Didzy is the missing link

[CamberleyBlade]

Last season we always looked a more effective team when Didzy played, not just linking midfield and attack, but pulling defenders out of position and attracting midfielders towards him. This created space for Norwood and was a cue for wing backs to make runs for him to ping too.
Without him we pay aimless balls towards Mcburnie or slowly build through midfield, with no space for wing backs to attack.
Why have we changed what was a well proven system?

 

[raimond]

Okay he's got a big beard but this thread title is a bloody disgrace, leave the man alone.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Last season we always looked a more effective team when Didzy played, not just linking midfield and attack, but pulling defenders out of position and attracting midfielders towards him. This created space for Norwood and was a cue for wing backs to make runs for him to ping too.
Without him we pay aimless balls towards Mcburnie or slowly build through midfield, with no space for wing backs to attack.
Why have we changed what was a well proven system?

In the PL, Wilder has clearly chosen NOT to go with 3 players at the top of the pitch.

1 x 10, 2 x 9s. Or variations thereof. Preferring a 3 in midfield. Comments like “it would be suicide” reinforce the current thinking

NOW.

Is it a fact that in so doing, and paying our opponents too much respect as a consequence, that this stifles our own players ? That it is in fact sub optimal for us ?

I don’t have an answer, just the question .

What I do find interesting is the frequent change to three up top WHEN we are chasing a game from behind (all too frequently of late) !!

UTB

 

[robbiez666]

I was shocked he didn't start with Didzy or Burke in the last couple of games given who we were playing against. An extra pair of legs in midfield would have helped us.

I'd say this though, Didzy hasn't looked very good so far this season. He's 33 this month and maybe those years are catching up with him? He's certainly picking up more injuries.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

He has to start for me.

zero creativity in the entire squad. It’s ok signing strikers but you have to give them chances to actually score.

When we scored more than a solitary goal last season, mcgoldrick was inevitably playing. He played in pretty much all the games we managed to score more than once.

3 defensive minded midfielders, fullbacks who seem unwilling / unable to cross and forwards like mcburnie and Brewster, who don’t create for themselves mean we are unlikely to score many goals (if any from open play).

i was pleased with the signings we made but said all along that I was worried we had no creativity. I don’t know why wilder didn’t attempt to address that.

the defence with no hendo and no JOC was ALWAYS going to regress. So far we are turning last seasons wins into draws and last seasons losses into defeats.

I know it was city but we need to change something soon otherwise this is what the season looks like....

 

[Wards]

 

[mattbianco1]

View attachment 96660

Have I missed an edit somewhere!?

 

[Trafford]

I agree that we tend to play better with him than without him but most of his passes are backwards and he gives the ball away far too many times. He added nothing when he came on yesterday and turned a great opportunity to attack into ‘play it around at the back’ with a minute left on the clock. He does a couple of decent things in a full match but that’s not enough - we need him back to his creative best but haven’t really seen that this season.

 

[cahill]

Okay he's got a big beard but this thread title is a bloody disgrace, leave the man alone.

Made me laugh at least

 

[Eddie odd legs]

I still think the team play better with McGoldrick playing a link between midfield & attack. Too far up the pitch he is less effective & does miss the "sitters". While I think the general comments of the television pundits are not worth a great deal of consideration Alan Shearers comments last nights MoTD were pretty much on the mark. As soon as the wing backs get into a position they should be be sending ball into the areas behind the defence & not sending the overlapping full back into the corner where the the crosses yesterday were poor. Brewster has the speed to react to an "early" pass into the area behind the defence. If they persist in trying to feed McBurnie the high balls they will struggle to score. You know what they say - if you don't score goals you will not win matches. Perhaps Mr Wilder was referring to the same "problem" in the Post Match Interview.

 

[Wards]

Have I missed an edit somewhere!?

Just a very light-hearted ribbing of the thread title

 

[Champagneblade]

Against the more shit teams is it worth Didzy in the Duffy role and going at them.

Until last season we always complained about a flat 3 because it didn’t work.

There is no saying if Duffy had stayed that we wouldn’t have prospered equally as well with 3-4-1-2.

McGoldrick works hard and is positionally sound. It’s not as if we would be asking a striker to be a midfielder. He’s a mixture of both and looks after the ball when he has it.

We have to give things like this some consideration. Losing 1-0 may as well be 3-2. If our set up is too defensive, and we’re never a goal threat, then we’ll not win any.

