Marc McNulty

[maxstertheblade]

There was evidence last night that Clough can not play McNulty upfront on his own. His touch is ablysmal and also he DOES not run the channels at all. He was dire last night and although he can get us goals he can't play upfront on his own. Done and Sparky upfront at Gillingham!

 

[Rossb123]

There was evidence last night that Clough can not play McNulty upfront on his own. His touch is ablysmal and also he DOES not run the channels at all. He was dire last night and although he can get us goals he can't play upfront on his own. Done and Sparky upfront at Gillingham!

Last night showed we must have one of the smallest teams in this league! Agree with McNulty comment he seems to have a better impact off the bench when we switch to 4-4-2. Doubt Clough will change his tactics at this point of the season, could be more harm than it is good with the players used to this system.

 

[maxstertheblade]

0000

Last night showed we must have one of the smallest teams in this league! Agree with McNulty comment he seems to have a better impact off the bench when we switch to 4-4-2. Doubt Clough will change his tactics at this point of the season, could be more harm than it is good with the players used to this system.[/QUOTE
Cloughie said in his post match and pre game interviews that he wants to try to 4-4-2. Thats why he wanted COG. The Blades wesbite has him down and a striker. So maybe we might see 4-4-2 Saturday, hope so.

 

[maxstertheblade]

Cloughie said in his post match and pre game interviews that he wants to try to 4-4-2. Thats why he wanted COG. The Blades wesbite has him down and a striker. So maybe we might see 4-4-2 Saturday, hope so.

 

[mattbianco1]

McNulty was poor last night. Just shows that he probably is better coming off the bench.

I really want to see Murphy upfront now.

 

[boo radley]

Loads were crying out for him to be played and NC pointed out his lack in certain parts of his game.More were apparent last night. The lad from Rochdale should play saturday.

 

[wizadry]

Loads were crying out for him to be played and NC pointed out his lack in certain parts of his game.More were apparent last night. The lad from Rochdale should play saturday.

This isn't directed at you in general boo,but do we play to McNultys' strengths? And do we get enough numbers up to support him? My answers to both questions are no.

 

[SwissBlade]

There was evidence last night that Clough can not play McNulty upfront on his own. His touch is ablysmal and also he DOES not run the channels at all. He was dire last night and although he can get us goals he can't play upfront on his own. Done and Sparky upfront at Gillingham!

Dear me, if ever there was an over reaction to one game, this is it...

 

[Fiery Blade]

Rather than coming off the bench on last nights form McNulty would have been better on the bench rather than on the field - his first touch was worse than Monty's and his workrate and running the channels non existent - Prima Donna Diego looked a far better bet when he came on - although my view is that if he doesn't want to play for United then let him sit and watch like the rest of us !

 

[bertieblade]

I thought that mcnulty was just terribly isolated, that in addition to pumping balls up to him whilst he was being dwarfed by their centre Halves meant that we never got anything to stick up front.
It is the job of midfield players, Scougal, JCR and Murphy as our predominantly forward thinking players to get around, support and hopefully get beyond him. They did not do this once!
There was an instance where they were winning three old and committed more players into our penalty area than we had in a previous attack.
Last season we had players getting beyond the striker with the ball, unfortunately that is a rare occurrance this season

 

[Fiery Blade]

Dear me, if ever there was an over reaction to one game, this is it...

Might be an over-reaction Swiss but it was a pretty poor effort by the team and doesn't do their confidence much good either !

 

[Going up]

Murphy and Che have to play, they are the two that are really full of confidence right now. Add Done too.

With Flynn struggling and Davies back, give Davies a bit of time and JCR a rest as he has just gone off the boil and we could really do with Davies' die for the team attitude and dead ball ability.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Dear me, if ever there was an over reaction to one game, this is it...

Wait till we lose on Saturday.

Tha's jumped in wi both feet.

 

[Balham]

This isn't directed at you in general boo,but do we play to McNultys' strengths? And do we get enough numbers up to support him? My answers to both questions are no.

