Well fancy that .

[SouthEssexBlade]

I agree with you in principle but on the most recent evidence the purple patch is over and he is (temporarily) out of form.

Would a 4-5-1. 4-3-3. 4-4-2 or whatever of:

Coutts Baxter Doyle
Done Higdon Murphy

not have some merit?

Higdon for JCR, with Coutts moving out right giving us more of a 4-4-2.

If that formation was played, however I would expect Done to drop a little bit deeper, making it more of a 4-4-1-1.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Too little respect or too much respect, that is the question Sandy. Playing one up front and 5 in midfield at home is most respectful. Playing steady,safe tempo in the first half of home games is most respectful.

The number of midfielders isn't about respecting other sides it's about controlling possession of the ball.
Arsenal regularly play 5 in midfield and up until recently have been overun by more physical sides. Their 5 didn't mean they were setting up to protect what they had.

5 in midfield doesn't equal defensive, it depends on how they are deployed.

 

[blade too long]

Hey fellow Blades. Jonathan Forte has scored 14 goals to take his club, Oldham Athletic, above us in the league. Four teams are way in front of us vying for automatic promotion. They have: Williams 18 goals, Alli 13, Garner 13, Smith 10,Grigg 9, Agard 7, Cole7, Obike 7,; all contributing goals.

Let's not pretend that our manager knew all along what was needed. He's ballsed it up big time. OK, so we move on and the January spending is most welcome. We buy two full backs, a midfielder and a striker, but what's so great about doing the obvious anyway?

The example of Forte shows the standard of this league. Let's support our manager but don't ever lose sight of our lack of quality strikers for the past 13 months. We hope and pray we do not drag Done down to our standards, no pressure Matty!!. We are one of the most impotent squads in league 1, if not the most impotent, when measured on a salary/ goals scored ratio.!!

no it shows some players fit in at smaller clubs, Billy Sharp only ever scored a lot of goals at Donny us reading saints , barely a goal
Fortes record before his 2nd stint with us was dog shit , if he goes back to a big club be dog shit again

The rebuilding of a side takes time , look at our neighbours , dancing and singing in the streets telling everyone how rich they are now they have Tuna money but are on the crest of a slump

Had we had 11 owned players good enough end of last season as a base Id be on his back , but we didnt

 

[alcoblade]

We've got to give him time. It took Warnock 6 years to put a team together to achieve promotion, he didn't do it overnight. We've changed managers on a regular basis since we came down from the Premisership and it hasn't worked.

Agreed. But getting Sheffield United into the premiership is an order of magnitude of difficulty above getting a club this size out of the third division. There is just no comparison whatsoever.

UTB

 

[Revolution]

The number of midfielders isn't about respecting other sides it's about controlling possession of the ball.
Arsenal regularly play 5 in midfield and up until recently have been overun by more physical sides. Their 5 didn't mean they were setting up to protect what they had.

5 in midfield doesn't equal defensive, it depends on how they are deployed.

But again, these are PL players and some of them are regular scorers from midfield. Plus they have better strikers than we do. It's not a formation for League 1 or where your midfielders can't score or your lone forward gets the crap kicked out of him by 2 centre halves 6 inches taller.

Anyway, no Reed or Scougall (albeit enforced in the case of the latter) is a step in the right direction.

 

[Revolution]

Had we had 11 owned players good enough end of last season as a base Id be on his back

You wouldn't be on his back if he was urinating in your breakfast cereal.

 

[Woodwardfan]

The number of midfielders isn't about respecting other sides it's about controlling possession of the ball.
Arsenal regularly play 5 in midfield and up until recently have been overun by more physical sides. Their 5 didn't mean they were setting up to protect what they had.

5 in midfield doesn't equal defensive, it depends on how they are deployed.

And the "steady safe tempo" in the first half of home games? You disagree with one aspect but surely the combination of the two I mentioned paints a picture. I think so anyawy.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

What I'm disagreeing with is the 4-4-2 is somehow a more attacking formation, not that Clough is a safety first coach.
Formation has very little to do with it, however its become something of a stick to beat him with.
If you want more attacking football, with more players getting ahead of the ball then that's one thing, a formation doesn't give you that by default.

 

[Woodwardfan]

What I'm disagreeing with is the 4-4-2 is somehow a more attacking formation, not that Clough is a safety first coach.
Formation has very little to do with it, however its become something of a stick to beat him with.
If you want more attacking football, with more players getting ahead of the ball then that's one thing, a formation doesn't give you that by default.

Then we agree. Clough is a safety first coach and possibly pays League 1 teams too much respect.

4-5-1 with a high tempo and midfielders surging to press players and busting a gut to get forward as soon as the ball is won, now that's exciting. Not what we get, but exciting.

 

[blade too long]

You wouldn't be on his back if he was urinating in your breakfast cereal.

au contraire , Ive stated if he doesnt get us up hes dead to me, till then Im behind him

 

[SandyMcBlade]

Nigel has been using the same system he used with outstanding success last season ,as far as the cups go it has worked again this season and it's only in the league that it has failed and because of that there has had to be a change in personal.
Some call him dogmatic and claim his style of play and tactics have failed but I disagree I believe it's been more about the ability of players that where brought in and it is in that that he has underestimated the teams in this division..

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Looking at the line up today I'd say it was more defensive than we've seen recently, and yet we got the win.
Well fancy that.

 

[yuley82]

The difference between the way Done played the lone striker role when asked and the way Mcnulty played the same role when he came on was a real eye opener .
There has been quite a lot said by some of the way Nigel has criticized McNulty for not playing this role properly, so I'm just wondering after watching that last night how many of those knockers are willing to admit he was right ?.
I've also heard some wondering why we haven't been playing like that all season? could the answer possibly be that we have but with out the class of Brayford, Coutts, and Doan to make it work ?

Agree, mcnulty is a off the shoulder striker come poacher. Like a poor linekar (excuse the spelling) I say poor cos no where near as good.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

What is interesting is that we can beat the top teams in this division plus premiership clubs in the cups so the players are obviously good enough. Our problems lie when we play weaker teams that dit back, park the bus, the team, or Nigel struggle to break them down, possibly because we play to slowly or we have a lack of plan B. If we get out of this division then what we have is good enough for the top 10 in the Championship.

 

[Bladesman]

What is interesting is that we can beat the top teams in this division plus premiership clubs in the cups so the players are obviously good enough. Our problems lie when we play weaker teams that dit back, park the bus, the team, or Nigel struggle to break them down, possibly because we play to slowly or we have a lack of plan B. If we get out of this division then what we have is good enough for the top 10 in the Championship.

I think with Done in the squad we might start taking our chances more against lesser teams.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

I think with Done in the squad we might start taking our chances more against lesser teams.

I meant to mention the Done effect and he could be the difference in this as well.
I hope Rochdale received enough from us for him as since he joined us they have slipped from play offs to15th!

 

[Bladesman]

I meant to mention the Done effect and he could be the difference in this as well.
I hope Rochdale received enough from us for him as since he joined us they have slipped from play offs to15th!

I think that's more down to how close the teams are together in this league.

Despite their slip ups they are only 5 points off the Play-offs.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

It's the psychological aspect of being so low in the league, pressure builds and the fans are more negative. Imagine this site if we were 15th, even if it was just 5 points off a play off place?

 

[Rudders]

I meant to mention the Done effect and he could be the difference in this as well.
I hope Rochdale received enough from us for him as since he joined us they have slipped from play offs to15th!

It's much more than I originally thought. About £750k.