On the defence point, I think ¾ of it is OK, ie the central pairing and Guilbert, and Heaton is fine. But the midfield in front of it is the problem. There's no settled three, and they provide no protection at all. The make up of it changes every week, as Smith lurches between a combination of Nakamba, Luiz, McGinn and Hourihane. McGinn has probably been the worst of the lot in recent games, but is the only guaranteed starter. In addition, neither El Ghazi or Trezeguet provide any protection down the right. In short I just don't think the formation is working, but Smith is welded to it like a limpet to a rock.
I find the DS post-match interviews all sounding the same lately. Players making silly mistakes and gIving the ball away cheaply. There doesn't seem to be a Plan B. 4 points from the last 24 is relegation form.
You took off Wesley when it was 1-0, what was the thinking?"I thought he was a lot better today. John Egan and Jack O'Connell, Basham who I know, I thought we got the ball into him and he made it stick. We won second balls off him and he had a couple of chances. There was one at the start of the second half where I thought he was going to lob the goalkeeper with his left foot, he decided to bring it down instead. He had a chance where he's turned and hit it into the side netting. He just got a whack into his lower back just before that and I thought it was the right time to give Jonathan Kodjia an opportunity.
At the start of the season most of us wanted above all to stay up, so the benchmark is 17th in the league. If we’d have taken that before this season kicked off the same theory would have come with a run of games without a win few times in a season, with periods with loss of form. So far we are pretty much in and around that position and pretty much how I expected this season to pan out.
Quote from: Ian J on December 15, 2019, 03:25:15 PMAt the start of the season most of us wanted above all to stay up, so the benchmark is 17th in the league. If we’d have taken that before this season kicked off the same theory would have come with a run of games without a win few times in a season, with periods with loss of form. So far we are pretty much in and around that position and pretty much how I expected this season to pan out. yeah we would have accepted 17th but honestly I was hoping for better than that and still ammaybe I’m being unrealistic but I did think we would be playing better than we are
I’m fully behind DS. We already knew from his Brentford days that his teams go through long good then bad runs. I’m wondering whether it’s is a product of being inflexible tactically. His teams get into a groove, either good, in which case he keeps things similar for obvious reasons, or bad, in which case he doesn’t do much to arrest the slump. I’d like to see I’m learn to adapt a bit more.
We have a pretty good first 11, maybe only 10 as the jury is certainly out on Wes.
Quote from: Ian J on December 15, 2019, 04:55:12 PMWe have a pretty good first 11, maybe only 10 as the jury is certainly out on Wes.Pretty good first 10?Which of are squad are demonstrably good enough for this level? Not potentially, but clearly as demonstrated thus far this season.Heaton, Mings, Engels, Guilbert, Grealish, McGinn.That's it in my opinion.Our options up front - Kodjia, Wesley, Davis - are particularly poor. How many sides would we expect to stay up with those options up front?