No Width, Pace or Balance

From a purely coaching perspective, based on last night, I would give McCall 2 /10 and Weaver 9/10.I'm worried about the set up and overall aimless long ball stuff to players who can't get there heads to it. No midfield and poor full backs.I would also say that the selection of young Staunton as a centre back pairing did not work either. This system and squad has just too many flaws in it and whatever strengths Stu thinks we have were certainly not on show as a team and we are very very under cooked.

 

Our "Modus Operandi" is to just lump it forward and hope the oppos make a mistake, been that way for several seasons.

 

Not saying we have a great squad by any stretch but the sum of the parts is definitely not greater than the individuals.
We don’t have a plan or a style.
Stuart talked about them being a well oiled unit, something we definitely are not.
Chopping and changing, and setting up to stifle them in a home game is extremely worrying.
I’m sure there is more to be got out of this team, but I don’t hold any confidence that Stuart knows how to do that.
As pointed out by others, no pace, no width, refusal to shoot, too slow to release the ball or make decisions, ball retention appalling.
Not many positives right now.

 

Im not a fan of stuart the coach , ill openly admit that, he makes the same mistakes over and over with regards tinkering and trying to adjust the team to suit who we are playing instead of concentrating on what he has at his disposal. People will point to wembley et al, but even in that year his selections sometimes baffled us.

What i will say in his defence is maybe the lack of pre season hasnt helped , hence why he doesnt seem to know his best eleven, formation or combinations yet.

I guess every club is in the same boat but imnjust trying to think of reasonings behind his faffing.

The red cards at forest green didnt help, but i thought he built the squad to play 3-5-2 or a variation of (worked well at bolton), yet he's now he seems to like this diamond which for whatever reason has never worked at city, see hopkin, and bowyer for that as starters.

Early days, im as frustrated as most and have said i cant see this side making the top 10, but he just needs to right down his favoured formation and put the right players in the right position. That would be a start, pick up the rest of the gameplans from there

 

Problem with a diamond is, you depend on width and outlets from the wing backs so you need some balance from your left and right sided CMs. Sutton gave French no help at all, he seemed to have one trick in his bag, boot it 10-15 yards away and try out pace the runner. He gave the ball away relentlessly. Then when it did go to French, he played like a CB out wide. Every time he got it in their half, he just stood still and either played a first time ball or took it down, stood still and waiting for a runner to help out. Worked a little better in the 532 with an extra CB being 10 yards behind him or a central Cooke to help out to pass and move. In the unbalanced diamond, he was helpless whilst attacking.

On the left, i dont recall Evans or Cooke tracking back past the half way line once to help out Wood and their entire first half was through that channel. McCall really got the midfield wrong yesterday. Their standard 442 but looked way fitter than we did. They ran for every ball all 90 minutes and we were the team that looked shattered. Clarke has played brilliantly against Cambridge and Stevenage, teams that were happy to sit back, let us have the ball and then try counter giving Clarke our playmaker time on the ball, Yesterday, Falkingham gave him no time all game and Clarke looked so slow in getting to grasps with the speed of the first half.

Problem with the pieces he had left and the players brought in, McCall seems to still have 20% of his staring 11 looking a bit like square pegs no matter what formation we try. But my main worry this season, especially if we carry on playing Staunton is we have no voice in that back line. It's a back 4 of mutes. Staunton obviously shouldn't be in that position but both O'Connors and BRE are "secondary defenders". They are more reactive types. 2 man CB partnerships always need a voice to shape them up, we dont have that leader. Look at their goal last night, no shape whatsoever for the entire play. O'Connor can see the runner with loads of space with Sutton and Watt near by, no shout to track the man so both just ball watched and it's easy. We have had a defensive c0ck up every game so far and it needs addressing.

 

What worries me with Stuart is that he said he had watched Harrogate and knew how they played, Having watched them the absolute system you would not play against them is a diamond that plays directly in to there hands and puts us at a disadvantage yet that is exactly what he did, It shows he really has no idea tactically or that he plays the game in his head and not on the pitch,

 

I agree, we are slow in 'thought' as well as slow in action.....

 

I believe the lumping it forward was down to frustration because the our midfield players couldn't hold or carry the ball forward and make a pass, an area that if you don't control or at least compete then the other option is to bye pass them and hope for knock on or a mistake from the oppositions defense, that last night was poor

 

Agree. For various reasons I've only seen 2 games live so far. At Bolton (whether they are a good team or not) we played 3-5-2 with French and Wood getting wide and forward. When we were out of possession we quickly got in their faces and harried them, getting our first win against them in many a year. To my mind and from reports and viewing last night, we haven't done that and I don't know why.
Bolton, believe me, was very impressive and I think would see off a lot of teams but we have changed. There is presumably a good reason...

 

It seems some things we've done ok at
have been dropped and another system
being used that didn't work.Why can't we
change the system during the game?

We've scored goals with crosses from
French on the right.The kind of service
a centre forward like Novak thrives on.

Last night there was no energy or desire
from us and after 5 minutes it set the tone
of the match.The fans weren't there to
Gee the players up but the nation was
watching and we offered nothing to
warrant any praise.

It's not just about getting beat by Harrogate,
they are going to be top half if they play
like that and maybe a play off spot beckons.

Well done Harrogate but oh dear,we were
dreadful.

 

I cant recall the exact dates, but wasnt the forest green debacle close to the bolton game? The suspensions from there may have impacted his future selections.

Im not sure he trusts BRE as part of a 3 if im honest especially alongside reece staunton who has been caught out a couple of times.

That is my only reasoning as to why he may have moved away from this , especially with his comments from even as far back as the fans forum suggesting that he had a plan for 3-5-2 (or a variation of)

 

When Clarke joined he said he was going to play behind the front two. Stuart had told him that.

I've mentioned this before and everyone said "the diamond doesn't work"

There was the evidence on Monday night. It doesn't work.

 

352 seems the best formation we have with the current squad. We have decent enough options in the forward positions to cause teams to think, so I don’t see an issue there. It’s more the midfield and width.

Wood is solid and more than confident when all around him is ok - we can more than rely on him. Hosannah is currently unknown but if we take what we’re told, on paper he’s the right fit for a pacey attacking wing back. The issue is CM where we need a mix of creativity with ‘ugly stuff’ ball winning and retention. Watt, despite Monday’s performance, looks the right fit for me in terms of the pretty stuff. Alongside him I’d like to see Sutton. The limited amount I’ve seen of him he looks as though he has the ability to press and hurry. Watt and Cooke isn’t the long term fix, perhaps good for games against struggling opposition - but not part of the best XI for me.