21 minutes ago, L/H White said:

I'm definitely in the over critical camp, but I've read that Sheehan was the worst player on the pitch today

Imagine scoring twice and being labelled as the worst player on the pitch 

Sheehan did score twice but he also misplaced a couple of passes that put us in danger, but they didn’t capitalise on them, however he was far from the worst on the pitch. I could understand a little criticism but whoever made that comment was just attention seeking. Or a moron. Or both.

When's the last time we put in a good performance? Wigan in September?

I'm glad we're doing well but this can't go on forever.

I've already found my culprit, the tactics. 

The dogged adoption of 4231 (inverted) where the instruction seems to be all attacking balls go to the wings, seemingly regardless of how many people are marking the winger, no wonder ACD looks pants right now (not his fault) he's still getting the ball with 3 men on him. 

I don't know why we bothered signing a no 9 or playing with a no 10, 99% of the time we don't cross and it's never first time because they have to cut back due to being inverted, which slows down play and allows their defenders time. Nobody passes to our no 10 regardless of the player, in a 4231 he's meant to be a link player/ chance creator and goal scorer. In 4231's he's the most important player.

The fact we're winning so many of these games says more about League One than it does about us. 

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by Zog1

2 hours ago, L/H White said:

I'm definitely in the over critical camp, but I've read that Sheehan was the worst player on the pitch today

Imagine scoring twice and being labelled as the worst player on the pitch 

I’ve been a big critic of Josh but credit where it’s due, probably our best player in his last 7/8 games. When he’s not in the team, we can’t pass the ball in the middle 

7 hours ago, Big E said:

I mentioned today as I find it confusing and cool football coach types who have a badge from coaching kids can explain but why do we have to make all our subs. 
 

today it felt like they disrupted us a bit. Surely we could just make a couple. Admittedly I don’t understand anything as I don’t pay fifa 

Not sure what us kool kats can offer, as we should focus on the three Rs. UEFA Pro licence is your friend. Those with that had plenty of time to play FIFA.
Guessing summat to do with fatigue, formation, or tactics and shit? 

3 hours ago, Zog1 said:

When's the last time we put in a good performance? Wigan in September?

I'm glad we're doing well but this can't go on forever.

I've already found my culprit, the tactics. 

The dogged adoption of 4231 (inverted) where the instruction seems to be all attacking balls go to the wings, seemingly regardless of how many people are marking the winger, no wonder ACD looks pants right now (not his fault) he's still getting the ball with 3 men on him. 

I don't know why we bothered signing a no 9 or playing with a no 10, 99% of the time we don't cross and it's never first time because they have to cut back due to being inverted, which slows down play and allows their defenders time. Nobody passes to our no 10 regardless of the player, in a 4231 he's meant to be a link player/ chance creator and goal scorer. In 4231's he's the most important player.

The fact we're winning so many of these games says more about League One than it does about us. 

Claptrap.

Tea break at the cricket, so just a quick look at some stats.

Randall is up there with Gale and ACD in terms of touches, touches in the box and shots - hardly a reflection of “all attacking balls go to the wings” - this was why SS selected him. From here we can debate his effectiveness. 

“99% of the time we don’t cross” 😂

29 we attempted today! 

Now if you had suggested we need to improve the quality of delivery, then debate away. 

I think you need to search for some new theories to try and prove you are a better manager than SS.

And if the only reason we are winning games is nothing to do with us and more the quality of L1 - then the same can be said for all our rivals. 

Oh and lets not let this one ride..

”ACD looks pants right now” 😂

Less effective, not scoring as many, not as confident…maybe…debatable.

But “pants” - I bet most sides would have wanted this “pants” player in their side yesterday, never giving up, continuing to be a threat and creating a 93rd minute winner to spearhead a promotion campaign. 

25 minutes ago, desperado said:

Claptrap.

Tea break at the cricket, so just a quick look at some stats.

Randall is up there with Gale and ACD in terms of touches, touches in the box and shots - hardly a reflection of “all attacking balls go to the wings” - this was why SS selected him. From here we can debate his effectiveness. 

“99% of the time we don’t cross” 😂

29 we attempted today! 

Now if you had suggested we need to improve the quality of delivery, then debate away. 

I think you need to search for some new theories to try and prove you are a better manager than SS.

And if the only reason we are winning games is nothing to do with us and more the quality of L1 - then the same can be said for all our rivals. 

Oh and lets not let this one ride..

”ACD looks pants right now” 😂

Less effective, not scoring as many, not as confident…maybe…debatable.

But “pants” - I bet most sides would have wanted this “pants” player in their side yesterday, never giving up, continuing to be a threat and creating a 93rd minute winner to spearhead a promotion campaign. 

Think we can debate this until the next game and carry it on as soon as the final whistle goes on that game.

We play one way and when we make substitutions our game, shape does not alter.

Yesterday our subs weakened us but theres made them stronger [not the first time]. It is lge1 and it is not a good standard.

