Dare i say it...

[MrTacoSWFC]

Are me missing joao?... I know he had a mixed time last season but think from the few games he played in the new season he's started to improve, abit more henergy. Nuhiu looked lost on the pitch and not that we would have won but joao seems to have abit more ability than nuhiu..

Edited September 18, 2016 by MrTacoSWFC

[Mas]

Hooper, forestieri and fletcher are all miles better than him so no we're not. 

[MrTacoSWFC]

1 minute ago, Mas said:

Hooper, forestieri and fletcher are all miles better than him so no we're not. 

I agree... But they were all on the pitch yesterday. And one had to come off to be replaced by nuhiu..

[Ben-owl]

I quite like joao but on a list of factors that may have caused are average start to the season, joao is way down on the list. 

 

I fact he probably not even on the list. 

 

[Mas]

1 minute ago, MrTacoSWFC said:

I agree... But they were all on the pitch yesterday. And one had to come off to be replaced by nuhiu..

 

Ye fletcher was replaced

 

God knows why 

[Southie_Owl]

In a team that is full of midfield passing talent, a striker like Hooper or Joao should be starting alongside Fletcher who is no longer a prolific striker but a good target man 

[Mr. Tom]

3 minutes ago, Mas said:

 

Ye fletcher was replaced

 

God knows why 

 

Knackered after another good performance and had an awkward fall a couple of minutes earlier which knocked the wind out of him. He was all in, another 15min would've really been stretching him, and we were a goal up so it made sense to get him in't bath.

[Mas]

4 minutes ago, Southie_Owl said:

In a team that is full of midfield passing talent, a striker like Hooper or Joao should be starting alongside Fletcher who is no longer a prolific striker but a good target man 

 

What about forestieri ? 

[MrTacoSWFC]

Yeah Fletcher had worked his Nads off.. But I would have liked the idea of joao being able to come on, he can do more with the ball and is more of a threat.

[Athelwulf]

I'd start with Hutchinson in midfield, if not at home then when we're away, and pick a team from there. A red card waiting to happen when he's in the middle? Perhaps, but I suspect that all told we'd probably end up with a bigger away points total with him there than without him.

[Southie_Owl]

2 minutes ago, Mas said:

 

What about forestieri ? 

 

Personally I'd play Forestieri on the right and Reach on the left with Fletcher and Hooper or Joao up front

[fife_owl]

11 hours ago, Mick De Lyons said:

It literally seems that results in this league are decided by a throw of the dice. Most teams apart from say Newcastle are pretty similar in quality, in having two or three players who have some quality and teams that can string one or two results together can go on a decent run of form, maintaining some form of confidence. No one particularly stands out and its old adage of anyone can beat anyone on their day. If you take our games so far this season, i don't think there would be one where you could say that you would gain a definite three points. Whether it was against Villa, Norwich, Leeds or Burton, you couldn't say with any conviction that we would win or what indeed the eventual score would be. As far as Wednesday is concerned, it doesn't seem to matter who we play, what the formation is or who picked to play, you still get a sense that the game could go anyway in terms of the result.

 

Tonight's result was disappointing to say the least. If you are judging a side on its ability to be among the front runners for promotion, then this side is simply not good enough. One nil up with 15 mins to play and you end up losing 2-1 is pretty pathetic. Westwood should be experienced enough to know better than to come out like that. All he was ever going to do was knock the guy off his feet and the second goal was out and out bad defending. At this rate the side will only be capable of achieving a mid table position and possibly going on to finish around 10th place. The side has no proper balance to it and confidence has evaporated. Sure, we can pass the ball about well at times, bit often for the sake of it and not with an end product. The defence looks quite weak and though we create a fair amount of chances, many of those are half chances and we don't capitalize on them. 

 

The balance of the side looks disjointed and there are too may players, playing in the wrong positions and some that should be dropped altogether. I feel that Hutchinson, though not available tonight, should be playing just in front of the back four. A quality centre half should have been signed in the summer to take Loovens place and Bannan who now plays in a more deep midfield position, should be played higher up the field. Jones was no doubt signed to do Hutchinson's old role, bit so far has made little impact. Abdi's preferred  position is to play in Bannan's old role from last season, but is being played out wide to no effect. We play Forestieri out wide, but that should be Reach's position if and when he isn't playing at left back. So a combination of poor recruitment and trying to accommodate players in positions they aren't used to playing in, is causing a lot of problems.

