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Post by Topper Gas on Sept 8, 2024 9:49:39 GMT
Lots of promising signs and good that both our strikers are off the mark. I was (am still slightly) worried about goals in this team but I can see Omochere scoring a fair few this season and if Sotiriou / Forde can chip in with a few as well we'll be ok on that front. My big issue is the formation. I hate it and very few teams are successful with it. For it to work, you need wingbacks who are the arguably your most important players, the fittest players in the side who can bomb up and down the pitch all day. Thomas and Bilongo aren't it for me. I've also not been that impressed with Mola as others have been. Think he looks a liability under the high ball and has a mistake or two in him at any given moment. I'd really like to see us play to our strengths and get the best out of our attacking assets, not wasting them at wing back. But I don't think i'll get my wish sadly. I'd go 4-2-3-1 and something like: Griffiths Hunt/Senior - Moore - Taylor/Wilson - Sousa Conteh - Garrett/Shaw/Ward Forde/Sinclair - Thomas/Hutchinson - Bilongo/Thomas Omochere Play Moore at RB, he can't be any worse than LT yesterday at RWB? |
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Post by Quarters on Sept 8, 2024 9:58:48 GMT
It's a shame that Hunt was signed to a long contract being a perennial 20-25 game per season man. It's really hamstringing (pun absolutely intended) our budget for that position in the team. When he is fit, he's not really a RWB but a RB and doesn't have the legs or stamina to play in the same way LT does out of his natural position. I absolutely agree that LT is wasted there but options are quite limited now we have lost Senior and Hunt is constantly broke. Shaw probably did more in 10 mins than LT managed in the previous 80 mins, as soon as he just fell over for no obvious reasons yesterday he should have been subbed off, MT didn't mess about when he felt Bolingo had cost us a goal on the other wing. Thought Bilongo had a knock just before the goal, but you know exactly that he was taken off as he cost a goal! It was also done to change the shape of tthe team. |
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Post by gashead4ever on Sept 8, 2024 10:37:23 GMT
doesnt matter who we signed when we are so defensive attack attack attack
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Post by Topper Gas on Sept 8, 2024 11:18:40 GMT
doesnt matter who we signed when we are so defensive attack attack attack We can't attack when we're under so much pressure, for 20 mins or so yesterday we couldn't even get out of our half. |
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Post by mrgasman on Sept 8, 2024 15:03:29 GMT
Lots of promising signs and good that both our strikers are off the mark. I was (am still slightly) worried about goals in this team but I can see Omochere scoring a fair few this season and if Sotiriou / Forde can chip in with a few as well we'll be ok on that front. My big issue is the formation. I hate it and very few teams are successful with it. For it to work, you need wingbacks who are the arguably your most important players, the fittest players in the side who can bomb up and down the pitch all day. Thomas and Bilongo aren't it for me. I've also not been that impressed with Mola as others have been. Think he looks a liability under the high ball and has a mistake or two in him at any given moment. I'd really like to see us play to our strengths and get the best out of our attacking assets, not wasting them at wing back. But I don't think i'll get my wish sadly. I'd go 4-2-3-1 and something like: Griffiths Hunt/Senior - Moore - Taylor/Wilson - Sousa Conteh - Garrett/Shaw/Ward Forde/Sinclair - Thomas/Hutchinson - Bilongo/Thomas Omochere Play Moore at RB, he can't be any worse than LT yesterday at RWB? Luke Thomas is an attacking midfielder not a RWB. It’s like expecting a marathon runner to be a sprinter. Hopefully Taylor realises this soon and plays Thomas in his best played position. Having said that he was quality against Cambridge. |
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Post by eric on Sept 8, 2024 15:23:27 GMT
Play Moore at RB, he can't be any worse than LT yesterday at RWB? Luke Thomas is an attacking midfielder not a RWB. It’s like expecting a marathon runner to be a sprinter. Hopefully Taylor realises this soon and plays Thomas in his best played position. Having said that he was quality against Cambridge. Totally agree. I’d also add that a wingback needs to provide the width for a team - having a left footed right wingback who will naturally always looks to cut in makes the decision to play him there even more absurd in my opinion. |
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Post by igotgas on Sept 8, 2024 15:27:50 GMT
Thomas is a winger. Shoehorning him in as a 10 is as pointless as playing him as a WB. Worse in fact because it’s completely different in terms of his awareness around him needing to be 360deg with his receiving skills and also his out of possession work will be all over the place tracking runners through midfield instead of out wide.
He’s not a 10 and in any case we ah ent played with a 10 we’ve played a holding player and two CMs.
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Post by Topper Gas on Sept 8, 2024 16:01:32 GMT
I can't recall many complaining about playing at RWB after last Saturday's match and before yesterday's game LT was one of the top players for key passes in L1 x.com/NTT20Pod/status/1831289905235820762?t=xK_0smpQB0E1-dj6wLt2oQ&s=19LT at RWB seems to work at the Mem, not so sure about away from home, the problem is who replaces him with Senior injured and Hunt either not fit or not being considered. |
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Post by peterhooper57 on Sept 8, 2024 16:02:03 GMT
Trading down from players like of Antony Evans, was always going to mean imo the team would most likely be punching in the bottom third of the division, trying to stay above the likes of Shrewsbury Town, nobody realistically expects this new group to be pushing for a play off spot. If they do eventually gel and start picking up points on the road, then great. For me 1 point away against three better sides is okay; will only become concerned if the team start losing at home against sides who are also seeking to stay out of the bottom four. Don't you just love a project, work in progress, etc. ... Utg
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Post by gashead79 on Sept 8, 2024 16:14:03 GMT
I've watched the first 2 games live and the second 2 on screen. Didn't watch yesterday as I knew it would be a disappointment and wanted a good weekend.