What we are missing is a battering ram player who will come on last 30 and rattle the opposition.

Hugill and Nombe are limited yet frightened us to death. Wootton is another at Stockport.....We need to mix things up

Perhaps swop Gale and ACD at times in the game so they both can get down the line naturally and cross.

Forss, Burstow and Dalby graft but they are not natural goal scorers and are much of a muchness.

Randall was good yesterday in parts but is not the answer but nobody seems to be in that ten

4 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Think we can debate this until the next game and carry it on as soon as the final whistle goes on that game.

We play one way and when we make substitutions our game, shape does not alter.

Yesterday our subs weakened us but theres made them stronger [not the first time]. It is lge1 and it is not a good standard.

What we are missing is a battering ram player who will come on last 30 and rattle the opposition.

Hugill and Nombe are limited yet frightened us to death. Wootton is another at Stockport.....We need to mix things up

Perhaps swop Gale and ACD at times in the game so they both can get down the line naturally and cross.

Forss, Burstow and Dalby graft but they are not natural goal scorers and are much of a muchness.

Randall was good yesterday in parts but is not the answer but nobody seems to be in that ten

Mostly reasonable, debatable points (unlike the ones zog posted earlier) 

Subs - did we need to make that many? Probably not (although rotation in a busy period will have been a consideration). Did they make us weaker? As a unit… maybe. But not each individual one - for example without Dalby we’re not scoring that equaliser. 

Do they always make us weaker? Definitely not - go back to Exeter for evidence there.

I disagree with the we only have a “one way” approach. Yes we have a preferred formation (which team, manager doesnt) and we rely on/use our fast, attacking wingers,  but there’s some both visible and subtle differences and  adaptations (game-to-game and in-game) we make and tweak. IMO I think a lot overlook this when analysing SS tactically. 

39 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Perhaps swop Gale and ACD at times in the game so they both can get down the line naturally and cross.

There was one occasion in the first half where ACD went down the left flank….and cut inside on his right foot 🙃

7 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

There was one occasion in the first half where ACD went down the left flank….and cut inside on his right foot 🙃

them are his instructions [style] to cut in on his right

6 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

them are his instructions [style] to cut in on his right

That is factually incorrect.

Yes of course it’s natural to go on the side of your natural foot and why wouldn’t you when it’s reaped rewards. So of course we are going to see this more often than not. It’s a tactic that works/is working. 

But this idea that SS instructs his wingers to always do it and has only the one tactic up his sleeve is nonsense. He’s actually come out publicly and encouraged his wingers to go on the outside!

“Describing his wingers as “excellent” Schumacher said: “We asked them not to keep turning back on to the strong foot, because both of them (Cozier-Duberry and Thierry Gale) are really good on the weak foot.” 

And this is how we got our goal yesterday!  

 

41 minutes ago, desperado said:

That is factually incorrect.

Yes of course it’s natural to go on the side of your natural foot and why wouldn’t you when it’s reaped rewards. So of course we are going to see this more often than not. It’s a tactic that works/is working. 

But this idea that SS instructs his wingers to always do it and has only the one tactic up his sleeve is nonsense. He’s actually come out publicly and encouraged his wingers to go on the outside!

“Describing his wingers as “excellent” Schumacher said: “We asked them not to keep turning back on to the strong foot, because both of them (Cozier-Duberry and Thierry Gale) are really good on the weak foot.” 

And this is how we got our goal yesterday!  

 

When a winger is playing his game he does not think what foot is it on.......Cutting inside is now ACD natural game

Did he do that first here no i think he started that as a kid at Arsenal...No point in SS encouraging him

Gale on the other hand can get down the line or cut in

Nope not factually incorrect at all....As it stands now we only play one way with minor tweeks

8 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

Sheehan did score twice but he also misplaced a couple of passes that put us in danger, but they didn’t capitalise on them, however he was far from the worst on the pitch. I could understand a little criticism but whoever made that comment was just attention seeking. Or a moron. Or both.

It was @kent_white and he's an attention seeking moron

2 hours ago, desperado said:

Mostly reasonable, debatable points (unlike the ones zog posted earlier) 

Subs - did we need to make that many? Probably not (although rotation in a busy period will have been a consideration). Did they make us weaker? As a unit… maybe. But not each individual one - for example without Dalby we’re not scoring that equaliser. 

Do they always make us weaker? Definitely not - go back to Exeter for evidence there.

I disagree with the we only have a “one way” approach. Yes we have a preferred formation (which team, manager doesnt) and we rely on/use our fast, attacking wingers,  but there’s some both visible and subtle differences and  adaptations (game-to-game and in-game) we make and tweak. IMO I think a lot overlook this when analysing SS tactically. 

We are definitely inflexible with the always inverted wingers. I don't think that's arguable otherwise. SS has said he wants the wingers to cut in and get to the byline, but you're always likely to prefer your natural foot, so cutting in more often is inevitable.

