2 in midfield

[Costello 77]

1 minute ago, gurujuan said:

Sure, but the lack of movement, and by that I mean clever movement, from the front three, puts us at a clear disadvantage

Panic in the defence sets in when they become overloaded..by numbers..we haven't had a lone striker being properly effective for a long time... because there's nobody near enough to support

[Ante's Bubbly]

6 hours ago, HOOTIE AND THE poo TU said:

In my youth we had full backs, half backs forwards and inside forwards

Yeah wi one sub, no footy on Fridays, Sundays, or Mondays and a squad of 16 players that would play every game, league, league cup and fa cup. The players drank, smoked, didnt dive and had long hair. Wi sideburns! My son thinks I'm having him on.

[Ante's Bubbly]

20 minutes ago, Costello 77 said:

And that will stay the same until the players are conditioned to commit themselves in the final third.. it's not just about the limits of our striker(s) .. it's a group state of mind..

 

Yes, the whole team lately have looked like a subuteo team. NOBODY making runs. OK occasionally somebody will make a run, but that's no good if the rest of the team are static. In the last few games we have been too easy to defend against and too disorganised at the back. We need to adapt quickly to Tom Lees being out and organise the defence midfield and attack so that they work together as a team. Lee Bullen commented that the 11 on the pitch have looked like a group of individuals and he is right. Hopefully Monk can get them playing as a unit with players moving and covering for each other as required. The players need to use their brains a bit more, but only a few of them seem to have proper football brains and we lack proper cool headed captains on the pitch to keep things organised. Again hopefully Monk can instill that in them. 

[gurujuan]

6 minutes ago, Ante's Bubbly said:

 

Yes, the whole team lately have looked like a subuteo team. NOBODY making runs. OK occasionally somebody will make a run, but that's no good if the rest of the team are static. In the last few games we have been too easy to defend against and too disorganised at the back. We need to adapt quickly to Tom Lees being out and organise the defence midfield and attack so that they work together as a team. Lee Bullen commented that the 11 on the pitch have looked like a group of individuals and he is right. Hopefully Monk can get them playing as a unit with players moving and covering for each other as required. The players need to use their brains a bit more, but only a few of them seem to have proper football brains and we lack proper cool headed captains on the pitch to keep things organised. Again hopefully Monk can instill that in them. 

A first step ought to be, bring in Bates to partner Borner. Although I think Iorfa will have his uses, defensively him and Odubajo are currently to much of a risk.

[Lord Snooty]

In terms of movement the exclusion of Kieran Lee (from the starting XI)  was the biggest miss, IMO, in the QPR game. 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Lord Snooty

[Ante's Bubbly]

10 hours ago, gurujuan said:

A first step ought to be, bring in Bates to partner Borner. Although I think Iorfa will have his uses, defensively him and Odubajo are currently to much of a risk.

 

I totally agree. At Rotherham Bates got knocked about quite a bit, but seemed to get better and better as the game went on, nothing dramatic, just nice and steady, but with good positioning, blocking, heading etc. Just what you need from a good no nonsense centre half. 

 

Like you Gurujuan, I am not sure quite where Iorfa and Odubajo are best suited to play, but of the tw,o Iorfa would probably just shade it as the better full back defensively (?), with Odubaju edging it as more of a winger than full back. I sometimes wonder if, with our full backs being the weakest points in our team, and with Borner, Tom, Thorniley, Hutchinson and Bates all able to play centre half, we might be better off playing 3 at the back, with more attack minded wing backs. With a solid defensive base you then get the options in midfield to be more attack minded, or make substitutions to shore up the middle of the park when we have to see a game out.