Megson Rejects Call For Attacking Approach

[Danny G]

Megson rejects call for attacking approach!!

 

 

 

GARY Megson is resisting the temptation to go gung-ho as Wanderers fight for their Premiership lives.

 

With just one point from their last six Premiership games and, with the goals drying up, the Bolton boss is facing mounting calls from worried fans to adopt a more attacking approach in the remaining seven games.

 

Three scoreless performances have highlighted the poblems that have dogged Wanderers since they sold Nicolas Anelka in January and failed to recruit a proven goal scorer.

 

Megson himself admits that a lack of goals is jeopardising their chances of playing their way out of the bottom three. But he sees little virtue in switching from the familiar 4-5-1/4-3-3 style Wanderers have become accustomed to playing in recent years.

 

After Saturday's scorelsss draw with Manchester City, he was asked specifically if he would consider switching to a 4-4-2 formation, and used the "swings and roundabouts" analogy to suggest that a more adventurous approach could have serious defensive implications. More fundamentally, he implied that Wanderers' chances of salvation lay with the players rather than the formation.

 

"This club has played the same for a long time. There are different formations but it's always going to be with the same bodies," he said.

 

 

"We have issues if we play a certain formation. We gain on the swings but lose on the roundabouts."

[YATESY]

I can agree with Megson on this one.

 

Formations can not be blamed for the chances we have missed over the last two months.

 

Starting from the Portsmouth game with Matt Taylor to the powder-puff header from Davies in the last minutes against City, the whole collection of players (some more than others [name mentioned above]) are guilty.

 

It doesn't matter if you play 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 if the players are low on confidence in front of goal, you only blame the formations as something for the players to hide behind.

[Danny G]

I can agree with Megson on this one.

 

Formations can not be blamed for the chances we have missed over the last two months.

 

Starting from the Portsmouth game with Matt Taylor to the powder-puff header from Davies in the last minutes against City, the whole collection of players (some more than others [name mentioned above]) are guilty.

 

It doesn't matter if you play 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 if the players are low on confidence in front of goal, you only blame the formations as something for the players to hide behind.

 

 

We only seem to have any chances, wether we miss them or not, when we play 442

[desperado]

We only seem to have any chances, wether we miss them or not, when we play 442

 

Not got any stats at hand - but that is absolute bollox

 

Take Portsmouth for example where we had a ridiculous number of chances with Taylor and Diouff playing wide off Davies

[Danny G]

Not got any stats at hand - but that is absolute bollox

 

Take Portsmouth for example where we had a ridiculous number of chances with Taylor and Diouff playing wide off Davies

 

 

Agreed but that was 433 we played, this 451 with a wall of players in midfield leaves Davies isolated up front with no suport!!

[Mounts Kipper]

Brave call by Megson, and if his principles work I will be the first to congratulate him, however if they dont work, I expect him to be sacked pronto.

[Carlos]

As one of the forward 3, the only time Matt Taylor sees Kevin Davies is when Kev runs past him. He's usually that far away, he'd need binoculars to see him. I doubt he even recognises him at training, assuming the lump actually trains

[desperado]

Agreed but that was 433 we played, this 451 with a wall of players in midfield leaves Davies isolated up front with no suport!!

 

I am thinking I should probably just leave this one.........................

 

but just in case you really need it explaining; the 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation are one of the same thing.

 

When your confident, attacking, supporting the front man its 4-3-3 (as it should be more often - and if this is the point you are trying to make then I agree, but there's a whole host of reasons this isn't happening at the moment). The formation is also meant to be fluid enough to change to 4-5-1 when defending, but is the shape we are reverting to more often as we lack the confidence, pace and ability to challenge sides when attacking.

[frank_spencer]

Agreed but that was 433 we played, this 451 with a wall of players in midfield leaves Davies isolated up front with no suport!!

 

um thats the way we've always played 4-5-1 when defending then the wide men pushing up to support the front man to play a kind of 4-3-3

[frank_spencer]

I am thinking I should probably just leave this one.........................

