Jordan Rhodes.

[damianb1]

28 minutes ago, Emerson Thome said:

 

Yeah, but the whole point of keeping possession is so the opposition have less of the ball, therefore they can't put in as many crosses. Man City only conceded 23 goals last season, and it wasn't because they have brilliant defenders, it was because the opposition didn't have the ball.

 

But, that said, football is about a contrast of styles. We tried to do what Wolves did and buy a team to pass a way out of the division and that didn't work. And there are lots of bad teams in the Championship trying to tika-taka out of defence with Championship centre backs so it doesn't always work. One of the best ways to play against these tika-taka teams is to get the ball forward early and play with two up front to beat the press and keep possession high up the pitch. Monk understands this. But he also understands you need to have enough quality on the ball to keep possession and pass it around when needed - otherwise you will be constantly losing the ball and inviting pressure onto yourself.

 

 

Yep fully understand the theory behind that but teams and players are in the championship for a reason, they're generally not consistently good enough to play that style of football. Admittedly it was a freak season but Leicester won the title with iirc about 35% possession all season. They had a striker who could finish and they set up to keep giving him chances. Someone (who I can't remember) once said "football is a simple game complicated by idiots" that was true then, now and always will be!

[gurujuan]

1 hour ago, damianb1 said:

Absolute rounduns, the new football intelegentsia would like you to think it has, all the ticky tacky cr@p but ultimately it's about putting the ball in the opponents net more than they put it in yours. Statistically most goals in football come from crosses into the box and we probably have 2 of the best forwards outside the premier in converting those types of chances. 

I can’t think of any of the top sides in this country that operate with strikers like Rhodes, or Fletcher come to that. Liverpool don’t, Man City don’t, Leicester don’t, Chelsea don’t, hardly any do, save for perhaps Burnley. You won’t find many German, Italian or Spanish clubs playing that way Not sure what football you watch, to reach those sort of conclusions. Hell, even England have finally woken up to the “new” way of playing As I said, too many of our lot are stuck in the past

[wednesdaywizard]

3 minutes ago, Adam Reachs left peg said:

Fletch having his best season, Rhodes returning to form could winnall be next?, nobody has mentioned strudwick maybe the players are miles fitter than before and now we are seeing the rewards 

 

I thought Winnall looked in good shape yesterday when he came on.  Reach and Rhodes also look noticeably fitter.  There's definitely been work done in that area.

[Carbone]

2 hours ago, Yellowbelly said:

Just watched Rhodes post match interview, firstly comes across as a nice bloke but seems to have a certain fragility about him. I reckon he’s very much a confidence player.

This probably explains why he’s really struggled after he left Blackburn - he thrived there and at Huddersfield which at the time were two clubs with very little in terms of aspiration

[DuttyTeabags]

I've been one of his harshest critics and still a bonkers signing at that price but good goals and fair play. He's brought his cost per goal down from 1.81m to 1.42m with that hat trick.

 

If he scores a few over next few games it does put him in proverbial shop window and we could do with a fee + wages saved between now and end of season.  

 

Am sure there are quicker, younger players who may be capable of scoring 10 between Jan and end of season who would provide a good foil for Fletcher.

Edited December 15, 2019 by DuttyTeabags
Hat

[Guest wilyfox]

32 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

I can’t think of any of the top sides in this country that operate with strikers like Rhodes, or Fletcher come to that. Liverpool don’t, Man City don’t, Leicester don’t, Chelsea don’t, hardly any do, save for perhaps Burnley. You won’t find many German, Italian or Spanish clubs playing that way Not sure what football you watch, to reach those sort of conclusions. Hell, even England have finally woken up to the “new” way of playing As I said, too many of our lot are stuck in the past

 

Goes in cycles. Formations are re-invented as though brand new - like when Hoddle set England up with wing-backs as if it were the revolutionary work of a genius. 4-3-3 is the current fashion. Give it time and that will change. 4-4-2 will become sexy again.

 

Besides, it's not what you play. It's how well you play it. Call it long ball dinosaur football if you like, but we played well and won 4-0, so who gives a shíte? 

[Emerson Thome]

40 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

I can’t think of any of the top sides in this country that operate with strikers like Rhodes, or Fletcher come to that. Liverpool don’t, Man City don’t, Leicester don’t, Chelsea don’t, hardly any do, save for perhaps Burnley. You won’t find many German, Italian or Spanish clubs playing that way Not sure what football you watch, to reach those sort of conclusions. Hell, even England have finally woken up to the “new” way of playing As I said, too many of our lot are stuck in the past

 

Well obviously the players are much better at the top of the Premier League, you're talking about some of the best players in the world... but Aguero is a Rhodes type player, with a little more pace and trickery - but doesn't contribute much outside the box. Abraham is not a million miles from Fletcher either as more of a target man. And when Chelsea don't play Abraham they play Giroud (who won the World Cup lest we forget) and is very similar to Fletcher in style of play.

 

[yeadonowl]

48 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

I can’t think of any of the top sides in this country that operate with strikers like Rhodes, or Fletcher come to that. Liverpool don’t, Man City don’t, Leicester don’t, Chelsea don’t, hardly any do, save for perhaps Burnley. You won’t find many German, Italian or Spanish clubs playing that way Not sure what football you watch, to reach those sort of conclusions. Hell, even England have finally woken up to the “new” way of playing As I said, too many of our lot are stuck in the past

I think that the issue is you are trying to compare championship football to top level football. The reality is that it’s miles apart in terms of ability. That is why the majority of promoted teams struggle

 

The championship is very much horses for courses. If 4-4-2 proves to work then why deviate from it just because it’s not trendy?

