Tactics Formations & Team Selections Etc

[Paplane]

I'm just not convinced by O'Brien. He looks neat and tidy but he's ineffective That may be because theres nothing happening around him but he needed to take the ball today and spray some decent passes around. He didnt do it.

[Georgecloney]

If we persist with the same formation we will concede possession in the middle of the pitch. We take the risk of getting overrun in there and the three central defenders under consistent pressure. The two wing backs get deeper and deeper and we have no outlet other than knocking the ball long. Playing like that we will more than ever need a centre forward who can hold the ball up. The best we have seen in recent years at the City Ground in doing that is Davis. I reckon bringing him back must be a priority.

[wassy04]

If we persist with the same formation we will concede possession in the middle of the pitch. We take the risk of getting overrun in there and the three central defenders under consistent pressure. The two wing backs get deeper and deeper and we have no outlet other than knocking the ball long. Playing like that we will more than ever need a centre forward who can hold the ball up. The best we have seen in recent years at the City Ground in doing that is Davis. I reckon bringing him back must be a priority.

A formation change is another option. Particularly if we can land MGW

[Paplane]

If we persist with the same formation we will concede possession in the middle of the pitch. We take the risk of getting overrun in there and the three central defenders under consistent pressure. The two wing backs get deeper and deeper and we have no outlet other than knocking the ball long. Playing like that we will more than ever need a centre forward who can hold the ball up. The best we have seen in recent years at the City Ground in doing that is Davis. I reckon bringing him back must be a priority.

Listen to George. He knows.

[Georgecloney]

If we persist with the same formation we will concede possession in the middle of the pitch. We take the risk of getting overrun in there and the three central defenders under consistent pressure. The two wing backs get deeper and deeper and we have no outlet other than knocking the ball long. Playing like that we will more than ever need a centre forward who can hold the ball up. The best we have seen in recent years at the City Ground in doing that is Davis. I reckon bringing him back must be a priority.

Listen to George. He knows.

Even last season we played much better with Davis in the team even if he is not a prolific goal scorer and only played for about one hour. His ability to make the ball stick gets us up the pitch and if nothing else gives the back three some respite. It was a tough day for them three yesterday.

[Sausage Roll]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

[Paplane]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

We managed to nurse him through for the majority of his half season last season.

[wassy04]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

We managed to nurse him through for the majority of his half season last season.

Plus we still have Surridge and Awoniyi too

[Madforit]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

We managed to nurse him through for the majority of his half season last season.

Plus we still have Surridge and Awoniyi too

No good if they aren't getting the ammunition to be able to stick the ball in the back of the net, our midfield is the problem.

[RyanR]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

We managed to nurse him through for the majority of his half season last season.

Plus we still have Surridge and Awoniyi too

No good if they aren't getting the ammunition to be able to stick the ball in the back of the net, our midfield is the problem.

Definitely. Colback and O’Brien were camped on the edge of our box. Colback did a great job filling in a LWB last year, but I was unconvinced about him as a Championship midfielder, let alone a Premier League one. O’Brien looked decent at carrying the ball forwards, but then had no options. Mangala made some good forward passes in his short cameo. We need players who can progress the ball and be incisive to get service to the front 2.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

We managed to nurse him through for the majority of his half season last season.

Plus we still have Surridge and Awoniyi too

No good if they aren't getting the ammunition to be able to stick the ball in the back of the net, our midfield is the problem.

Definitely. Colback and O’Brien were camped on the edge of our box. Colback did a great job filling in a LWB last year, but I was unconvinced about him as a Championship midfielder, let alone a Premier League one. O’Brien looked decent at carrying the ball forwards, but then had no options. Mangala made some good forward passes in his short cameo. We need players who can progress the ball and be incisive to get service to the front 2.

Whilst I agree the midfield was overrun yesterday, progressing the ball through midfield wasnt our strength last year. What we did is recover the ball and look to hit the front 3 as quick as possible with support from the wing backs.
We seem to have lost that pace and zip to me.

[optimistic_red]

It's not so much the goalscoring record that's my concern with Davis, it's the injury record. He's no use to us if he's constantly on the treatment table.

We managed to nurse him through for the majority of his half season last season.

Plus we still have Surridge and Awoniyi too

No good if they aren't getting the ammunition to be able to stick the ball in the back of the net, our midfield is the problem.

Definitely. Colback and O’Brien were camped on the edge of our box. Colback did a great job filling in a LWB last year, but I was unconvinced about him as a Championship midfielder, let alone a Premier League one. O’Brien looked decent at carrying the ball forwards, but then had no options. Mangala made some good forward passes in his short cameo. We need players who can progress the ball and be incisive to get service to the front 2.

O'Brien's tackled St Maximin carried and played our best pass of the game to setup Lingard's shot.
He's played 1 game with a bunch of strangers, i will reserve judgement on all new players for a few more games.

I do agree midfield is key. 

And we need an outlet.
Yesterday Lingard and Johnson were not really defending as they were ready to counter attack but we couldnt get the ball to them.