Teams that have troubled us this season.......

S

Stan53

Well-known member
The vast majority of teams that have beaten us this year have had a forward that was quick enough to get in behind us when the right ball was played through. A couple of our defenders have lacked the pace to deal with this.

We have also been missing two things in our attacking play. Firstly a quick forward to run past defenders and the skill to stay calm and make the most of the space behind the defence (Obviously Hamilton has the pace but the end product still needs working on). Secondly we are short of a midfield player who can play a ball through for someone to run on to. ( Gladwin of MK Dons killed Fleetwood with this last night).

So hopefully we are looking to the lad from Everton to provide those runs and pace we need to get behind a division one defence. If so, gives us another dimension.

Time and patience will tell

Stan53
 
Stan53 said:
The vast majority of teams that have beaten us this year have had a forward that was quick enough to get in behind us when the right ball was played through. A couple of our defenders have lacked the pace to deal with this.

We have also been missing two things in our attacking play. Firstly a quick forward to run past defenders and the skill to stay calm and make the most of the space behind the defence (Obviously Hamilton has the pace but the end product still needs working on). Secondly we are short of a midfield player who can play a ball through for someone to run on to. ( Gladwin of MK Dons killed Fleetwood with this last night).

So hopefully we are looking to the lad from Everton to provide those runs and pace we need to get behind a division one defence. If so, gives us another dimension.

Time and patience will tell

Stan53
Click to expand...

It seems to me that we've struggled against 'lump it' teams like Gillingham and Shrewsbury and doesn't everybody struggle against "the right ball played through" the defence?

I also think we have a quick forward that can run past defenders, possibly the quickest in the division. Getting another like that might mean reverting to the original 4-3-3 plan with no doubt message board meltdown.

My guess is the Everton lad will be played out wide to start with then replacing the front two from the bench to see where he fits best. We're not halfway through the season yet and, as you say, time will tell.
 
As for teams that have troubled us then early part of the season, quite a few but once the players settled down and the got established as a team then no-one has really troubled us.
But as Greavesey used to say. “It’s a funny old game”
We had a good draw with Accy who followed that up with a great win
We had a good draw against Hull and they followed that up by thrashing Accy.
I do agree we are lacking someone with that extra yard of pace and maybe the loaner from Everton might be the answer.
Great point from Kip, any team would struggle against the right ball being played through the defence and this is where the top players come into their own. They play the right ball, into the right area at the right time.
I just hope we don’t get a back log of games and we have to start playing catch up
 
The biggest problem for me is that we have 5 central midfielders with very similar styles of play.

add some creativity into the mix and the goals will come.
 
We have no one who is capable of breaking the lines of the opposition.
We are struggling in much the same way Liverpool are this season - is that a coincidence given Critch's ties to the "Liverpool way"
We/they take far too long to play the ball forward, allowing the opposition to get 10 or even 11 players back behind the ball and then snuff out anything we can muster. If we had players of the relative ability of Thiago, De Bruyne or David Silva then we would eventually find a break through and the back of the net, sadly we don't.
At present we have no one who has the ability to push the ball forward, make a run and break the lines of the opposition set up.
Having a player with the speed of CJ means little when all of the opposition players are squeezed in so tight that he has no where to run to, either with the ball or to receive it - to use the Liverpool comparison again Mane & Salah are having the exact same issues.
We should be playing the ball up to Madine (who does have a very good touch for this level) and then letting him set CJ, Yates or whoever away. Instead we have a pedestrian pace that clearly isn't working as the goals for tally shows.

It has surprised me how long Critch has persisted with this tactic, we seem to have tightened up really well at the back so have a good foundation, credit where it is due for implementing that so well. Calderwood will no doubt have had some impact on this as I believe one of his teams broke a record for fewest goals conceded (or similar?).

I know you read this board, so Critch - go find the next Charlie Adam from somewhere and sign a proper left winger who can whip a ball in to the box.
 
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