 

but just in case you really need it explaining; the 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation are one of the same thing.

 

When your confident, attacking, supporting the front man its 4-3-3 (as it should be more often - and if this is the point you are trying to make then I agree, but there's a whole host of reasons this isn't happening at the moment). The formation is also meant to be fluid enough to change to 4-5-1 when defending, but is the shape we are reverting to more often as we lack the confidence, pace and ability to challenge sides when attacking.

 

dammit beat me to it

[Danny G]

I am thinking I should probably just leave this one.........................

 

but just in case you really need it explaining; the 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation are one of the same thing.

 

When your confident, attacking, supporting the front man its 4-3-3 (as it should be more often - and if this is the point you are trying to make then I agree, but there's a whole host of reasons this isn't happening at the moment). The formation is also meant to be fluid enough to change to 4-5-1 when defending, but is the shape we are reverting to more often as we lack the confidence, pace and ability to challenge sides when attacking.

 

 

I completely understand were you are coming from! with BSA it was 451 when we were defending but 433 going forward, this is how it started off with Megson! But now he seems to stick with 451 all the time, this is why we never tend to get anyone forward, dioufy and taylor seem to be hugging the touch line around the halfway line permanently!!

[Ani]

We are two off bottom, with a difficult run in, can not score a goal.

 

swing and roundabouts implies there is good and bad in both options, seems like things can not get much worse.

[desperado]

I completely understand were you are coming from! with BSA it was 451 when we were defending but 433 going forward, this is how it started off with Megson! But now he seems to stick with 451 all the time, this is why we never tend to get anyone forward, dioufy and taylor seem to be hugging the touch line around the halfway line permanently!!

 

 

As it happens I am not against going 4-4-2. But as previously suggested it is more to do with the players than the formations. Regardless of the formation it is about having a bit of luck, putting an early chance away, a bit of individual ability, plenty of balls into the box (yes against Arsenal - it may be our best chance) increasing our percentage of something falling for us in the box, decent delivery on set pieces, overlapping full backs (our best chance of getting behind teams)....

 

Or any combination of the above to get us just one early goal please

[Guest as]

He's rejected it since he arrived - why change now?

 

We could still stay up....but if we were to go down, then it's his negative (and sometimes clueless) approach that will have to take some of the blame.

[YATESY]

We only seem to have any chances, wether we miss them or not, when we play 442

 

Utter shite.

 

Name me one game this season when Bolton have lined up in a match with a 4-4-2 formation?

 

 

Yes during part of a match we may have played as a 4-4-2 but based on that logic when we defend a corner the formation is 10-0-0.

[mart32]

I completely understand were you are coming from! with BSA it was 451 when we were defending but 433 going forward, this is how it started off with Megson! But now he seems to stick with 451 all the time, this is why we never tend to get anyone forward, dioufy and taylor seem to be hugging the touch line around the halfway line permanently!!

 

 

Spot on, i've noticed this subtle change. It's the way he plays his teams at every club he's been at, a flat 5 midfield and an isolated striker. That'll get the crowds back in.

[YATESY]

Spot on, i've noticed this subtle change. It's the way he plays his teams at every club he's been at, a flat 5 midfield and an isolated striker. That'll get the crowds back in.

 

 

Sorry but that is utter shite too.

 

 

A lack of confidence is the cause of the current deep sitting midfield. You only need to turn the clock back a month to the Portsmouth game to see how fluid and attacking the formation can be when the players are buzzing.

[desperado]

Utter shite.

 

Name me one game this season when Bolton have lined up in a match with a 4-4-2 formation?

Yes during part of a match we may have played as a 4-4-2 but based on that logic when we defend a corner the formation is 10-0-0.

 

Come on Yatesy you've known since Megson arrived he has adopted an 8-1-1 formation for every game

 

Cue samhater...........................

[Danny G]

Utter shite.

