A E Neuman NYowl

Inverting the pyramid is a good read if you enjoy reading about how football tactics have changed over the years

Many of us fans have been saying the midfield needs addressing for months, if we can see it surely the man picking the team can. He had a chance to do something about it during the January transfer window but chose to go for just strikers and to make the situation worse freeze the most effective one of the lot out.

Due to falling revenue DC will have to dig even deeper into his pocket if he wants us to become competitive again. To just keep our heads above water like Manadaric did he will still have to provide substantial funding. With the price that DC puts on the club he could be funding us for a very long time addIng to his already substantial input. If he is wanting to get out the only way I can see him getting his money back is to agree to defer payment until we reach the premiership. This might make us more attractive to a potential buyer.

Exactly spot on. We can't change the players, we need to get the best out of them for this season and Monks not doing that. Some of our recent performances are so bad that our opponents have won the game by 30 minutes and have then got the cigars out or the scorelines could have been a lot worse. People can say they hope the chairman walks away, he isn't going to wash his hands of his investment. Like you have said all that can be done for now is to change the man picking the team and choosing the tactics and hope that a new face can kick start us and get us enough points to stay up.

He reminds me a lot of Carlton Palmer, the way he covers the ground is very similar. Like Carlton his first touch is not the best but his pace and long legs often get him out of problems. However in central defence a slight lapse in control can result in a goal. ( Also not sure he reads the game like a top central defender does, quite often losing his man. ) One thing Carlton did have which I don't know if Iorfa has is is incredible stamina. Palmer could get up and down the pitch all day long, if Iorfa can do this I would like to see him tried in midfield as I think it could be his best position.

I think if we has played an open game Man City would have ripped us apart tonite, by sacrificing midfield and packing the defence it helped cut out the space for them to operate in. At some point though we had to try to score a goal and we just hadn't got a clue on how to get the ball forward. If we hadn't used all of our subs Nuhiu would have been useful for the last 20 mins. Tonite also showed how lazy some of our players are, Man City's players were far more mobile than a lot of ours. Wildsmith. 9 MOM The best goalkeeping performance by any of our keepers this season, several excellent saves and good kicking. More agile than Dawson. Fox. 7. Did his defensive work well but passing was poor and couldn't get forward. Borner. 5. I don't know what has happened to him. Thought he was all over the place and very slow but at least we didn't concede while he was on the pitch. Iorfa. 9 His incredible pace was esssential against the Man City forward line. First touch is a ibit dodgy at times. Palmer. 7. Same as a Fox. Pelupessy. 5. An extra body blocking space in front of our defence. Lee. 6 An extra body blocking space in front of our defence but a bit better at it than Joey. Bannan. 5. Closed down space but was just brushed aside by more physical Man City players. Did his usual pass and stand still rather than pass and move which we really needed tonite. Murphy. 7. The best of our forwards but was crowded out hen he tried to break. Da Cruz. 4 Really offered nothing FF. 6. Tried hard but like Murphy he was simply crowded out. Subs Lees. 6. In the first half we were all over the place in the air and I think he helped curb that in the second half, but he is just so poor on the deck. Fletcher. 6. Nothing to work with but at least he shows for the ball. Hunt. 7. Not on for long and we shouldn't get carried away, but showed a lot of energy and endeavour and also put in our best ball of the night. Monk. I can see what he was trying to do tonite sacrifice midfield and cut out space in our defensive third, but using the subs like he did left us with no options when we had to give it a go at the end.

At central defence I think he is more suited to the premiership than the championship. His outstanding pace is such an asset against fast nippy players like you get mostly in the premiership. Even though he is tall I think he gets bullied by big awkward forwards like Martin, Juketswiech, Smith etc that you get more of in the championship.

Some of the players need moving on but Monk is not getting anywhere near the best out of the players at his disposal. Time and time again we start a game and are wide open due to his tactics but he never seems to learn. We never seem to have a plan on how to exploit the opponents weaknessses but the other teams know what to target with us.

Looks like he has gone backwards since Monk took over, he isn't not on his own though, Palmer, Lees, Iorfa, Borner, and Bannan all look a lot worse.

Derby are no great shakes but are better than Charlton. I think if we go with just Bannan and Lee in midfield we will get overrun. With Hutchinson in the freezer we could try Iorfa as the holding midfielder but with more license to get forward tha Hutchinson or Pelupessy show. I would start Fletcher and Wickham up top. Dawson Palmer. Lees. Borner. Fox Iorfa Lee. Bannan. FF Wickham. Fletcher

Really nice bloke Trevor, also on of the fittest men I have ever met for his age. Unfortunately the wear and tear of being a footballer knackered one of his hips otherwise I reckon he could do a job for us now.

Agree with this review. Bannan MoM but would like to add that I thought Charlton were poor, a stronger midfield will totally overrun Lee and Bannan. Great to see Fletcher back, Wickham can't play the role Fletcher does but we might see a better Wickham alongside Fletcher. FF played like a man possessed but his shooting was abysmal, he looked like he had the boots on the wrong feet.

Hope Fox is fit he tucks more into central defence when the ball is on the opposite side of the pitch and this has helped the 2 central defenders who tend to get outnumbered at the back due to lack of midfield. Other than taking Hutchinson out of the freezer not got a clue how we plug midfield at the moment.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a difference of opinion, healthy debate should be encouraged. However when it comes to personal abuse, that Is way out of order. Seeing some of the bullying and personal abuse on this board amongst so called fans of the same team makes me cringe at times.