| Have teams just found a way to play against us? 10:16 - Aug 13 with 522 views | Axeldalai_lama |
My only real worry is that we don't seem to have a huge a cutting answer as a team to being pressed with intensity, harried, harassed etc, and it's happening more and more.
Our squad will come good and we should have huge quality throughout, so I'm not wetting the bed like some. But I do think that a year in the prem being physically battered and pressed, and now a few games at the start of this suggests we need to find something else in the locker to switch it up and get on the front foot again. |  | | |  |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:20 - Aug 13 with 486 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
We just dont have the players to live with that right now.
A midfield with Azor and Cajuste should be more than capable of beating a press. A 3 behind the striker of Jaden Szmodics and Omari or an Omari type would.
What we have right now. Taylor Ogbene Clarke none of those players to me suit this system and I'm fairly sure will be replaced. Its very frustrating but we just have to be patient. |  |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:21 - Aug 13 with 468 views | pointofblue |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:20 - Aug 13 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
We just dont have the players to live with that right now.
A midfield with Azor and Cajuste should be more than capable of beating a press. A 3 behind the striker of Jaden Szmodics and Omari or an Omari type would.
What we have right now. Taylor Ogbene Clarke none of those players to me suit this system and I'm fairly sure will be replaced. Its very frustrating but we just have to be patient. |
Worrying considering considering Ogbene and Clarke were both signed last summer, so surely they would be expected to fit the way we play? Same with Taylor from the summer before. |  |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:22 - Aug 13 with 464 views | blueoutlook |
I think the problem is and was last season that we bought the so called best talent in the championship without any thought as to if they fit a McKenna team. Clarke didn’t play the role at Sunderland he is being asked to play here and looks totally lost. Sammy didn’t play the role at Blackburn he is asked to play here and won’t be prolific in front of goal. Philogene looks like he will break every time someone tackles him. We are too lightweight. We miss Morsy badly. Still can’t believe both him and Mass were allowed to walk away. I just don’t get the thinking there at all. We look like we are thrown together and hoping something sticks. |  | | |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:25 - Aug 13 with 429 views | londonben |
The way to get around high press is to draw them in and then pass it around them, exploiting the space behind the high press when they overcommit. Happened to us a lot last year, which is why we ended up sitting deeper and deeper as the season went on. The issue I think we have at the moment is that our midfield is unsettled, and our attacking players are lacking confidence after last season. This makes it difficult for them to execute the quick pass and movement needed to break a high press, which means we’re having to resort to lumping it long too often.
I think this will improve as the team beds in and we gain more confidence, but we really do need to get some wins under our belt to build that confidence. Birmingham and Southampton first up couldn’t really have been worse, but we nicked a good point last week and hopefully we can get something going against Southampton. I really do think that once we get some confidence and a settled side we will tear the division apart, but it’s how long it might take to get that going that worries me. | | | |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:25 - Aug 13 with 413 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:21 - Aug 13 by pointofblue |
Worrying considering considering Ogbene and Clarke were both signed last summer, so surely they would be expected to fit the way we play? Same with Taylor from the summer before. |
I mean Ogbene was a great fit for the Burns role but think we have changed the style a bit since then. We certainly expect to have more of the ball this season and he is a poor fit for a possession side. Sort of player who needs the ball in a lot of space. Works much better with Chaplin who always looks for the ball in behind than Szmodics.
Taylor is just a strange one, he was a box crashing advanced midfielder for P'Boro who has been asked to play as an 8 or a 6, and he just does not have the skillset for that. Wonder why he chased him for so long.
Jack Clarke is a chalk on the boots winger playing on the same side as a chalk on the boots left back. But I still want to believe in him because he is a very talented lad. | |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:27 - Aug 13 with 396 views | Vic |
I think there's truth in what your saying. The other thing that was noticeable last night was the almost total lack of short out ball from keeper to the defensive midfielder. It was the same on Friday, but last night we had Humph and Barbs in the middle and they just don't yet have that sort of play in thier locker. We very, very much miss Morsy right now.
