Match Thread Salford City (Away) 21/11/2020

I agree with you. I think he is very fustrated. He was blmaing Donaldson after the second goal and i think that was purely because he was closest. Its not Donaldsons job to fill in the gaps when Wood moves deeper. The problem is that our midfield do not defend. They stand off and dont mark runners leaving the defence wide open.

 

Gareth Evans does not come across well on those highlights? Awful. Doesn’t even look to be trying when players pass him. Is he not fit or legs just gone? Baffling signing

 

The exact same thing happend in the Man City - Spurs game. Cancelo was thrown completley under the bus by his midfielders and Son had him on toast all game.

 

Not fit. Ridiculous to start him in a tough away game having not played a minute for the best part of 6 weeks.

 

Shows pure desperation from McCall to throw him straight in.

 

I played as right back towards the twilight years of my illustrious career (haha, joke). A few times we played as wingbacks, and my God it's hard. You've got an attacking mindset, and charge up the wing to get into space to provide crosses, and then all of a sudden, you remember that you're defending as well, and hair back down the wing in the opposite direction to counter their wingers. I was absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally after the game. You've got two jobs to do, and very little time to settle. Definitely takes a certain type of player to do it well. Think Ashley Cole. Interestingly, a player I never really rated until yesterday, is Alex Iwobi. He had a great game yesterday for Everton playing as a wing back instead of an out an out winger/forward.
As mentioned above, I think Wood just doesn't know what he's meant to be doing. Especially as we haven't really got any central midfield to help him out. I feel sorry for the boy, as he's definitely been hung out to dry, and now is getting pelters for not doing the job he's been asked to do.

 

Always find with 5 at the back there is always someone looking to hide and think it’s someone else’s job to mark a man.
4 at the back and 5 in midfield has to be the way to go for a bit. Man for man and do a job.

 

3-5-2 ...A reason why many teams don't play that formation.

It's a formation that invites pressure.

3 defenders at the back have to be top draw. They have to be good at understanding positional play and one of them has to good at running with the ball.

The 2 wing backs in have to be really good at crossing and get up down quickly.

2 up top need to be able to create their own chances but create space for the a midfield runner..

3-5-2 is a difficult formation to get right. We are not good enough to play 3-5-2.

 

I think that's the crux of the problem, no one knows what the strategy was to signing the players in the summer. We knew that for a 4-4-2 to work to it needed a certain recruitment strategy, likewise playing a 3 at the back. There didn't seem to be a cohesive plan as to who was coming in to play where.

 

Doesn’t that fact that so many posters on here mention the fact that quite a few players ”don’t really look like they know what’s expected of them” show that we really are getting the absolute basics wrong.Stuart barking the basic of instructions constantly is also not a good sign.He should be showing them Saturday’s video and asking them to explain the basic wrong decisions that seem to be happening week in week out.Let them explain to their teammates their decisions.

 

You are right about the rugby.Dont think it matters that they are internationals.Our players are professionals.The most a manager of professionals should be doing after a full week of training is maybe tweaking things.Not clearly telling someone to get closer to their man.That should be a given.

 

Do some of the individual players have the attributes and are they up to the tasks that are asked to do? On the evidence to date - no. Lack of concentration, not carrying out their roles effectively - some of the goals we concede are criminal - given they are supposed to be professional and have had training / coaching- currently and through out their career and then are drawing a wage!

 

Also, gotta say, that if I didn't really know what I was doing, I don't think I'd be particularly happy with the bloke who is meant to be telling what to do (the "gaffer") is sitting half way up the stands, while his assistant is on the touchline. What IS that all about? Would like the interviewer to ask him what his reasoning is behind all that? Once again, in my opinion, i just screams lack of cohesion.

Disjointed from the top down! No wonder we're at the bottom of the table looking up.

 

The teams "pass map" from saturday makes interesting reading.

 

"Team open play passes" looks like the state of all eleven of the players minds at the moment!

 

Pritchards is, well, interesting.

Solid 45 mins there.

 

That can't be right!