How do you rate the squad now?

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Owl999 said:

Carlos is a baffoon .

 

That's new one on me. What exactly is a baffoon. Don't leave yourself wide open pal.

[sheriwozgod]

8 minutes ago, CLswfc said:

That's new one on me. What exactly is a baffoon. Don't leave yourself wide open pal.

 

A baffoon is like a thin gurilla  

[Bouncing Owl]

When you look at this squad, you know we should be playing with a midfield 3. Butterfield has now been brought in and he's a player that has played in this system for most of the time with Huddersfield and Derby. Our midfielders don't suit playing in a 2, Jones been an exception.

 

We have wingers with no pace and it's crying out for us to go 3-5-2 or 4-3-3. It's down to Carlos to sort it. If we continue going with this 4-4-2 system, playing slow boring football with our main intent of nullifying the opposition, our fans will become more restless and I see more problems for Carlos. Either one of the above systems should see us being more fluid and our brand of football will improve and will suit our players.

[Bluesteel]

I think our full backs are developing ok,  Hunt has been one of our better players this season IMO and Fox has looked more confident. Reach seems to benefit from having more space.

 

No idea on the centre halves, we have some height in there but we need someone to command that area physically so the jury is out. I think we will probably have missed out on dean before finalising the Van Aken deal. Van Aken is undoubtedly more confident on the ball but Dean is up to speed on a physical front. 

 

I think Butterfield is a bit of a cross between Hutchinson and Lee in terms of getting up and down and adding a bit more physicality. I think we are stronger for that alone and there isn't an obvious gap now.

 

The wide areas are a bit redundant under Carlos so it's just about keeping the ball in midfield with the full backs adding width.  We have plenty of technical ability in there.

 

The strikers are impressive on paper but a couple of them need to start delivering in order to live up to their reputation. The one who was showing signs of having a good season has been shipped out. I think Boro have more effective strikers than us. 

 

Whilst CC is the manager we will lack speed and strength in the team, it's not really his thing and he doesn't like players running with the ball or playing balls into the channels in case we lose it. I don't agree with him on that but it's his way.

 

I don't think there is an obvious top two side in the division other than Boro and perhaps Villa but they have too many players to be healthy. I think we could come closer to the top two than previous seasons if the defenders turn out ok and if Rhodes and FF do what they are capable of. If they don't we could just as easily finish upper mid table.

 

my gut feel tells me that the general mood amongst the fans about the manager, Forestieri, United being in the division will only hold us back and if offered sixth now I would take it. If at some point we do change the manager (rightly or wrongly) it will drop a lot of that baggage and it might lighten the mood.

[Sergeant Tibbs]

9 hours ago, Toronto_Owl said:

So if it's a good squad why is it performing so badly?

why is it scoring now the minimum amount of goals possible?

 

oh...

 

A goal a game isn't enough, not when we have defenders who make mistakes. A good manager will take this squad forward, I thought the plan this season was to go up automatically, as opposed to the end of season lottery. 

[Southie_Owl]

Since he's been here Carlos has bleated on about wanting to have 2 players for every position, fair enough.

 

well now we have 6 players who can play centre back (if you include Pudil) and 6 players who can play in centre midfield, and only 3 wide midfielders (Matias and Forestieri are forwards not wide midfielders) 

 

If we line up in a 442 formation against Forest and it's another cautious performance (I.e. hope to win 1-0), the cat needs to stay away from my foot

[modboy]

good enough for the playoffs but will we "go for it"?

[Kevan]

Looking at the videos of Butterfield in his days at Huddersfield, he looks to be the type of player we need.  He has the ability to win the ball in a tackle and create chances for the forwards.  Some of the passes he put through in those videos were truly class.  I'd imagine the likes of Hooper and Rhodes would start to thrive on chances like those.  Of course we don't know yet whether he will produce that level of performance on a consistent basis - or as importantly - whether Carlos will actually select him in the first place.  Maybe a pairing of Lee (when fully fit) and Butterfield could transform the style of play.  Add the new centre back, who can apparently play out from the back and this could be an opportunity for Carlos to adopt a much more offensive approach.

 

Unless our style of play becomes more offensive, I see it being a long hard season, but we will have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks. I think DC will now give Carlos at least until the turn of the year to prove that we are going in the right direction, but if we are nowhere near challenging for at least a play-off position by then, I suspect his days will be numbered.  As ever, time will tell.