 

Our squad is very much set up to play this way

 

Since we started to play consistently like this Fletcher is going through his most productive spell here and Rhodes has just given a finishing masterclass, which the majority of the fan base thought was never coming 

 

A firing and confident Rhodes could well be the difference between play offs and us missing out

 

I just hope that this finally is a kick start to his Wednesday career 

[SallyCinnamon]

So pleased for him. A lovely bloke who has always worked very hard. 
 

Well done Jordan. 

[Belfast Owl 2]

9 hours ago, james o connor said:

To be fair to Rhodes , it’s the first time he’s played under a decent manager here . The con artist Carlos was well and truly being found out by the time he arrived , jos was on another planet and he was at Norwich when Bruce was here . His own poor performances can’t go excused but it looked like the other night at Derby he’d remembered how to play football and yesterday that he’d remembered he was a deadly penalty box poacher . 

 

If he was here under Bruce would have been interesting to see if he would have got him scoring.

[gurujuan]

24 minutes ago, wilyfox said:

 

Goes in cycles. Formations are re-invented as though brand new - like when Hoddle set England up with wing-backs as if it were the revolutionary work of a genius. 4-3-3 is the current fashion. Give it time and that will change. 4-4-2 will become sexy again.

 

Besides, it's not what you play. It's how well you play it. Call it long ball dinosaur football if you like, but we played well and won 4-0, so who gives a shíte? 

It’s not necessarily the formations, it’s the technical ability of the players that has changed. Even in this league, there are far better footballers than there were five years ago Agreed, it was an outstanding performance, as I mentioned, but my point was, there are still elements of our attacking play that should be addressed in January, if we can

[Guest wilyfox]

6 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

It’s not necessarily the formations, it’s the technical ability of the players that has changed. Even in this league, there are far better footballers than there were five years ago Agreed, it was an outstanding performance, as I mentioned, but my point was, there are still elements of our attacking play that should be addressed in January, if we can

 

I think that's a myth. 

[Animis]

8 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

It’s not necessarily the formations, it’s the technical ability of the players that has changed. Even in this league, there are far better footballers than there were five years ago Agreed, it was an outstanding performance, as I mentioned, but my point was, there are still elements of our attacking play that should be addressed in January, if we can

 

In mid week you were advocating doing away with wingers and righting-off Rhodes. Whilst one swallow doesn't make a summer so to speak, the whole-team performance yesterday and the role of wingers and the front 2 in a 4-4-2 comprehensive just needs celebrating rather than trying another angle to suggest it doesn't work.

[gurujuan]

11 minutes ago, yeadonowl said:

I think that the issue is you are trying to compare championship football to top level football. The reality is that it’s miles apart in terms of ability. That is why the majority of promoted teams struggle

 

The championship is very much horses for courses. If 4-4-2 proves to work then why deviate from it just because it’s not trendy?

 

Our squad is very much set up to play this way

 

Since we started to play consistently like this Fletcher is going through his most productive spell here and Rhodes has just given a finishing masterclass, which the majority of the fan base thought was never coming 

 

A firing and confident Rhodes could well be the difference between play offs and us missing out

 

I just hope that this finally is a kick start to his Wednesday career 

Well yes, I agree, you will certainly find much better players in the Premier League, which has also come on leaps and bounds. There are also better coaches and better players operating in the championship these days, and even at this level, you won’t find many sides playing with that type of striker. Drop down to League One, and yes there will be more. Of course there will be the odd team that thrive by getting the maximum out of fairly limited players, Burnley for example, but they are few and far between. The reason we have progressed as a footballing nation in recent years, is because our players are now developing into proper footballers.

[gurujuan]

9 minutes ago, wilyfox said:

 

I think that's a myth. 

Fair enough mate, but I believe it to be true

[stocksyuto]

I'm pleased for the whole squad not just Rhodes, by now we would be bare bones in the team I'm looking around at some teams like Charlton had a great start but the fixture congestion has done a number on the injuries. 

[Beholder]

An on form Rhodes is the missing piece of the jigsaw.

 

Loads of points have been dropped from not converting chances. 

 

With Rhodes in this kind of form we will kill teams on the runway before they get off the ground. 

[Pulcinella]

1 hour ago, Adam Reachs left peg said:

Fletch having his best season, Rhodes returning to form could winnall be next?, nobody has mentioned strudwick maybe the players are miles fitter than before and now we are seeing the rewards 

If only we weren’t under threat of points reduction.

[aussieowl87]

39 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

It’s not necessarily the formations, it’s the technical ability of the players that has changed.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inverting-Pyramid-History-Football-Tactics-ebook/dp/B003NUS8Q2

 

History of Football Tactics.

 

Basically explains how formations become successful in response to whichever one dominated previously. Starts back pre-war through to present day.

 

Spoiler: Proposed the 3-5-2 could be what finally outranks the 4-3-3.

 

Fascinating read.

 

FWIW I don't doubt the statement about the technical ability of players improving too. That's clear as day.

[pachyderm]

On 07/12/2019 at 12:58, onlyonedavidhirst said:

Im not getting carried away with what I would call an average 45 minutes. But he did ok, we looked far better in the second half and he contributed, even though he still looked a yard short at times. Would love him to find his scoring boots, we need someone to do that alongside Fletcher. 

 

Agreed.

 

Weren't we fed up with Rhodes a season or two ago? 

 

Surely if there is any magic between he and Fletcher it would have shown up somewhere during training/practice? 

 

Right?