Well, do we keep the faith with the man or do we not?

 

Answers please...

What do we do then? 2 up front? We cant have it both ways, If you play one up front then he has to work like fuck defensivley

 

A team with players who arent fucking braindead interchange who they are marking. i.e when David Luiz gets the ball on edge of his own box and is still goin unchallenged into our half its time somebody closes him down. Theres obviously a free man on our side hiding somehwere in our half. Its not rocket science.

Be adaptable

 

Today it was obvious after 10 mins we had to stop luiz and if the only way is with 2 upfront then so be it.

 

As you say, it was obvious out left was the problem.

 

Gardner ahead of robbo would have been my choice, as it was coyles at 3 or 4 down

Robbo and Ricky are never Prem class now,we can see it,why not Coyle,not there fault its Coyle fault for playing them

 

In June when we had a limited budget to spend and about ten holes to fill where was left back on your list? Although we all knew we could do better It was not top of my list, I remeber Robbo doing well pre wemberly but I feel he has either a/ deteriorated like fuck or b/ Always pulled the wool over my eyes!

Birch

 

You are so wrong on this one

 

N'gog did plenty of chasing

 

As mentioned already they stretched us

 

Sideshow should've been hit by one of the 3 middle men, predominantly the one most forward - that was usually Pratley today

 

It bypassed him completely

 

It was very very obvious what they were doing

 

And very, very worrying that we didn't counter it. Or worse the bench maybe didn't even notice it

 

Homo, spot on. What've you been drinking lad?

Robbo and Ricky are never Prem class now,we can see it,why not Coyle,not there fault its Coyle fault for playing them

In June when we had a limited budget to spend and about ten holes to fill where was left back on your list? Although we all knew we could do better It was not top of my list, I remeber Robbo doing well pre wemberly but I feel he has either a/ deteriorated like fuck or b/ Always pulled the wool over my eyes!

started when he got dropped to stop him getting booked ,so he did nt miss the semi.

for me there have been many on here saying that 4-5-1 is the answer against the big boys and today we tried it and now we wonder why the centre halves are bombing forward. If SKD was the lone man up top then Luiz isnt getting through half as much IMO.

 

For me 4-5-1 has proved no better than 4-4-2 today against good opposition so most of us on here here wrong (including me). If you have 4 at the back with shite full backs then your fucked, the best bet today would have been 5-4-1(with hindsight)

nobody was shouting for 451 with gardner as a centre midfielder

Adaptability.

 

I know you should play your own game but can't help feeling that against the big boys, you gotta stop them playing first and foremost.

nobody was shouting for 451 with gardner as a centre midfielder

Or SKD as some kind of right winger, presumably picked for his ability to beat A Cole in the air

Edited October 2, 201114 yr by boltondiver

Davies was quite tidy on the ball today (when on the wing) which suprised me.

In June LB was low priority because of the options (perceived) that we had. The point with Robbo is we all know he is having a shit time of it. Now maybe RG is finished according to most but two things from today:

1. The first time the crowd lifted was when he tracked back and won some challenges

2. He provides better cover than Petrov

 

If you are gonna start 451 that is to contain the midfield and stifle supply. Why put a naturally left sided player who has a decent work rate and can defend in the middle and leave the job of covering England's worst left back to Petrov?

 

We can talk formations all night long but the reality is if you put square pegs in round holes and / or don't make it clear whose job it is to track who you end up getting stiffed, at home, 1-5 ...

No one plays 5 at the back, when people did (90's?) it was to facilitate wing-backs and not be ultra-defensive. And that would mean playing all our centre-backs, one knock and we'd have to change to whole set up. In short 5-4-1 is nonsense.

A team with players who arent fucking braindead interchange who they are marking. i.e when David Luiz gets the ball on edge of his own box and is still goin unchallenged into our half its time somebody closes him down. Theres obviously a free man on our side hiding somehwere in our half. Its not rocket science.

