Sheff Wed v AFCB

Very worrying those 5 ,1-1draws could so easily been 5 losses.we have’nt performed since Coventry.We offer no central striking threat,we‘ve no one who can hold the ball up or threaten with a header.I thought we needed a manager from outside the “group” with fresh ideas and a strong personality to get amongst these prima donnas who have delusions of grandure.
but l will continue to back JT at present ,he says all the right things and is very honest in his assessments,but can he get this group to start playing?
 
mark pike said:
Very worrying those 5 ,1-1draws could so easily been 5 losses.we hav’nt performed since Coventry.We offer no central striking threat, we‘ve no one who can hold the ball up or threaten with a header.I thought we needed a manager from outside the “group” with fresh ideas and a strong personality to get amongst these prima donnas who have delusions of grandure.
but l will continue to back JT at present ,he says all the right things and is very honest in his assessments, but can he get this group to start playing?
Click to expand...

I disagree with the statement of not having these players...We do have them, they are just not performing for whatever reason.

A front line up of Solanke, King, Brooks and Stanislas (take your pick of which 2 or 3) should be more than enough for most, if not all teams in this league. Lerma, L. Cook and Gosling have proven in the early stages that we can dominate the middle of the park and defensively we have actually been quite tight.

The key is how to get all the cogs working together... There is no cohesion atm with so many gaps all over the park and no little triangles of support.

Eddie always used to fall back to a basic formation and line up when things were going bad for him. More often than not it worked.

We're 10 games in now with 17 points on the board. Performances are now more important than the points. Get them right and the points will come... For a while now we've been relying on just points and we're coming unstuck.

The main worries for me last night were Kelly (too quick to go back to Begovic and not moving the ball quick enough) Brooks (looked devoid of anything really) King (Just doesn't want to be here by the looks of it), and Lerma (playing the deeper role again).

Coincidence that neither King, Brooks or Kelly played in that game and Lerma was in his new role pushing forward...

So... for me... we have 3 days to get the Coventry 11 to get working again... and if it works... let's more or less stick with it...

A Begovic, D Rico, A Smith, J Stacey, C Mepham, S Cook, J Lerma, L Cook, D Gosling, D Solanke, S Surridge

To date, this has been our best XI...
 
Don't panic !

In his interview on COWS Gosling says that we now have to go to Birmingham and win, so sounds like we are in for an easy three points on Saturday then :unsure:

I didn't like his constant references to "the quality of the attacking players we have" ( yeah right, they'll save us however crap the rest of us are ) and "should see us winning games" either. It all sounds a bit "them and us". You are 11 players in a team FFS and should all be playing for one another, for the sake of the football club which pays your wages. It sounds as though there are still little cliques of buddies throughout the squad, probably separated by the positions they play. Not good if true. They need to remember that when they are out on the pitch they are a TEAM, they win together, they lose together. I think that needs sorting for a start and then they need to play at their maximum potential all the time and stop swanning about dreaming of their time in the PL !
 
Rob Trent says: “We don’t appear to be able to play through the middle like other teams. Midfielders who can make space and pass.”

SPOT ON - this has been the problem for over two years and the key reason for our relegation IMO. Why can neither Eddie nor JT see the problem? Baffling.

We need, with extreme urgency, a player who can hold, turn and pass, bringing others into play and making sure we occupy the midfield. Without this the forwards are isolated and ball comes back relentlessly onto the defence. Try Kilkenny, try Ofobohr ... if no good, recruit at the first opportunity. The weakness is so obvious I’d even take a punt on Wilshere.

(Note: did they really think Billing could perform this role? If so, something is seriously wrong with our scouting unit.)
 
langham said:
Rob Trent says: “We don’t appear to be able to play through the middle like other teams. Midfielders who can make space and pass.”

SPOT ON - this has been the problem for over two years and the key reason for our relegation IMO. Why can neither Eddie nor JT see the problem? Baffling.