I just think we should have little spells where we swap the wingers over to confuse the opposition and lead to more crossed chances for us. Otherwise, at home, there's not much wrong with the tactics other than not being able to finish our chances.

Away from home is a different matter where a switch to a more solid 433 would be my preference.

 

Without sounding like a 10 year old, but EE is fast becoming a favourite. His doing the dirty breaking up play is just as important as Sheehan starting our play  or the spark ACD gives in his assists / goals.

Another mention to Johnston, as he was getting on my tits last season but he’s certainly turned it around.

All 4 above need to start when fit, but appreciate the squad will come into its own through January and hopefully our time to get into and stay in the top 2 positions and finally get out of this horrific 3 tier. 

29 minutes ago, Stig said:

We are definitely inflexible with the always inverted wingers. I don't think that's arguable otherwise. SS has said he wants the wingers to cut in and get to the byline, but you're always likely to prefer your natural foot, so cutting in more often is inevitable.

I just think we should have little spells where we swap the wingers over to confuse the opposition and lead to more crossed chances for us. Otherwise, at home, there's not much wrong with the tactics other than not being able to finish our chances.

Away from home is a different matter where a switch to a more solid 433 would be my preference.

Inverted wingers done well needs full backs with loads of pace and energy to keep offering the overlap and mix the delivery up with a few pull backs (Mahrez at City with Walker steaming past him). Those types of full backs less easy to find at our level.

JDC can do that bit with ACD but his defending in a 4 isnt up to it, Conway won't get beyond Gale very often,  he works better with Cissoko, who holds it up longer to give him chance to get by 

Expect JDC to start on Monday. No way is Christie playing 2 games in 4 days.

6 minutes ago, waffer cup 07 said:

Expect JDC to start on Monday. No way is Christie playing 2 games in 4 days.

Fine with that, not so much on the left back position though. 

2 hours ago, masi 51 said:

When a winger is playing his game he does not think what foot is it on.......Cutting inside is now ACD natural game

Did he do that first here no i think he started that as a kid at Arsenal...No point in SS encouraging him

Gale on the other hand can get down the line or cut in

Nope not factually incorrect at all....As it stands now we only play one way with minor tweeks

 

3 hours ago, masi 51 said:

them are his instructions [style] to cut in on his right

You said he is instructed (dictionary definition: ordered, command, directed) to do this.

I showed you with a quote from SS that he is not - so sorry, yes, factually incorrect.

If anything he’s being encouraged to go on the outside more! 😂

Whilst JR should've done better when he was through on goal he was unlucky in the first half with his header then shot at the near post 

Earned a place on the bench if nothing else yesterday but definitely didn't deserve the reaction he got when subbed 

9 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

Sheehan did score twice but he also misplaced a couple of passes that put us in danger, but they didn’t capitalise on them, however he was far from the worst on the pitch. I could understand a little criticism but whoever made that comment was just attention seeking. Or a moron. Or both.

People just see the odd misplaced pass like that and make a massive judgement on the back of it and completely disregard everything else.

It's like they Just can't wait to pounce.

1 hour ago, Stig said:

We are definitely inflexible with the always inverted wingers. I don't think that's arguable otherwise. SS has said he wants the wingers to cut in and get to the byline, but you're always likely to prefer your natural foot, so cutting in more often is inevitable.

I just think we should have little spells where we swap the wingers over to confuse the opposition and lead to more crossed chances for us. Otherwise, at home, there's not much wrong with the tactics other than not being able to finish our chances.

Away from home is a different matter where a switch to a more solid 433 would be my preference.

I think the swapping of wingers is a debatable point - I’ve never said this isn’t. 

I’m not against seeing it.

Do I think it would be this ground breaking epiphany some are making out it would be. I’m not sure myself. And to throw in another fact - he’s done it on a couple of occasions, all-be-it very fleetingly (Swindon away for one) - it didn’t work (that’s not to say it might work on an another occasion)

A more solid 4-3-3, again a debatable topic. I think we can (and have) done this on occasions. Personally I’d like to keep our wingers in home and away games. 

The points I’ve been calling out are the factually incorrect ones from Zog and Masi.

And the “one way” approach I’m pulling up is the “we only give the ball to inverted wingers and tell them to cut in” - as well as not recognising the visible and subtle differences that SS makes -  IMO he’s not inflexible. 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025Dec 27 by desperado

28 minutes ago, waffer cup 07 said:

Expect JDC to start on Monday. No way is Christie playing 2 games in 4 days.

Or TuTu

3 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Or TuTu

Don’t see Cogley of Morley in the match day squad again unfortunately. Both have something to offer and Cogley IMO offers more as a full back than Tutu who is better on the left wing 

3 minutes ago, RUREADY2ROLL said:

Don’t see Cogley of Morley in the match day squad again unfortunately. Both have something to offer and Cogley IMO offers more as a full back than Tutu who is better on the left wing 

TuTu should be the first name on the bench because he is versatile.......Yesterday he could not take Christie off because he had no one to replace him.

The subs yesterday were not well thought out