Height

[Ricky]

If we sign a good striker we'll end up going 4-4-2, as we haven't got three decent central midfielders, unless we sign another one, or arguably even two.

 

[blade too long]

But what if 5'6ish and average-at-leaping Duffy, Reed, Fleck, Done, Scougall and Sharp have to mark six-footers who are strong and very good at leaping?

Well they get in the way of them leaping.same way defences take out the likes of peter crouch sized players. Height is as defendable as stopping extremely gifted ground players is.if it wasnt then tall players would score every game

 

[Bergen Blade]

Well they get in the way of them leaping.same way defences take out the likes of peter crouch sized players. Height is as defendable as stopping extremely gifted ground players is.if it wasnt then tall players would score every game

Tall players are usually marked by other tall players though. Not always:



I think it's easier to deal with one very tall opposition player than if there is an average of 4-5 inches height difference compared to the opposition team.

Adkins wanted six or seven big players to cope with set pieces and generally avoid being bullied. I think you can usually cope with less, but the second team listed above would be likely to struggle against an opposition who were determined to take advantage, which happened under Clough. I don't want us to have any such weaknesses.

 

[blade too long]

he literally could run under him

 

[ucandomagic]

Our lack of height was a problem under Clough, and we looked vulnerable at defensive set pieces while creating nothing from our attacking set pieces. While Adkins tried to address that he ruined other things at the same time.

I think this could be Wilder's current first eleven:

Long
Brayford Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Basham Fleck
Done Scougall Duffy
Sharp​

The defence consists of four players who are strong and decent in the air, as is Basham. It will probably be ok most games from a marking perspective, although our average height will probably be among the lower in the division.

It's difficult to see that we will be a huge aerial threat from set pieces with that eleven, despite improved delivery from Duffy and Hussey. Wilson has a poor scoring record, O'Connell a little better. Basham's got the height, but his timing and heading technique is only average.

If, for example, Brayford got an injury and Basham don't quite find form in midfield, it's not unthinkable that we'd be lining up with:

Long
Freeman Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Reed Fleck
Done Scougall Duffy
Sharp​

Which means we're back to the problems we had under Clough with a very small team and little strength in the air.

I reckon Wilder will be looking to keep this in mind as he keeps shaping the squad. He's said he wants a target man and he may be looking for a bigger/stronger back up at right back than Freeman. When we were linked with Grandison I wondered if Wilder saw him as a right back, and he did confess that little interest in the transfer listed players ("to an extent"?) could hinder some of the recruitment. If Freeman and Coutts or J. Wallace moved on I think Wilder would bring in a couple of taller players in these positions. The right sided centre half should also preferably be a commanding type.

I think Tufty is certain to play Matty up front. I also think Adams is far better coming in from wide - so for me, I agree with 10 of your 11, with Adams for Scougall in 4-4-2

Long
Brayford Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Adams Basham Fleck Duffy
Done Sharp​

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Tall players are usually marked by other tall players though. Not always:

View attachment 18543

I think it's easier to deal with one very tall opposition player than if there is an average of 4-5 inches height difference compared to the opposition team.

Adkins wanted six or seven big players to cope with set pieces and generally avoid being bullied. I think you can usually cope with less, but the second team listed above would be likely to struggle against an opposition who were determined to take advantage, which happened under Clough. I don't want us to have any such weaknesses.

I agree but I don't think Wilder would play that second team.
Play Whiteman instead of Reed and Wilson at right back and it's no shorter than the first choice team

 

[Fulwood Blade]

This was a decent spell:

View attachment 18535

yes, those figures do speak for themselves - but what I take out of any team is : if you don't concede, you don't lose - and that defence was generally settled.

Players knew their jobs.

UTB

 

[Willie Carlin]

We didn't have one player last year that could head the ball with conviction other than Collins

 

[DronnieBlade]

Let's get some big fat fookers in an all !

Athletes are athletes. Ballers are ballers.

Precisely where our academy systems go so far wrong. Will we ever learn ??

UTB

 

[Silent Blade]

Let's get some big fat fookers in an all !

Athletes are athletes. Ballers are ballers.

Precisely where our academy systems go so far wrong. Will we ever learn ??

UTB

Your dream signings

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Our lack of height was a problem under Clough, and we looked vulnerable at defensive set pieces while creating nothing from our attacking set pieces. While Adkins tried to address that he ruined other things at the same time.

I think this could be Wilder's current first eleven:

Long
Brayford Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Basham Fleck
Done Scougall Duffy
Sharp​

The defence consists of four players who are strong and decent in the air, as is Basham. It will probably be ok most games from a marking perspective, although our average height will probably be among the lower in the division.

It's difficult to see that we will be a huge aerial threat from set pieces with that eleven, despite improved delivery from Duffy and Hussey. Wilson has a poor scoring record, O'Connell a little better. Basham's got the height, but his timing and heading technique is only average.

If, for example, Brayford got an injury and Basham don't quite find form in midfield, it's not unthinkable that we'd be lining up with:

Long
Freeman Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Reed Fleck
Done Scougall Duffy
Sharp​

Which means we're back to the problems we had under Clough with a very small team and little strength in the air.