Having finished 9th, Everton, Villa, Southampton are certs to finish above us, Leeds, West Ham and Newcastle have points on the board also. So it has to be Fulham, West Brom and 1 from Burnley, Brighton if it isn’t going to be us.

 

[Swannyblade]

I don’t understand why we don’t play as close to our best 11 from last season as we can.
We always look better with Didzy in the team so let’s play him whenever we can. Even if he has a poor game, let’s not haul him out of the starting lineup.
Same goes for Norwood...Get him in the starting 11. A lot have been quick to point out his weaknesses, but he offers more to us in an attacking sense than we lose defensively when he plays. Just stick with him because Berge and Ampadu don’t look to be the answer in that position either. Norwood has always been the key to us playing well since his arrival during the promotion season so let’s go with him because we currently don’t have anyone better.
Our fan base is so damn fickle at the moment - last week we were full of praise for Baldock and Ampadu, this week they’re apparently shite. Unfortunately inconsistency is a truth we’ll have to face given our budget, but let’s show a bit of support in rough times because we know they have the potential to play better.

 

[Mumbo]

Last season we always looked a more effective team when Didzy played, not just linking midfield and attack, but pulling defenders out of position and attracting midfielders towards him. This created space for Norwood and was a cue for wing backs to make runs for him to ping too.
Without him we pay aimless balls towards Mcburnie or slowly build through midfield, with no space for wing backs to attack.
Why have we changed what was a well proven system?

Definitely time to give it a go before it’s too late.Even a Didzy not firing on all cylinders is our most creative player and the only one to score in open play.Our plan A has been inspected dissected and largely nullified even by bottom feeders.

 

[GreenhillBladeinToronto]

I was shocked he didn't start with Didzy or Burke in the last couple of games given who we were playing against. An extra pair of legs in midfield would have helped us.

I'd say this though, Didzy hasn't looked very good so far this season. He's 33 this month and maybe those years are catching up with him? He's certainly picking up more injuries.

Agreed, but, interestingly, he looked excellent for Ireland when he linked the play all the time despite supposedly playing as a 9. False 9, I guess.... Against teams where we believe we have a good chance of getting a result, I would play Didsy in a 10 in front of Berge and Ampadu/Norwood as sitting midfielders and behind McB with Brewster/Burke.

 

[BigBed]

I agree we need the number 10 role filling and using at the moment, without someone to link it up, were relegation fodder.

 

[AnstonBlade1]

He has to start for me in a no.10 role, he’s the only player with any kind of creativity, personally I’d go with Burke and Brewster up top.
We need to try something different.

 

[Lowen]

When we play well it's no coincidence McGoldrick was playing, when a striker plays well it's no coincidence his partner was McGoldrick.

 

[sitwell]

Last season we always looked a more effective team when Didzy played, not just linking midfield and attack, but pulling defenders out of position and attracting midfielders towards him. This created space for Norwood and was a cue for wing backs to make runs for him to ping too.
Without him we pay aimless balls towards Mcburnie or slowly build through midfield, with no space for wing backs to attack.
Why have we changed what was a well proven system?

Spot on ,Mcglodrick and Norwood are key to how we play this system. I think Wilder is trying to shoehorn Berge into the Norwood roll and he clearly isnt that type of player and Ampadu doesnt have the range yet. There is a great position for Berge to the right when hes got his head on ,but I agree go back to what we are good at. take Didzy and Norwood out and a lot of our best players suffer ,especially the wing backs.

 

[SUFCinks]

We play our best football with a 10 and didzy is our most creative player. If we want to score goals then he has to start, if we want to pinch 1-0 wins and play for a point then we are going down end of.

 

[Bobby Boo]

Can't see the resemblance myself.

 

[Toronto Blade]

Wilder/Knill have decisions to make,we are not as threatening in attack as JOC's absence with his defensive strength in the air and his speed for a centerback is a big gap on the left.The hole he leaves also cuts down the attacks down the left hand side with the overlaps making it much easier to defend against.

 

[guancheblade]

For me the best reason to get him in is if we are to persist with tippy tappy out wide wait for the overload strategy, then we need Didzy in to help pull defenders about a bit, chip in with some of the tippy tappy and create more space in the box so whoever needs to put the ball in has more space to aim for. Our less technical players are too isolated out wide and too deficient to put in an inch perfect delivery every time