What I've noticed in these first 2 games is two things - a distinct lack of confidence in the players, which I suspect is a) largely a result of getting battered week in, week out last season, & b) expectation to do well. There are no smiles on the players faces - almost fear and then resigned tracking back when they've lost the ball. The other thing, in my opinion, us that we don;t look like a team so far, but rather a collection of players.
McKenna has got his work cut out and will have to earn his corn. I honestly think he will do it, but it will help him if we supporters can be patient with him and the players while he does. I was really shocked at the meltdown on here (especially the chatroom where the criticism was relentless) last night. |  |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:28 - Aug 13 with 379 views | pointofblue |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:22 - Aug 13 by blueoutlook |
I think the problem is and was last season that we bought the so called best talent in the championship without any thought as to if they fit a McKenna team. Clarke didn’t play the role at Sunderland he is being asked to play here and looks totally lost. Sammy didn’t play the role at Blackburn he is asked to play here and won’t be prolific in front of goal. Philogene looks like he will break every time someone tackles him. We are too lightweight. We miss Morsy badly. Still can’t believe both him and Mass were allowed to walk away. I just don’t get the thinking there at all. We look like we are thrown together and hoping something sticks. |
Exactly this. The players who have been replaced are maybe not, individually, of the same quality as the new players but they gelled as a team, understood their roles and bought into the style of play. Hladky was comfortable with the ball at his feet. He fed Woolfenden who was patient on the ball, was happy to have pressure applied and move the ball on. Morsy would then drive forward. Tuanzebe and Burns/Hutchinson on the right and Davis and Broadhead linked up well and understood each other's duties so complemented each other, with Hutchinson/Chaplin haranguing in the number ten role. Hirst understood where the three tens would be, and the tens knew where Hirst would be. Our patterns of play were defined, and the players acted as a unit.
In the pursuit of improvement all that has ito be learned again. But do we have the players with the skillset to do it? | |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:31 - Aug 13 with 346 views | Vic |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:22 - Aug 13 by blueoutlook |
I think the problem is and was last season that we bought the so called best talent in the championship without any thought as to if they fit a McKenna team. Clarke didn’t play the role at Sunderland he is being asked to play here and looks totally lost. Sammy didn’t play the role at Blackburn he is asked to play here and won’t be prolific in front of goal. Philogene looks like he will break every time someone tackles him. We are too lightweight. We miss Morsy badly. Still can’t believe both him and Mass were allowed to walk away. I just don’t get the thinking there at all. We look like we are thrown together and hoping something sticks. |
You really think McKenna, a student of the game, didn't give that any thought? I can't buy that. But I do think he bought them on the basis that he thought they had enough ability to be able to adapt to his system. So far they haven't - he must privately be v disappointed, and probably a bit annoyed. He certainly didn't seem happy last night - camera caught him shaking his head on at least one occasion. That's not the KM we've come to know. | |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:31 - Aug 13 with 350 views | GlasgowBlue |
Considering we are no longer capable of playing that free flowing football starting from the keeper that we had with Hladky, I's say no. |  |
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| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:32 - Aug 13 with 330 views | Vic |
| Have teams just found a way to play against us? on 10:25 - Aug 13 by londonben |
The way to get around high press is to draw them in and then pass it around them, exploiting the space behind the high press when they overcommit. Happened to us a lot last year, which is why we ended up sitting deeper and deeper as the season went on. The issue I think we have at the moment is that our midfield is unsettled, and our attacking players are lacking confidence after last season. This makes it difficult for them to execute the quick pass and movement needed to break a high press, which means we’re having to resort to lumping it long too often.
I think this will improve as the team beds in and we gain more confidence, but we really do need to get some wins under our belt to build that confidence. Birmingham and Southampton first up couldn’t really have been worse, but we nicked a good point last week and hopefully we can get something going against Southampton. I really do think that once we get some confidence and a settled side we will tear the division apart, but it’s how long it might take to get that going that worries me. |
Absolutely! | |
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