We don't have an identity, are naive, and play players out of position without purpose.
Northampton was a poor game with cracks papered by a late winner. We struggled to string any decent passage of play together and it looked like 11 blokes who'd just met.
Rotherham away was a total battering by a side with as many new faces as us. They had a plan, an identity, a focal point in Nombe, and played the ref. Results matter but the writing was on the wall there.
Stockport and Cambridge I watched on TV. Both sides nothing special and will be bottom half, but Stockport imposed themselves on us and were too lively. Whilst we managed to do exactly that to a terrible Cambridge team.
We have a solid set of CBs and a good RB in Moore. Mola is a beast at LB.
Our wide players should be used as wingers rather than wing backs. Bilongo, Thomas, Sinclair should have paint on their boots and not need to chase back pretending to defend plus stay out for attacking free kicks and corners. Centre players pick themselves depending on the opposition but 1 sitter and one adventurous isn't hard to arrange.
Promise is our 9. He is decent but can't do it all. With a foil or supporting wide players there's no reason why he can't occupy and take advantage of enough defenders to build good attacking play this year.
I've seen enough but fear we have a self fulfilling prophecy to achieve mid table. A safe manager, a passive set of supporters, a quiet BoD, no real exciting future, all a bit meh....already.
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Post by igotgas on Sept 8, 2024 16:33:52 GMT
Trading down from players like of Antony Evans, was always going to mean imo the team would most likely be punching in the bottom third of the division, trying to stay above the likes of Shrewsbury Town, nobody realistically expects this new group to be pushing for a play off spot. If they do eventually gel and start picking up points on the road, then great. For me 1 point away against three better sides is okay; will only become concerned if the team start losing at home against sides who are also seeking to stay out of the bottom four. Don't you just love a project, work in progress, etc. ... Utg It’s ok to say we “traded down” from Anthony Evans but how long did it take and how much patience was shown for Anthony Evans to find his feet and produce goal involvements? It took him 12 league games to score his first goal and at almost exactly his stage of the season he’d played 6 league games and got 1 assist, an EFL cup game and his only goal came in the EFL Trophy….his first 8 games gave us 1 goal and one assist. We bought Hutchinson and stated he was his replacement and he’s scored and assisted in the EFL Trophy but was binned after just 3 league games! We’ve killed the fella cos we watched a highlights reel and wondered why he didn’t do that every week and he’s seemingly 6th choice in midfield!! |
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Post by o2o2bo2ba on Sept 8, 2024 18:31:29 GMT
We've had a disproportionately harder first 5 matches of the season.
Some very tricky opponents.
That's where we've played teams on a promotion bounce, big spenders, relegated teams that are fancied for promotion and ex play off team from last season away from home. This includes 2 teams currently in top 6 both away fixtures.
Only 1 team in the bottom 8, which we convincingly beat.
That coupled with 2 long term injuries, 2 unavailable yesterday to internationals and injuries and suspensions before the season started, it's been a challenging start.
It's not set to get any easier this month. No respite at Peterborough (notoriously poor return there), Wigan and Wyscum at home, and a tough early k o v Reading away - never easy.
The likes of Crawley, Burton, Leyton Orient, Shrewsbury etc (no disrespect to them) have started worse, but we haven't played them yet.
Depends if your glass is half full or half empty?
I would say half way up (or down!) is about right and where we deserve to be, but I honestly feel there's more positive plays to come and support MT atm for the hard job he's doing.
We haven't had the idyllic start and we're 9th.
That's ok in my book.
But obviously want more..
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Post by heartofgas on Sept 9, 2024 16:14:10 GMT
I think we've been OK. Seen some green shoots of what we can be and we now have a fairly solid defense. The days of calamitous defending and easily shipping 4 goals seems to be behind us. I like Promise and with just a bit extra creativity around him we could be pushing top half. I think we will be good enough to not be involved in any relegation concerns but probably not good enough to get into play-off contention. I am happy with the first 5 games.
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Post by Topper Gas on Sept 9, 2024 16:37:57 GMT
We've had a disproportionately harder first 5 matches of the season. Some very tricky opponents. That's where we've played teams on a promotion bounce, big spenders, relegated teams that are fancied for promotion and ex play off team from last season away from home. This includes 2 teams currently in top 6 both away fixtures. Only 1 team in the bottom 8, which we convincingly beat. That coupled with 2 long term injuries, 2 unavailable yesterday to internationals and injuries and suspensions before the season started, it's been a challenging start. It's not set to get any easier this month. No respite at Peterborough (notoriously poor return there), Wigan and Wyscum at home, and a tough early k o v Reading away - never easy. The likes of Crawley, Burton, Leyton Orient, Shrewsbury etc (no disrespect to them) have started worse, but we haven't played them yet. Depends if your glass is half full or half empty? I would say half way up (or down!) is about right and where we deserve to be, but I honestly feel there's more positive plays to come and support MT atm for the hard job he's doing. We haven't had the idyllic start and we're 9th. That's ok in my book. But obviously want more.. You have to sense the league is a lot tougher this season, apart from Crawley Shrewsbury, Northampton, Orient and Cambridge it looks like most games will be tough ones, given we've already played two out of those five at the Mem, it'll now be interesting to see how we get on against Wigan & Wycombe at home, given an away win doesn't look likely anytime soon. |
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Post by woolavingtonpirate on Sept 9, 2024 19:22:12 GMT
Like I have said before the better teams will play through us and that's exactly what has happened. We have lost to some quality though both Phillips who scored on Saturday and Stockport player Barry are probably two of the best players we may come up against all season. It's been a tough start, we've been competitive, lacked quality at times, but I'm more optimistic now than before the season started. I've also got a feeling that Forde could hot property by the end of the season.
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