McNulty's strengths seem to be his instincts and his speed of thought, both are much more effective against tired defences which might be why he's scored as many goals coming on as a sub as he has when starting. His hold up play is poor, as is his first touch whenever the pass is off the ground.

He's also not great with his back to goal which is how we need our strikers to play a lot of the time if they're like McNulty - out and out forwards who push the opposition's defensive line. Someone like Baxter (or potentially Done) is more effective as a lone man as they drop into the gap between the opposition defence and midfield.

Is McNulty good? I think so. Is he good enough to force us to change how the team is set up in order to play to his strengths? I'm not convinced.

 

[robbiez666]

We tend to boot the ball up to McNulty when we're struggling. He's dwarfed by defenders and is not a target man. He has to be played as part of two upfront. He's also just lost form at the moment. Surely Reed and say Coutts or Flo could hold the middle in most games as long as Done drops back a bit when we haven't got the ball?

 

[SwissBlade]

Might be an over-reaction Swiss but it was a pretty poor effort by the team and doesn't do their confidence much good either !

I don't disagree in the slightest, read my posts on other threads. I thought McNults was poor and he shouldn't have played ahead of Higgo last night.

However to suggest he can't play as a lone striker when he's had a cracking month or so is an overreaction.

 

[wizadry]

Is McNulty good? I think so. Is he good enough to force us to change how the team is set up in order to play to his strengths? I'm not convinced.

Cheers for the reply mate and some very good answers.The bit i've highlighted is the bit that concerns me,here's why.

In another thread i said we would be a lot better at creating chances from now on due to the players we have,i still stick by this but we have to change how we approach games to do this.Once the chances are created,by our team been a good 10 to 15 yards further up the pitch,McNulty will finish a good proportion of them.If we don't change how we approch them we will still struggle to score no matter who plays up top.

 

[Grappler]

Let's all agree that last night, booting the ball up field, time and time again was a really poor game plan. Even Big Hig would have struggled as a lone striker with three PNE defenders on him. The ball totally by passed our midfield and McNulty was not tall enough or strong enough to manage on his own. Even when they headed the ball forward, and it came to our back four, we headed it back! straight over the heads of our midfield players! I (and lads around me) were almost hoarse from shouting "get it down on the floor!"

There is very little chance of Scougall, Reed, Baxter winning balls in the air, so get it down and let's pass it.

McNulty would be far better with a big striker alongside him, which is what NC said O'Grady was coming in to do.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Let's all agree that last night, booting the ball up field, time and time again was a really poor game plan. Even Big Hig would have struggled as a lone striker with three PNE defenders on him. The ball totally by passed our midfield and McNulty was not tall enough or strong enough to manage on his own. Even when they headed the ball forward, and it came to our back four, we headed it back! straight over the heads of our midfield players! I (and lads around me) were almost hoarse from shouting "get it down on the floor!"

There is very little chance of Scougall, Reed, Baxter winning balls in the air, so get it down and let's pass it.

McNulty would be far better with a big striker alongside him, which is what NC said O'Grady was coming in to do.

In theroy when we pass it the ball can do the work and McNutts should not be tired so getting on to those sublime passes into the box from Reed should be easy.


451.

 

[FTPE]

This isn't directed at you in general boo,but do we play to McNultys' strengths? And do we get enough numbers up to support him? My answers to both questions are no.

Couldn't agree more.
This is a crap comparison but could you imagine Michael Owen playing up-top on his own? Playing with his back to goal, getting very little service and having to hold the ball up!?

 

[Jehovah]

Found Cloughs critisism of him strange at times, but I think I am starting to see what he is often publicly complaining about. In the game against Spurs, we would often play the ball in to a channel and he would not make the run or seem able to aniticpate what was going to happen. I remember an away game where Clough came out and said he is not working the channels enough, His turn and shot from outside the box against Spurs was also ridiculous considering he had two men over, in space, begging to be played in. No doubt he can finish, but maybe Cloughs complaints about him are becoming more obvious to the rest of us moals.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

Dear me, if ever there was an over reaction to one game, this is it...

Overreaction yes, but it's still true Swiss, the lad struggled last night on his own.

