Learnt plenty from that

[GreasyChipBeattie]

What is worrying me more than anything is that all of our best players were with us in league one.

Have we actually improved as a team since promotion? It’s debatable.

If 10 is Premier League standard and 1 is League One standard, we're currently around 3.5

 

[wizadry]

Interesting a lot featuring Egan, Stevens, Evans, Lundstram as the issues when our so called big players O'Connell, Fleck and Clarke have been awful in the first two games. Passengers really. Might not be a popular opinion but what I think. They get more time owed in a sense due to history but they need to pull their socks up fast.

Some don’t see it this way but I do which is that you will only play as good as the players playing around you.

Evans, Lundstram and the players infront of Fleck aren’t doing him any favours.

JOC is having a similar problem with Egan, Stevens and a new GK nearest to him.

 

[CHRISSY BLADE]

wouldn't bank on it

Not a chance he will start. Wilder picks that same team again. It’s a joke

 

[CHRISSY BLADE]

If 10 is Premier League standard and 1 is League One standard, we're currently around 3.5

We’re currently around 0.Rotherham

 

[CHRISSY BLADE]

can't help but think about what the Oxford fans said.. 'chris has his favourites and won't drop them'. hmmm

Clarke , sack of shit

 

[Rodders]

• Lundstram & Evans isn’t the answer and Duffy needs to be in there for one of the two. Whoever keeps the shirt takes the anchor role.
• Woodburn needs a shirt. That pass in the second half was outstanding.
• Stevens was poor and if Norrington-Davies is anywhere near ready, he needs a start.

Make those changes and we’ll win at QPR.

UTB.

I’m not sure why these points are reasoned now and at 7.15 tonight the same points were toys out of the pram?

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

The starting 11 tonight are complete and utter shite and are not worthy enough to wear a blades shirt!!. A bit mellow dramatic but I can see relegation looming unless wilder sorts this and bloody quick. He needs to look for a CF and not another last resort like Donaldson was last season!!. UTB

I like a bit of mellowness , me .

Just what's needed in these troubling times .

 

[Wards]

He went into midfield a minute after their third goal, i.e. 26th minute, meaning we played like this:

Henderson
Baldock Egan O'Connell Stevens
Basham
Evans - - - - - Fleck
Lundstram - - - - - - - - - - - - McGoldrick
Clarke

​

Correct, if already forgotten they’d switched by that point, although the shape was hard to decipher. It was much clearer second half. You’d expect Leonard and Basham in that holding two would help us transition to a defensive phase quicker than Evans/Lundstram merely for the fact they’re quicker.

 

[sitwell]

The big problem was defending crosses ,conceding 3 crap goals from bad defending putting us on the back foot and there was too much to recover
I would go with
Henderson
Basham-Stearman-Oconnell
Baldock-Evans-Duffy-Fleck-Norrington
Woodburn
Sharp

 

[Champagneblade]

4-2-3-1. Said it before but that second half confirms it’s the way forward for us, means we can get Duffy and Woodburn in there too.

I thought that at one point but having sold Brooks and offloaded (yet to be confirmed) Holmes, I'm not sure we have the personnel to properly do this as we only have 2 proper attacking midfielders/wingers in Duffy and Woodburn and we would need three without putting square pegs in round holes.

Before we go throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater, I think we need to go back to what saw us smash League One.

Having a flat midfield three was only a phenomenon that came out against Norwich and was used more and more in Coutts' absence.

At our swashbuckling best, we've always had Duffy or in same case last year Brooks as the link between midfield and attack.

So before we go throwing something out, I do think we need to identify what isn't working for these players and come to the right conclusion. A flat 3-5-2 isn't going so well. You can't conclude 3-4-1-2 isn't working because we haven't played it yet.

I'd suggest building the next month's fixtures around Duffy and Woodburn being starters might give a better picture. It will also mean less reliance on the ageing strikers.

For me the changes are as much personnel as formation:

Henderson
Egan Stearman O'Connell
Baldock Evans/Basham* Fleck Stevens/Bryan*
Duffy
Woodburn Clarke/Sharp*

Three calls to make in terms of form but I don't see these altering the shape.

 

[spongebobblade]

Some don’t see it this way but I do which is that you will only play as good as the players playing around you.

Evans, Lundstram and the players infront of Fleck aren’t doing him any favours.

JOC is having a similar problem with Egan, Stevens and a new GK nearest to him.

Agree with that regards Fleck. He tried driving us forward but the options around him were so limited he almost always ended up playing the ‘safe’ ball or lost it. JOC on the other hand had a shocker 1st half but was more like his old self 2nd. Egan, Lunny, Evans and Stevens have started the season abysmally for me though

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

We simply haven't recruited well enough, at all.

 

[Rodley]

We simply haven't recruited well enough, at all.

Whether they are good enough remains to be seen.

 

[SuperDuperBlades]

I really like the setup mid way through the second half, Bash played 10 times better than Evans in the holding role and we looked more fluid. The only problem with the formation is Clarke, who tonight looked woefull and old.

Because he is woefull and OLD

 

[Cerberus Blade]

From what I saw in the pre season friendly at Mansfield, I’d go and bring Otis Khan back and play him instead of Evans. At least he was quick and caused problems from midfield.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

We simply haven't recruited well enough, at all.

It’s really that simple. That and the poor team selection.