 

I feel that Carlos hasn't learned enough lessons from last season and is being pretty stubborn about how we should approach each game. We don't play any different when we are playing Villa or Burton, whether we are home or away. I feel that teams have worked out how we play and Carlos can't or doesn't want to play another way. Sides effectively flood the midfield, play deep and use the counter attack against us. We have no variation in the way we play and i feel that we are too predictable and that against certain side you need other methods, as an alternative to the total football approach, which is often played without pace and enough penetration into the opponents half. At the moment we are an average side, who can look quite slick at times, but we don't look like a balanced and dominant side, who are clearly a class above our opponents. Improvement is much needed.

 

Thoughts ? 

Good post.

 

I think we're yet to see the best of Reach and Fletcher.  When LB gets settled, I think Reach will force CC to choose two from Jones/Bannan/Lee and Abdi.  At that point, I think we'll settle and push on.

 

its a crazy league, the three relegated teams haven't exactly run away, so we can still mount a challenge.  But the current pattern has to be fixed.

 

we got out of jail against Bristol - which papered over the cracks.  Birmingham running at us second half caused the trouble - we couldn't deal with it.

 

i know it's a bit random - but my thoughts just now.

[Mr. Tom]

9 minutes ago, MrTacoSWFC said:

Yeah Fletcher had worked his Nads off.. But I would have liked the idea of joao being able to come on, he can do more with the ball and is more of a threat.

 

Joao still tends to get brushed off the ball like a player half his size though. Rightly or wrongly, Carlos seemed to be trying to add physical strength to hold on at 1-0. I'd have gone for Jones myself - B'ham were always going to come at us for the last 10min a goal down at home. Nuhiu did ok but an odd choice for me yesterday.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Mr. Tom

[Guest wilyfox]

We miss him as an option off the bench, for sure. I just don't see the benefit of Nuhiu anymore when we have Fletcher. Joao adds another dimension. 

Edited September 18, 2016 by wilyfox

[Mick De Lyons]

45 minutes ago, fife_owl said:

Good post.

 

I think we're yet to see the best of Reach and Fletcher.  When LB gets settled, I think Reach will force CC to choose two from Jones/Bannan/Lee and Abdi.  At that point, I think we'll settle and push on.

 

its a crazy league, the three relegated teams haven't exactly run away, so we can still mount a challenge.  But the current pattern has to be fixed.

 

we got out of jail against Bristol - which papered over the cracks.  Birmingham running at us second half caused the trouble - we couldn't deal with it.

 

i know it's a bit random - but my thoughts just now.

Reach will eventually play down that left side with Pudil at left back and so as you say, Carlos may have his hamd forced into playing only two other midfield players out of a possible four and they hopefully will also play im their preferred positions.

[gazzamk2]

I think we battered Brum for 45 mins and should have been clear and dry.

 

We didn't take our chances and its bitten us on the arse. We aren't the first team this has happened to and we won't be the last.

 

The team looked good and but for Westwood losing the plot and us standing off their 2 strikers at the end we would have won the game.

 

It hurts when this happens but it's a case of keep on keeping on and working as hard as we can in the next game.

 

Abdi for me looks a bit 'weak' if that makes sense and Fletch was done in from giving his all.

 

Nuhiu nearly scored and but for the bar things would be very different this morning...!

 

[horny owl]

Joao must be wondering what hell is happening when a player the calibre of Nuhiu gets on the pitch ahead of him.

 

If that doesn't kick him up the backside, nothing will.

[Owls2k]

32 minutes ago, horny owl said:

Joao must be wondering what hell is happening when a player the calibre of Nuhiu gets on the pitch ahead of him.

 

If that doesn't kick him up the backside, nothing will.

Joao should concentrate on his own wilting game rather than comparing himself to other strikers

 

He's still recovering from injury isn't he?