Clarke and Sharp + other bits

[Jesus_was_a_Blade]

Donkey?

Do you go to the games?

Glad someone else called out this rubbish. I'd say he won at least 75% of the balls up to him against Rochdale. If we had more players looking to gamble or get in around him we'd all be lauding his performance.

It might take a while for Sharp to get used to the idea of running behind Clarke when it's knocked up to him. Understandable though given he had Sammon winning nothing in the air for him last season. But once they're on the same wavelength they could be great together.

He also had arguably our 2nd best effort on goal with his header that just missed in the 2nd half. It was a great effort as he had absolutely no right to get on that cross, the defender was favourite for it all day long.

 

[robbiez666]

Too similar types of players, which got me thinking...

Either we need to play the system we play now (as much as people hate long ball) but we need a pacey striker alongside either Clarke or Sharp (both can't play together in this system imo) but that means one of either being on the bench, i can't see us spending money to have Clarke sit on the bench, and there is no way in hell Sharp will be benched, hes captain after all. So this longball probably won't work with the set of players we have.

The other option could be, 4-3-3? If we have Clarke (as a target man) and Sharp holding the ball up for a pacey striker (even McNulty to a certain extent) with Sharp drifting out wide more it may work out, we'd be light in numbers in Midfield and would more than likely have less of the ball, but if we get Morsy or someone competent like him we should have enough Quality in midfield to make things happen..

Regarding Basham, I know Wilder came in and his first conversation with Basham was about where Basham thought his best position was, and he said Center mid... I just think we need to stick Basham at the back again, even if its just until we get a replacement.

Other things to note from me today, Scougall is still too lightweight and being as small as he is, he won't fit into the style of football we've been playing.

One other observation, Long needs to be given a break, for his own good. We have a very impatient fanbase (expectedly) and it won't do him any favours. He's made a lot of mistakes in the past 2 seasons and the more he makes the worse it will get for him. I would like to see Ramsdale in goal on Tuesday.

I posted a thread about Sharp and Clarke after the first game when it became clear we were going to play 4-4-2 (which has disappeared).

I don't actually think they're similar players, they just don't compliment each other or form a strikeforce.

Clarke needs pace next to him to run on to flick on, pull defenders out of position and people to put crosses in. We have none of this in our team.
Sharp holds the ball up well. Whilst he can play next to a bigger guy they need to have pace and the ability to hold the ball up. He needs chances crossed/passed for him to run on to. We have neither the pace nor the creativity.