 

[super_pig]

mellow dramatic

heh.. that's cute i like that .. have a like
(melodramatic)

 

[Chali 2na]

• Drop that lazy unfit sack of shit masquerading as a striker.

Calling last year's top-scorer a lazy unfit sack of shit? Classy.

 

[Bladesman]

Calling last year's top-scorer a lazy unfit sack of shit? Classy.

Lazy - yes
Unfit - yes
Shit - Based on his recent poor performances so far, yes

Where am I wrong? What has he done so far not to be dropped?

 

[Speedracer]

Lazy - yes
Unfit - yes
Shit - Based on his recent poor performances so far, yes

Where am I wrong? What has he done so far not to be dropped?

Lazy is a subjective term that has no basis in fact, it is merely an opinion, & judging by your other remarks not a very valid one.
Unfit, again this is simply wrong & I wish our "fans" would stop pointing fingers using tainted bullets.
Shit? he might not be in a rich vein of form but his recent record says he is anything but.

Look, we are all frustrated by our start but stupid comments like this deserve to be kept behind firmly buttoned lips.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Lazy - yes
Unfit - yes
Shit - Based on his recent poor performances so far, yes

Where am I wrong? What has he done so far not to be dropped?

So far we've started with this central midfield:

- - - - - Evans
Lundstram Fleck

Some people have called it a flat midfield, but it's not quite correct, as Evans clearly has been much deeper, while the other two are supposed to go forward and support the strikers. The midfield doesn't really have a no 10 though. To compensate for no number 10, Wilder has brought in a striker who's good at linking play. So McGoldrick has been coming deep, made himself available while also drifting out wide.

With the set up being like that the main striker can't be all over the place as well. That's why I reckon Clarke has been told to stay up front more, get in the box and try to get on the end of things.

As we've struggled to find attacking rhythm, our tempo has been too slow and we've just not found the right balance, we haven't been able to set up many chances for Clarke. Defenders have been comfortable most of the time, always anticipating what we've been trying to do.

The result has been that he hasn't been very involved, and not really shown much. The chances he's had he's been unable to take. To me he's been working hard off the ball, and I don't agree that he's lazy or unfit. Out of form, possibly, but it's very early to conclude, especially as we haven't found any sort of attacking rhythm. Many things haven't worked for us, but small tweaks can sometimes change the dynamics within a team.

 

[awblade]

Someone said it elsewhere but the midfielder of Evans, flecks and lundstram has only worked once (away against Norwich)

Pretty sure Leonard started CM that game, instead of Lundstram, so that makes it never. Evans looked quality too that day.

 

[BLADES1988]

Hopefully he will have bought a crate of bloody beers for the coach home again.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

Pretty sure Leonard started CM that game, instead of Lundstram, so that makes it never. Evans looked quality too that day.

I Stand corrected.

Still - we need to do something because it’s obvious that fleck, Evans and Lundstram just aren’t creative enough in his league.

We need a Duffy for the way we play. That much is obvious. Woodburn looked decent in parts too - so hopefully he’ll add something to the side

 

[Bladesman]

Lazy is a subjective term that has no basis in fact, it is merely an opinion, & judging by your other remarks not a very valid one.
Unfit, again this is simply wrong & I wish our "fans" would stop pointing fingers using tainted bullets.
Shit? he might not be in a rich vein of form but his recent record says he is anything but.

Look, we are all frustrated by our start but stupid comments like this deserve to be kept behind firmly buttoned lips.

Sorry, my mistake Leon is god. It's unfortunate he just looks lazy, unfit and shit. It obviously has nothing to do with his form towards the end of last season being poor either.

 

[Bladesman]

So far we've started with this central midfield:

- - - - - Evans
Lundstram Fleck

Some people have called it a flat midfield, but it's not quite correct, as Evans clearly has been much deeper, while the other two are supposed to go forward and support the strikers. The midfield doesn't really have a no 10 though. To compensate for no number 10, Wilder has brought in a striker who's good at linking play. So McGoldrick has been coming deep, made himself available while also drifting out wide.

With the set up being like that the main striker can't be all over the place as well. That's why I reckon Clarke has been told to stay up front more, get in the box and try to get on the end of things.

As we've struggled to find attacking rhythm, our tempo has been too slow and we've just not found the right balance, we haven't been able to set up many chances for Clarke. Defenders have been comfortable most of the time, always anticipating what we've been trying to do.

The result has been that he hasn't been very involved, and not really shown much. The chances he's had he's been unable to take. To me he's been working hard off the ball, and I don't agree that he's lazy or unfit. Out of form, possibly, but it's very early to conclude, especially as we haven't found any sort of attacking rhythm. Many things haven't worked for us, but small tweaks can sometimes change the dynamics within a team.

If only we had another striker, that scores goals and gets in the box.

 

[Bladezz]

The goals are from set plays, nothing to do with formation.

 

[Eric Cartman]

The goals are from set plays, nothing to do with formation.

What about the fact it was the worst 45 I've ever seen in an attacking sense from us under Wilder?

We were better at home to the other year when we got hammered.

 

[Davalon]

I learned that some posters really struggle to differentiate between the minority who love to find negatives, and those articulating genuine concerns.

 

[Chali 2na]

Lazy - yes
Unfit - yes
Shit - Based on his recent poor performances so far, yes

Where am I wrong? What has he done so far not to be dropped?

I never said he shouldn't be dropped, I just said that calling him 'lazy', 'unfit' and in particular 'shit' shows an astounding lack of class and makes you look very fickle.