My take

[Lawrie’s Left Peg]

8 minutes ago, dorian gray said:

one of 'the drills' could be the keepers judging a cross and then catching it, but I figured they'd have done that at school.

specsavers maybe.

Fair play Dorian. You can’t mitigate for individual errors and yesterday’s cost us. 

However, when the strategy for defending a lead is to retreat to 25 yards out and defend the width of the penalty area you are literally inviting  your opponents to launch long balls and crosses into your box. The more the ball is in our box, the greater the chance someone will make a costly mistake. Wouldn’t you agree? 
 

There are drills to work on starting positions so that our fullbacks and midfield can better close down the balls into the box. There are pressing drills so that we can regain possession more often to release the pressure on our back 5. There are short handed drills so that we can move the ball away from our goal under controlled possession instead of lumping it straight back to the opposition so they can attack us again. 

 

i would rather the team work on a different game management strategy than simply concede possession and territory and hope there are no errors, bad bounces or refereeing errors in and around our box. Wouldn’t you?

[VBQ24]

If we finish 6th then the league is total gash. 

[Hitcat]

He's only been in charge for 11 games. 

[gurujuan]

17 minutes ago, Hitcat said:

He's only been in charge for 11 games. 

True, but I’d expect to at least see a settled way of playing. Results wise, it’s Ok, albeit not quite what Bullen achieved early season

[dorian gray]

2 hours ago, Lawrie’s Left Peg said:

Fair play Dorian. You can’t mitigate for individual errors and yesterday’s cost us. 

However, when the strategy for defending a lead is to retreat to 25 yards out and defend the width of the penalty area you are literally inviting  your opponents to launch long balls and crosses into your box. The more the ball is in our box, the greater the chance someone will make a costly mistake. Wouldn’t you agree? 
 

There are drills to work on starting positions so that our fullbacks and midfield can better close down the balls into the box. There are pressing drills so that we can regain possession more often to release the pressure on our back 5. There are short handed drills so that we can move the ball away from our goal under controlled possession instead of lumping it straight back to the opposition so they can attack us again. 

 

i would rather the team work on a different game management strategy than simply concede possession and territory and hope there are no errors, bad bounces or refereeing errors in and around our box. Wouldn’t you?

I agree, I pulled most of my hair out watching us crash the car at hillsborough just about every home game trying to defend and counter the last 15 minutes under megson, as it failed for a good percentage, and looked bloody awful all the time.

in defence of monk, I feel we need to cut him some slack, as he has inherited the squad of someone else, a squad built to play just the one way, with fletcher added as a panic adjustment because nuhiu was sh!t in the air.

he therefor only has so many (he feels) he can rely upon, and playing twice a week with a 'limited size' squad perhaps means he's looking for a way for us not to have to expend energy for the full 90+ twice a week, if he is, it's not working.

[stanningtonowl]

He could work on drills that stop our keeper kicking it straight to their goalkeeper, and when we have a throw in, throw it somewhere other than to one of their players down the line. 

Every goal kick gave them the ball and every throw in went to them. 

[oldishowl]

1 hour ago, gurujuan said:

True, but I’d expect to at least see a settled way of playing. Results wise, it’s Ok, albeit not quite what Bullen achieved early season

So what way of playing would you suggest given we don’t have the forwards for 433 nor the midfield for the 442

I do think we would have seen more 433 if he could put Hutch , Bannan and Luongo out every game but injuries are killing him in midfield.

 

I still 3 at the back would be our best option for a settled way of playing with our squad but can’t see Monk going that way unfortunately.

 

He is trying to make best use of his resources to cobble some points together and if the players had supported him with a bit of bottle we would be in an even better position.

[Lawrie’s Left Peg]

53 minutes ago, dorian gray said:

I agree, I pulled most of my hair out watching us crash the car at hillsborough just about every home game trying to defend and counter the last 15 minutes under megson, as it failed for a good percentage, and looked bloody awful all the time.

in defence of monk, I feel we need to cut him some slack, as he has inherited the squad of someone else, a squad built to play just the one way, with fletcher added as a panic adjustment because nuhiu was sh!t in the air.

he therefor only has so many (he feels) he can rely upon, and playing twice a week with a 'limited size' squad perhaps means he's looking for a way for us not to have to expend energy for the full 90+ twice a week, if he is, it's not working.

I also agree. Monk seems to have a plan which he is executing methodically and pragmatically. He communicates well with the fans via the media so I assume he also communicates well with the players. 
I’m not sure I personally agree with his plan but every week you can see a little progression so let’s all give him time, patience and support. Hopefully the club can give him some resources to strengthen. 
Then we’ll see if the Monk Way is indeed the Road To Glory. 

[gurujuan]

1 hour ago, oldishowl said:

So what way of playing would you suggest given we don’t have the forwards for 433 nor the midfield for the 442

I do think we would have seen more 433 if he could put Hutch , Bannan and Luongo out every game but injuries are killing him in midfield.

 

I still 3 at the back would be our best option for a settled way of playing with our squad but can’t see Monk going that way unfortunately.

 

He is trying to make best use of his resources to cobble some points together and if the players had supported him with a bit of bottle we would be in an even better position.

Well that’s what I was asking earlier in the thread, is the plan just to try and cobble together enough points to still be in contention come January. If so, then that suggests big changes. Do we plan to play 4-3-3, or 4-4-2? I agree with you, we don’t have the right personnel to be successful with either system at the moment. Probably the 4-3-3 set up, requires the least upheaval, but if that is the case, shouldn’t we be bedding it in now?

 

[Inspector Lestrade]

On 09/11/2019 at 19:32, SallyCinnamon said:

I actually thought we played better offensively without Hutch. Looked dangerous on the break and attacked well for the majority of the game. The downside is we looked very open at times. 
 

But on the other hand, that shouldn’t have been a problem. We should have gone in at half time at least 2-0 up. We are simply not clinical enough. And we now are in a rut of going into panic hysteria every time we take a lead. 
 

So to sum up, mid table. With a bit more composure at both ends of the pitch we’d be in a promotion battle. Very frustrating. 

 

Offensively? Seriously?   Really?  Have a word with yourself.