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Post by Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage on Nov 15, 2023 15:39:10 GMT
I think the answer *might* start in whatever it was we did against Spurs (spit). I know was only against Spurs (spit) kids but if it worked and worked well then it's worth revisiting. Far as I can tell the formation was the same but Gordon certainly isn't a target man in the Ironside sense so something about our approach must have been different for it to work. The two attack minded players in the number '10' positions perhaps. What else? Were the wingers inverted..? The balance of a Simper, Lankester, Yearn midfield feels like it shouldn't work even in a game like that but...it did. Andrew I wouldn't take too much from that performance other than our youth players being promising. The opposition were really weak.
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Andrewlang
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Post by Andrewlang on Nov 15, 2023 16:18:07 GMT
Yeah, I wondered. I do think there's something in the two attack minded players behind the striker though.
Was it a massively different spurs (spit) side to the one who beat Colchester 5-0?
Andrew
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Post by groundsman on Nov 15, 2023 17:09:32 GMT
You are all complicating it just put the ball in the back of the net the game is 11v11, at the moment our eleven are not very good .we have gone from the first three matches being very easy on the eye to utter garbage we are a side so lacking in confidence that every team in the league knows this ,it become a massive problem and is down to more that just tactics. We have now become a soft touch who knows when or how we shake that particular tag off .
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Post by amberisbackdrink on Nov 15, 2023 17:27:53 GMT
We have never replaced the Hoolahan, Ironside and Mullin show. That’s when we could entertain the fans.
The Mullin poacher could definitely be Okenabirhie imho but we need someone to replace Ironside and Hoolahan. Not sure Lankester and Ahamde really cover these positions.
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andyf
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Post by andyf on Nov 15, 2023 20:47:48 GMT
It was scandalous that we went into this season with just two strikers. I always thought we should have kept Joey for another year, but I didn’t expect us to just not bother replacing him. He would be playing now if we had kept him on.
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Post by El Goodo on Nov 15, 2023 21:05:49 GMT
He's a different type of striker obviously but I think we brought in Kachunga to be a third option up top.
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Post by huddsmoose on Nov 15, 2023 22:47:33 GMT
We definitely can play Fejiri up top on his own but not if we keep firing balls into his chest and head. It requires a different ethos, one where we get the ball down and work it out wide for cut backs.
Fleetwood play a front 3 with Marriott central as a poacher and two dynamic wide players either side. This might work with the players we have but our style is to win the ball and hack it long.
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Andrewlang
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Post by Andrewlang on Nov 15, 2023 23:29:26 GMT
I don't think that's the intended style, but that's certainly what it's become, yeah.
The trouble is in getting out of that mindset, at the start of the season we were direct, quick, brave and decisive in transitions, we've lost that in favour of playing the percentage ball but I think it showed us what the intended style is for us.
We'll probably always struggle to create when we have to dictate the tempo because we're not good enough at recycling the ball for now, but there's no reason why we can't get back to what we did well early in the season. No idea if it's confidence, lack of application or something else that's preventing that currently...Bonner spoke a few weeks back about the challenge of keeping training interesting which I found interesting at the time (can't remember what he said now but it felt pointed and relevant)
The percentage ball is fine by me btw, I have no issue with us doing that particularly, but we're not physical enough or hard working enough to make it work at the moment. Stevenage make it work because they're aggresive and relentless. It should be something we're capable of too.
Andrew
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Post by huddsmoose on Nov 16, 2023 7:01:53 GMT
For all our time in league 1 we've tried to play with a target man and play every ball up to him, ask him to hold it for ages until we get bodies out of a low block and in support.
At the start of the season we'd changed the style into one where we pressed higher up the pitch, in packs instead of single players, and had willing runners when we pinched the ball that could start counters.
It feels like we've recruited the players to do this consistently; technicians like Cousins and Thomas to play the pass, Fejiri as poacher, pace down the sides.
The change in style seemed to be purposeful; we signed Betsy to help with the transition and Stephens, who has better distribution than last year's keepers, to help start attacks with quick throws/kicks.
It worked really well first 4/5 games and that's why it's intensely frustrating to see us struggle to find any rythme now. We now we have the players to do it, so it's coaching or execution letting us down.
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danielcufc
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Post by danielcufc on Nov 16, 2023 8:33:06 GMT
This is how it worked earlier in the season and how best to use Fejiri:
Goal is about 1 minute in.
Since then we've regressed back to type in trying to play it up to a target man often with slow build up. As the poster above says is this down to coaching or the players? I want us to try and get back to this quicker, positive style of football.
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cambsno
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Post by cambsno on Nov 16, 2023 14:44:38 GMT
It was scandalous that we went into this season with just two strikers. I always thought we should have kept Joey for another year, but I didn’t expect us to just not bother replacing him. He would be playing now if we had kept him on. Oh yeah, because he was such a success last season. I love him, but he was so poor and out of his depth.
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cambsno
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Post by cambsno on Nov 16, 2023 14:45:18 GMT
You are all complicating it just put the ball in the back of the net the game is 11v11, at the moment our eleven are not very good .we have gone from the first three matches being very easy on the eye to utter garbage we are a side so lacking in confidence that every team in the league knows this ,it become a massive problem and is down to more that just tactics. We have now become a soft touch who knows when or how we shake that particular tag off . Tell that to Pompey and Wycombe, two tough teams who we drew with
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tojo
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Post by tojo on Nov 16, 2023 16:12:30 GMT
You are all complicating it just put the ball in the back of the net the game is 11v11, at the moment our eleven are not very good .we have gone from the first three matches being very easy on the eye to utter garbage we are a side so lacking in confidence that every team in the league knows this ,it become a massive problem and is down to more that just tactics. We have now become a soft touch who knows when or how we shake that particular tag off . Tell that to Pompey and Wycombe, two tough teams who we drew with There'll always be results like those two, as there were last season, and I expect some more decent results (However few) but that spineless utterly pathetic showing on Saturday, has shaken the faith of many, I've seen a lot of games this season, and to say we've been utter garbage isn't far from the truth.
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Post by Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage on Nov 16, 2023 16:44:30 GMT
Tell that to Pompey and Wycombe, two tough teams who we drew with There'll always be results like those two, as there were last season, and I expect some more decent results (However few) but that spineless utterly pathetic showing on Saturday, has shaken the faith of many, I've seen a lot of games this season, and to say we've been utter garbage isn't far from the truth. I've done a quick run down of league games and I'd say 6 good performances, 5 middling performances, and 6 bad performances. Think the league table reflection of 5 wins, 5 draws and 7 losses is therefore fairly accurate so saying we've been utter garbage all season seems harsh - if we are not careful we could easily slip towards that end of the scale but I think the weekend has reasonably made things jump that way quicker than in normal circumstances.
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hhabbin
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Post by hhabbin on Nov 17, 2023 1:11:09 GMT
With those statistics, it looks like mid table mediocrity. At this stage I would settle for that.
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