 

For me the man hiding is Ngog marking the other centre half whilst Luiz runs forward. If Pratley, NRC or Gardner leave a man like Lampard or Mata free in the middle to charge down Luiz the Luiz will just slip those guys through and we are double fucked. I would rather have Luiz have the ball from 50 yards than Lampard / Mata from 40 yards.

No one plays 5 at the back, when people did (90's?) it was to facilitate wing-backs and not be ultra-defensive. And that would mean playing all our centre-backs, one knock and we'd have to change to whole set up. In short 5-4-1 is nonsense.

We played it often today, with Petrov as a 2nd LB; surreal

No one plays 5 at the back, when people did (90's?) it was to facilitate wing-backs and not be ultra-defensive. And that would mean playing all our centre-backs, one knock and we'd have to change to whole set up. In short 5-4-1 is nonsense.

 

Every time Robinson got beat in the first half Boyata had to charge over covering him leaving a gaping whole in the centre which got exploited. If we had have had 3 centre halves today then when one got pulled across to cover Robbo then there would still be two in the box to clear the danger. Just my opinion like.

Aye, reminded me of Sheff Weds with Jimininho at right back.

Every time Robinson got beat in the first half Boyata had to charge over covering him leaving a gaping whole in the centre which got exploited. If we had have had 3 centre halves today then when one got pulled across to cover Robbo then there would still be two in the box to clear the danger. Just my opinion like.

 

Boyata seems to enjoy charging round out of position, maybe we just don't play him at CB or sort our left side out? Playing another CB means sacrificing a forward so we are constantly under pressure. I can't think of anyone ever playing 5 genuine defenders with success.

For me the man hiding is Ngog marking the other centre half whilst Luiz runs forward. If Pratley, NRC or Gardner leave a man like Lampard or Mata free in the middle to charge down Luiz the Luiz will just slip those guys through and we are double fucked. I would rather have Luiz have the ball from 50 yards than Lampard / Mata from 40 yards.

 

they have 10 we have 10.

 

ngog is marking 1 so we have 9 others and they have 9 others.

 

but you are blaming ngog for not closing down 2 players?

for me there have been many on here saying that 4-5-1 is the answer against the big boys and today we tried it and now we wonder why the centre halves are bombing forward. If SKD was the lone man up top then Luiz isnt getting through half as much IMO.

 

For me 4-5-1 has proved no better than 4-4-2 today against good opposition so most of us on here here wrong (including me). If you have 4 at the back with shite full backs then your fucked, the best bet today would have been 5-4-1(with hindsight)

 

4 defenders

5 midfield players

1 forward

 

we did not play that today.

4 defenders

5 midfield players

1 forward

 

we did not play that today.

 

Im sorry but we played 451/433 today with SKD and Petrov wide and it was mainly 451 due to us defending most of the game.

Every time Robinson got beat in the first half Boyata had to charge over covering him leaving a gaping whole in the centre which got exploited. If we had have had 3 centre halves today then when one got pulled across to cover Robbo then there would still be two in the box to clear the danger. Just my opinion like.

[/

 

Oh dear .... So, at the top end of the field we have one chap who is expected to cover the width of the pitch defensively (Usain Bolt perhaps) but we are ok at the back because half of our outfield players are spread across our penalty box, thus inviting twice as much pressure as we currently have .... Three across the back with hardworking fullbacks and I might be with you but 5 at the back with our pedestrian FBs? Nah, not for me ...

they have 10 we have 10.

 

ngog is marking 1 so we have 9 others and they have 9 others.

 

but you are blaming ngog for not closing down 2 players?

 

How many time did Terry bomb forward? If Ngog was only marking one then he was marking the wrong one. If SKD was point man then Luiz wouldnt have got away with half as much.

It's not JUST about formation

 

Those of us saying 4-4-2 wasn't working against the "big" teams didn't say that 4-5-1 would suddenly bring results

 

You have to play it the right way and utilise the right personnel

 

Anyway blaming N'gog for them carrying the ball unchallenged into our third of the pitch is mindbogglingly ludicrous

I blame Robinson for not scoring 4.