Bergen Blade
Well-Known Member
We changed it around a few times during the game, but the midfield that started against Leyton Orient was
Later Robson went central, in the hole behind Kitson, while Poleon dropped down to a wing. Robson was the only one who played anywhere near to his potential and had his best game so far.
I don't know how much it was due to instructions, but Robson roamed around all game and seemed to want to get on the ball at all times. As Orient defended deep and we lacked width he sometimes struggled to find good forward positions. This saw him often drop deep and central to collect the ball, even from defenders.
To me this seemed to confuse Doyle and McDonald. Usually they both like to come short to get the ball from our defenders, with McDonald more likely to advance with it it or try a threaded pass. On Tuesday Robson tried to do both their jobs. Some of his passes were genuinely good attempts at creative through balls, others were decent chipped ball to players out wide, often to our (still standing) full backs.
Such a roaming role could potentially have enabled the two central midfielders to bomb forward more, but McDonald just looked perplexed at the situation, making an unusual amount of mistakes, while Doyle just became invisible. If this is how Danny Wilson wanted/wants us (Robson) to play I am sure we can get better at it, but I'm not sure those four will ever form an effective midfield. We can't have three players wanting to playmake from deep, while the fourth is a defensively hard working wideman. We'd never get enough players in the box and there would be too much pressure on our one quick player (Poleon) to run at and get in behind defences.
We may urge McDonald to play like Lampard, i.e. aim to get into the box regularly, but it remains to be seen if he can adapt to such a role. It may be like asking Murphy to play as a target man, or Kitson as a nippy winger. Ideally players should be given roles which make best use of their good qualities.
I'm sure someone will suggest McDonald to play alongside Robson, but unfortunately I think we'd get overrun in midfield. When Forte or Murphy returns we'll have the chance to play two quick lads which may help us stretch teams more and find a better balance, but until then it may be a challenge for the management to get the balance right in midfield.
Does anyone have a good advice for them?
Robson McDonald Doyle Flynn
Later Robson went central, in the hole behind Kitson, while Poleon dropped down to a wing. Robson was the only one who played anywhere near to his potential and had his best game so far.
I don't know how much it was due to instructions, but Robson roamed around all game and seemed to want to get on the ball at all times. As Orient defended deep and we lacked width he sometimes struggled to find good forward positions. This saw him often drop deep and central to collect the ball, even from defenders.
To me this seemed to confuse Doyle and McDonald. Usually they both like to come short to get the ball from our defenders, with McDonald more likely to advance with it it or try a threaded pass. On Tuesday Robson tried to do both their jobs. Some of his passes were genuinely good attempts at creative through balls, others were decent chipped ball to players out wide, often to our (still standing) full backs.
Such a roaming role could potentially have enabled the two central midfielders to bomb forward more, but McDonald just looked perplexed at the situation, making an unusual amount of mistakes, while Doyle just became invisible. If this is how Danny Wilson wanted/wants us (Robson) to play I am sure we can get better at it, but I'm not sure those four will ever form an effective midfield. We can't have three players wanting to playmake from deep, while the fourth is a defensively hard working wideman. We'd never get enough players in the box and there would be too much pressure on our one quick player (Poleon) to run at and get in behind defences.
We may urge McDonald to play like Lampard, i.e. aim to get into the box regularly, but it remains to be seen if he can adapt to such a role. It may be like asking Murphy to play as a target man, or Kitson as a nippy winger. Ideally players should be given roles which make best use of their good qualities.
I'm sure someone will suggest McDonald to play alongside Robson, but unfortunately I think we'd get overrun in midfield. When Forte or Murphy returns we'll have the chance to play two quick lads which may help us stretch teams more and find a better balance, but until then it may be a challenge for the management to get the balance right in midfield.
Does anyone have a good advice for them?
