Woodwardfan
Woodwardfan
- Banned
- #1
After the game Clough said he intends to "have a good look at the O'Grady/ McNulty partnership up front". It would seem that in itself signals the end of 4-5-1 at home against "lesser teams". Halleluiah!! McNulty had a thigh strain yesterday so Baxter was selected in the front two and interchanged with Adams at times.
So Clough has decided to depart from his "one trick" of 4-5-1 but the problem is we don't have the players to play it. The signing of O'Grady helps but the manager has not shown the confidence in any other striker, including McNulty, as regular first choice. He has repeatedly played Baxter up there, not fair on the lad IMO.
In the summer we all expected at least two exciting striker signings. We got Porter and McNulty, the latter stated as "one for the future". Higdon eventually arrived during the season but without match fitness. Playing the new lad Adams is an act of desperation frankly.
In a way I have less respect for Clough not seeing through his "one trick" and making 4-5-1 work by shaping the squad accordingly. He tried to do this and has failed. As a result we are starting again in mid-season and Clough is lucky the board are prepared to back him with cash again. I say "again" because the manager has not been short of budget for this league.
Annoyingly some budget will have to be spent on defenders because we have discarded two perfectly good centre halves. Collins has plenty for this league and Butler is the "main man" at Donny now. We need a new full back too.
Now we are changing system our squad is seriously unbalanced - short up front and at the back, yet enough midfielders for 3 teams.
Personally I have tried to support Clough staunchly. I hoped he had the calibre to take us up two levels and be here for the long term. In the summer I was excited by what was achieved last season and all the early transfer activity in the summer.
The collection of signings has been mediocre and the squad is unbalanced. That has exposed Clough's weaknesses in team selection, positivity and game management. Of course he deserves further backing by the board but he will only get so many chances and let's hope he nails it in January.
It's the longer term that worries me though. Are the manager and his support staff, including his brother, big enough and good enough to fulfill our long term ambition. I sincerely hope so because the Clough dynasty will be very hard and expensive to unravel and not on the prince's script.
So Clough has decided to depart from his "one trick" of 4-5-1 but the problem is we don't have the players to play it. The signing of O'Grady helps but the manager has not shown the confidence in any other striker, including McNulty, as regular first choice. He has repeatedly played Baxter up there, not fair on the lad IMO.
In the summer we all expected at least two exciting striker signings. We got Porter and McNulty, the latter stated as "one for the future". Higdon eventually arrived during the season but without match fitness. Playing the new lad Adams is an act of desperation frankly.
In a way I have less respect for Clough not seeing through his "one trick" and making 4-5-1 work by shaping the squad accordingly. He tried to do this and has failed. As a result we are starting again in mid-season and Clough is lucky the board are prepared to back him with cash again. I say "again" because the manager has not been short of budget for this league.
Annoyingly some budget will have to be spent on defenders because we have discarded two perfectly good centre halves. Collins has plenty for this league and Butler is the "main man" at Donny now. We need a new full back too.
Now we are changing system our squad is seriously unbalanced - short up front and at the back, yet enough midfielders for 3 teams.
Personally I have tried to support Clough staunchly. I hoped he had the calibre to take us up two levels and be here for the long term. In the summer I was excited by what was achieved last season and all the early transfer activity in the summer.
The collection of signings has been mediocre and the squad is unbalanced. That has exposed Clough's weaknesses in team selection, positivity and game management. Of course he deserves further backing by the board but he will only get so many chances and let's hope he nails it in January.
It's the longer term that worries me though. Are the manager and his support staff, including his brother, big enough and good enough to fulfill our long term ambition. I sincerely hope so because the Clough dynasty will be very hard and expensive to unravel and not on the prince's script.
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