torrid performance, Zemura still very rusty and Anthony is now in his worst form of the season, with nothing coming off and lacking the spark between him and Billing, who was also returning from injury and in disappointing form.

Some Stats
The above is basically all my opinion, but the more I was looking up our matches, the more I was interested in seeing a full breakdown of our wins. So that's what I did. This table lists all our results for games started with all 3, all combinations of 2 of the 3 and all 3 starting on their own.

View attachment 7113

  • When we have all three of Anthony, Zemura and Billing starting a game together, we have a win percentage of 86.67%, 12 wins from a possible 15 with just 1 loss. Which is pretty nuts.
  • In 7 matches with a combination of two of any of the three starting together, we have a much lower win percentage of 57.14%, just 2 wins, 4 draws and a loss.
  • We don't have a single win when just one of the three start a game. We have also seen 3 of our 4 losses this season under these circumstances, which is quite incredible.
What does this prove exactly? It proves that we need to keep all three of these players fit and playing together for as long as possible. When they play together, we're title winners. When they don't, we're midtable fodder. It also proves that it isn't just down to Zemura being missing, but actually the wider effect of the dynamic of the three being disrupted over a prolonged period of time.

We have missed Zemura the most, because he's been the one missing the most. The only variable we can't really measure is Zemura and Billing playing without Anthony (he still came on in these games and played a small role). If we saw this and won all our games, Anthony is most likely the weak link in what has been a very, very impressive link.

I think this also shows the importance of having a dominant partnership of players in your side (we know all about this from 2014/14). These three don't just link up with each other, but they link up as a unit with Solanke much more effectively than our right side does. Our right side has been a mismash of Stacey, Smith, Brooks, Christie, L. Cook and Marcondes, and I don't think Christie has the consistent link that Billing and Anthony have with Solanke, nor does he have a solid partnership with the No8 on his side. The prospect of a real goal threat, ball-carrier like Rothwell or Swift to sit where L. Cook currently is is very enticing. I think Christie has the legs, the creativity and defensive awareness to be part of a similar triangle on the right, but these traits aren't matched by Marcondes, L. Cook or Stacey on a consistent basis. I think with a team like this (for example) we'd be near unstoppable:

--------------Travers--------------
Stacey---Cahill--Kelly---Zemura
----Rothwell--Lerma--Billing----
Christie-----Solanke-----Anthony

These are just some thought I was having on all this, be interested to hear other people's opinions.
Click to expand...

excellent post again btw.
 
Gloria Hunter said:
Anthony has done really well considering this is his first season in the first team. He needs to become more clinical but there is room for improvement with everyone. Football supporters are fickle and can go from calling a player a genius to not fit to wear the shirt within weeks. Anthony and Zemura have a great natural understanding and Bidling fits into that well too. Christie started really well but has not been as good for and while. He needs more help from interaction with the right back and right-sided midfielder I think. I'm not sure we'll get Rothwell, so I'm going to suggest Stacey as the right-sided attacking midfielder. That way Laird or Smith when fit will be able to interact with him and Christie, Christie cutting in and Laird/Smith and Stacey making runs to the wing. I think that would be an amazing right-sided formation.

Scott Parker seems to want to play Lewis Cook. If he's determined to play Lewis, then Lewis needs to be in a defensive midfield role and Lerma more advanced. Lerma's best position does seem to be deeper, though. Priorities are an attacking right-sided midfielder who can actually attack and has a good shot on them. That doesn't seem to be Lewis Cook. Another priority is getting more goals from our wingers because we're too dependent on Solanke. Anthony needs to be a bit more decisive with his shots I think and Christie needs to kick the ball harder and not near the goalie so much.
Click to expand...

unfortunately SP says he wants to convert L Cook into a ball carrying attacking midfielder who scores goals.
 
Johnny Comelately said:
unfortunately SP says he wants to convert L Cook into a ball carrying attacking midfielder who scores goals.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Seems to me we have loads of great players but there are gaps. Apologies if I'm repeating what others have said a bit.

Defensive midfield:

Pearlo, Jeff, Lewis Cook

Creative deep midfield:

Kilkenny, Lewis Cook (can also play here)

Attacking midfield:

Billing, Marcondes, Christie (Could play in this role), Stacey (Could play in this role), Jeff (could play in this role).

Lewis Cook isn't a natural scorer. He's a tackler, passer and potential leader. I think it would make more sense to play Jeff here or convert Kilkenny. Seems a bit like we have four players who ideally would all be deeper in midfield:

Lerma, Pearlo, Lewis Cook and Kilkenny. We don't need them all, so we either sell or loan one or use one or two of them further forward. Lewis in an attacking midfield role isn't really working.
 
NWCherries98 said:
So another game started with 2 of the 3 missing. Another loss.
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It's not the players fault, it is Parkers.

We had relative success in the first half by switching our attacks between the two flanks.

Some good moves down the right side with Stacey, Marcondes and Christie.

Should have been at least 1 or 2 up at half time, due to the variety of our wing play.

Second half, Parker shoves Anthony on, tells him to get forward and we lose our rhythm through desperation.

We are known for playing well down the left, so for Parker to stick or twist down that side was poor management.

If he had chucked a pacy wide man out right at the same time as the Anthony substitution it would have torn Hull apart.

But he didnt.

I like Scott Parkers soundbites, but he doesnt have a steely edge.

He has to take responsibility for that clusterfck of a result.
 
To be fair to Billing I think he was rushed back and hasn't fully recovered from his injury,judging by the strapping he had on his leg.
 
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