We need, with extreme urgency, a player who can hold, turn and pass, bringing others into play and making sure we occupy the midfield. Without this the forwards are isolated and ball comes back relentlessly onto the defence. Try Kilkenny, try Ofobohr ... if no good, recruit at the first opportunity. The weakness is so obvious I’d even take a punt on Wilshere.

(Note: did they really think Billing could perform this role? If so, something is seriously wrong with our scouting unit.)
Click to expand...
I remember Aaron Mooy last year at Brighton being that sort of player. But its taken me 5 years to realise it!
 
Topfarrier said:
But we have Lewis Cook to do that....he's been fantastic recently apparently.
Click to expand...

Lewis cook for recent weeks has been very good in the holding role . He has the ability to pass and keep the ball
Lerma why he was in the holding role . Post COVID he played there and he can’t play there . His strengths is his athleticism, so we have to use it.
Gosling was playing hide and seek, hiding from the ball and seeking nothing .

the back 3 defensively ok . They have gone from playing it at the back to pumping it forward.
The balls forward were chipped which favoured the defenders.
 
Exactly... Mepham and Kelly did nothing but either play it to each other and Begovic last night, or eventually pump it forward to no one in particular...

This is largely an issue with the midfield. L. Cook plays the conduit role very well... A bit like Surman used to do. Without that we have too big a gap between defence and midfield.

Another point fro last night, was where has the press gone? Sheff Weds pressed us high up the park, forcing the backwards or lump ball, whereas we let their defenders walk to the half way line, almost unchallenged...?

I hate to keep harping back to the Coventry game but it did set the benchmark for what we should look to reproduce. In that game, from start to finish, we pressed, out-muscled, and out-played them... all over the park... THAT is what JT needs to get back...

Press, be physical, move quickly...
 
Last edited:
I was pleased to see that JT was quite scathing about the effort the team put in last night. As said above 50% for most of the game is appalling it should be 100%. I know games are coming thick and fast but the players are supposed to be elite athletes not senior citizens. Get out there and play or stay behind and watch those who are willing to give it all.
 
Back on the midfielder issue ... neither L Cook nor Lerma is the type of midfield creator we need. Rob T is right to identify Mooy as the model - someone who holds, can beat a man and shift the point of attack. Cook loses the ball far too often, Lerma doesn't have the touch, Gosling is energy without product ... all this was clear throughout last season. Why haven't we recruited? ... it's a mystery.
 
langham said:
Back on the midfielder issue ... neither L Cook nor Lerma is the type of midfield creator we need. Rob T is right to identify Mooy as the model - someone who holds, can beat a man and shift the point of attack. Cook loses the ball far too often, Lerma doesn't have the touch, Gosling is energy without product ... all this was clear throughout last season. Why haven't we recruited? ... it's a mystery.
Click to expand...

Think that's why some of us, you included as I recall, were so surprised when EH bought Billings rather than Mooy or at least someone like Mooy. Basically, we've ended up with a very unbalanced team with very little creativity.
 
Last edited:
It’s the exact reason a lot of us did not want the continuity that bought us JT . These are multi million quid players , they reached those valuations by being BLOODY GOOD , they are being mismanaged either on the training pitch or with their attitudes .
We all hoped for the best but feared the worse . This season is starting to shape up like the last one , not a relegation but disappointment .
 
SteveJonesLegend said:
I agree... Lewis Cook has been great in the deeper role with Lerma pushing on... Too much JT tinkering has meant we've rarely seen this duo, in this formation this season...

We looked a lot better and more energetic when Lewis came on last night...
Click to expand...
We've seen that formation s few times times this season tbf.....apart from the Coventry game where they gave our midfield so much space Goso looked like Bryan Robson that 352 formation has looked pretty drab tbh....especially so against QPR.....Which is why JT changed it to go 343 ....maybe if he changes things again to go 433 we might see some improvement but when individual players perform that far below their level then a change of formation isn't going to change much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;