I reckon Wilder will be looking to keep this in mind as he keeps shaping the squad. He's said he wants a target man and he may be looking for a bigger/stronger back up at right back than Freeman. When we were linked with Grandison I wondered if Wilder saw him as a right back, and he did confess that little interest in the transfer listed players ("to an extent"?) could hinder some of the recruitment. If Freeman and Coutts or J. Wallace moved on I think Wilder would bring in a couple of taller players in these positions. The right sided centre half should also preferably be a commanding type.

Interesting point. I agree. I also agree that Wilder has an eye on it with talk of wanting another centre half and a target man. So it’s also entirely possible we could end up with:-



------------------------------Long


Brayford--------McDonald----O Connell-----Hussey



Duffy-----------Basham--------Fleck--------Adams



--------------------Sharp--------Clarke




I’ve gone with Rod McDonald and Leon Clarke as examples.


That would give us 5 in the starting 11 over 6 foot with Brayford also good in the air and Adams around the 6 foot mark.


I think O Connell could be a real asset for us as he’s a real unit and should cause problems in opposing penalty areas but we could do with one or two more in there for opposing defenders to think about.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

. He can only perform better , with better players around him.

UTB

Strongly disagree with this.


We’ve seen first hand that Sharp can struggle in certain set-ups under certain managers. He’s just scored 21 goals under the manager that has always brought the best out of him throughout his career.


Next season he enters his 30s under a manager he has never played for. I think it’s a million miles from being a cert that he will have a better season or even as good a season as the last one. I hope he can but there’s every chance he won’t. But hopefully if say Clarke, Done, Adams, McNulty and DCL are all options, he might not need to.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

One of Cloughs failings was the mans sheer arrogance in believing he was right and everyone else was wrong. All the fellow Blades i know was watchin United in Cloughs last season and saying that we were a team of footballing midgets who regularly got out fought and bullied out of games cosw we couldnt compete physically in a physical league. You only have to look at the number of set pieces we conceded from or caused us problems. Clough didnt recognise that div 1 is predominately a physical league. You dont have to out football teams in this league you can out muscle em and still get consistently good results. Example..? Dave Jones Pigsday team who pipped us to promotion. They were the anti football team...we were the football purists. They went up...we didnt.

Doing what the pigs did still requires some flair in the team. In the first half of the season they had Ben Marshall who was a real match-winner and by far their most creative player. In the last third they had Antonio who could go past people and make things happen. In the period in between they couldn’t break teams down and that’s when we opened a gap on them.


Being physical alone isn’t enough. You still need some pace and trickery in the wide areas if you want to play like that. Same as we had under Bassett. Physical, strong team who competed for everything but had players like Carr, Whitehouse, Beagrie etc. in the wide positions who ensure players like Deane had crosses aplenty to attack.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Personally I'll be gutted if we play 1 up front. I have never seen it work for us. ever.

Depends what you call “working”. We had a decent season under Blackwell predominantly with 1 up top but missed out in a playoff final.


We also had a very good run under Clough in 2014 playing that way.


But overall, I agree with the sentiment. I like to see a strike partnership. Maybe it’s because the best we’ve had it was Deane/ Agana and then Deane/ Fjortoft.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

The Clough team had great balance overall, although I agree Baxter was a temporary solution. But it worked well at the time.

If you listen to Wilder's latest interview he says that he wants to fit the players into his preferred formation. Although he didn't say that this was 4-2-3-1, this was the formation he played at Northampton and he says he "believes in the system, that it's entertaining, progressive and positive". With the player types he has in the forward positions and the way he describes his style, I agree it sounds very exciting and we shouldn't worry about having only one central striker. The 3 behind him will roam around, support and get beyond him regularly.

I don't think the signing of the target man (Clarke or whoever) will make Wilder change his main system. I hope Adams stays and will feature regularly in one of the forward roles behind Sharp.

The other thing about that system of Clough’s was that it had 2 defenders, a winger and a central midfielder of Championship quality. 3 of those players are no longer here and one is struggling to get back to his best after a bad injury. Having a centre half of such immense quality coupled with the system we played made us extremely difficult to break down. It’s a real shame as there seemed to be such good foundations at that point.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I agree but I don't think Wilder would play that second team.
Play Whiteman instead of Reed and Wilson at right back and it's no shorter than the first choice team

Yes, I think it's something he'll be aware of. Attacking full backs will be important though, don't expect Wilson to bomb forward and be an outlet down the right if he's filling in there. Hopefully we won't have to make many compromises like that.

 

[loyalblade95]

since people have been posting formations of what they think we will play here's mine

Long
Brayford Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Basham Fleck
Duffy Adams Done
Sharp​

If we do sign Leon Clarke or bring on another striker then i have a feeling we will switch to a 442 and go with something like this

Long
Brayford Wilson O'Connell Hussey
Duffy Basham Fleck Adams
Sharp ST(any)​

 

[Pinchy]

Leon Clarke (or any decent centre-forward) simply won't sign to sit on the bench and be an "impact sub", nor should they.