 

[Woodwardfan]

A short month ago there was a clamour on here for McNulty to start, not from me I might add.

The undoubted fact is that McNulty is the best striker our manager has signed in 16 months -FACT.

Last summer the manager talked about a "strong strike-force of four" and said Mcnulty would have to work his way into the first team.

In a nutshell, that is where we have gone wrong. There's no buggar else!

Good luck Mr. Done and Good luck Mr. Clough. Ours and your last hope for this season.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Murphy and Che have to play, they are the two that are really full of confidence right now. Add Done too.

With Flynn struggling and Davies back, give Davies a bit of time and JCR a rest as he has just gone off the boil and we could really do with Davies' die for the team attitude and dead ball ability.

should have been sent off constant foul play we dont want another henderson ref was a joke!

 

[Going up]

should have been sent off constant foul play we dont want another henderson ref was a joke!

Sent off! Only person should've been sent off was the fcuker that did Che.

 

[SwissBlade]

Overreaction yes, but it's still true Swiss, the lad struggled last night on his own.

Read my response on this and other threads...

 

[boo radley]

This isn't directed at you in general boo,but do we play to McNultys' strengths? And do we get enough numbers up to support him? My answers to both questions are no.

Please explain McNultys' strengths because they are so erratic. I want every player to succeed as most on here would. His first touch is abysmal and the fact that when a decision is made he dwells too much and looses the moment when he could influence it further baffles me. Example; he made a great tackle in a game recently coming back from upfront to win the ball on half way. the player he tackled was still down as he got up in a position where he was totally freeto receive the ball from the throw which Murphy picked up quickly ready to take it to him. His awareness was so stark I thought that any 13 year old would i used to coach would have seen it better. The moment was lost because he thought his job was done winning the tackle and throw for us. Last night there was a similar situation where he challenged for a ball and the ref gave a decision against him. He was so in range of the incident but felt so hard done to he missed the opportunity to challenge. He could learn a lot from Murphy in these situations who is so alert but not that good at winning a ball back but will always react and close without dwelling on how hard done to he feels.

 

[KingSlayers]

Murphy and Che have to play, they are the two that are really full of confidence right now. Add Done too.

With Flynn struggling and Davies back, give Davies a bit of time and JCR a rest as he has just gone off the boil and we could really do with Davies' die for the team attitude and dead ball ability.

433 with Che, Murphy and Done is what I'm wanting to see, Done is a versatile forward and scored 14 goals at Dale apparently playing on wings. I doubt we'll see it because of how the current system is set up

 

[wizadry]

Please explain McNultys' strengths because they are so erratic. I want every player to succeed as most on here would. His first touch is abysmal and the fact that when a decision is made he dwells too much and looses the moment when he could influence it further baffles me. Example; he made a great tackle in a game recently coming back from upfront to win the ball on half way. the player he tackled was still down as he got up in a position where he was totally freeto receive the ball from the throw which Murphy picked up quickly ready to take it to him. His awareness was so stark I thought that any 13 year old would i used to coach would have seen it better. The moment was lost because he thought his job was done winning the tackle and throw for us. Last night there was a similar situation where he challenged for a ball and the ref gave a decision against him. He was so in range of the incident but felt so hard done to he missed the opportunity to challenge. He could learn a lot from Murphy in these situations who is so alert but not that good at winning a ball back but will always react and close without dwelling on how hard done to he feels.

Read Balham Blade 's post for McNultys' strengths,all i will add is that McNultys' first touch on the floor isn't normally too bad.He struggles when the ball is chucked in to him but on the floor he normally does alright.Have a look back at his goals and then tell me his first touch is shite,believe me you won't.

McNulty isn't the problem,it's how we approach games that needs to change.He will get goals if played right,playing with someone else up top or somebody else supporting him from midfield wouldn't go amiss.

 

[raul]

Whilst he has many areas of his game he needs to smarten up on, let's not forget he's 22 , in his first season in proper football and is playing a lot more than expected due to lack of available options. I think he was going to be a bench warmer this year but has been pitched in out of necessity. stand him down, but don't discard him so easily.