 

Name me one game this season when Bolton have lined up in a match with a 4-4-2 formation?

Yes during part of a match we may have played as a 4-4-2 but based on that logic when we defend a corner the formation is 10-0-0.

 

Errr 2nd half aginst United away, Wigan away after we went 1 nil down!! were defo 442 then Yatesy

[Ani]

Utter shite.

 

Name me one game this season when Bolton have lined up in a match with a 4-4-2 formation?

Yes during part of a match we may have played as a 4-4-2 but based on that logic when we defend a corner the formation is 10-0-0.

 

 

reading away kev d and helgar upfront..........

 

 

wont be doing that agian we got too many points from that game.

[passmosster]

reading away kev d and helgar upfront..........

wont be doing that agian we got too many points from that game.

 

Trouble is that we haven't got the quickest midfield which generally plays about 5 yards in front of their own back 4. Welly it up to Davies and there's often no-one within 40 yards of him. Under Allardyce, we played 4-5-1 but we had players like Okocha, Djorkaeff, Stelios, and the youthful Nolan up there to support.

 

Now we sit back and give the ball away every time. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that Megson is a tactical duffer.

[globaldiver]

Megson rejects call for attacking approach!!

 

 

 

GARY Megson is resisting the temptation to go gung-ho as Wanderers fight for their Premiership lives.

 

With just one point from their last six Premiership games and, with the goals drying up, the Bolton boss is facing mounting calls from worried fans to adopt a more attacking approach in the remaining seven games.

 

Three scoreless performances have highlighted the poblems that have dogged Wanderers since they sold Nicolas Anelka in January and failed to recruit a proven goal scorer.

 

Megson himself admits that a lack of goals is jeopardising their chances of playing their way out of the bottom three. But he sees little virtue in switching from the familiar 4-5-1/4-3-3 style Wanderers have become accustomed to playing in recent years.

 

After Saturday's scorelsss draw with Manchester City, he was asked specifically if he would consider switching to a 4-4-2 formation, and used the "swings and roundabouts" analogy to suggest that a more adventurous approach could have serious defensive implications. More fundamentally, he implied that Wanderers' chances of salvation lay with the players rather than the formation.

 

"This club has played the same for a long time. There are different formations but it's always going to be with the same bodies," he said.

"We have issues if we play a certain formation. We gain on the swings but lose on the roundabouts."

Plenty of time;chill.

[Burndens Bogs]

Megson rejects call for attacking approach!!

 

"This club has played the same for a long time. There are different formations but it's always going to be with the same bodies,"

 

Errr, minus Nicolas Anelka - you pleb Megson

[desperado]

Utter shite.

 

Name me one game this season when Bolton have lined up in a match with a 4-4-2 formation?

Yes during part of a match we may have played as a 4-4-2 but based on that logic when we defend a corner the formation is 10-0-0.

 

 

Errr 2nd half aginst United away, Wigan away after we went 1 nil down!! were defo 442 then Yatesy

 

 

reading away kev d and helgar upfront..........

wont be doing that agian we got too many points from that game.

 

You have both missed Yatesy's reference stating we have played part of a match as 4-4-2, but I can't can't recall lining up at the start like that? In both games you're mentioning, Reading and Man U, he changed to a 4-4-2

 

Still think you're getting too hung up on formations

[JimmyRiddle]

What gets on my t&ts is that Megson does not give any indication as to how he is going to remedy the goalscoring situation.

 

As discussed there are pros & cons with both systems, but whichever he goes for, and it appears 4-5-1 is what he likes; what is he going to do differently within that formation to start getting results.????

 

You never hear him say that the "strikers are to far apart" or anything tactical that the players are not doing to his liking. Therefore the only conclusion can be is that the team and tactics were what he wished for against City, and he is just keeping his fingers crossed we scab a few goals.

 

 

Nothing I have seen on the pitch or heard from him give me any confidence he knows what the f^&k to do!!!!!