When Gray is back would rather see us play a 3-4-3 with Gray through the middle and JP and Sarr either side of him. Can't have Chalobah in there though, not athletic or quick enough. Hughes and Garner would be my shout with Sema on the left and Ngakia on the right. Can always change it to 3-5-2 with Sema in the middle and Sarr or JP on the left. Hughes and Gray coming back for Derby would be a big boost.
I agree and I don’t think he’ll be here, but I don’t think it’s as clear cut as some of the other want-aways. At his age with three years left on his contract, he won’t be that devastated if he doesn’t end up moving.
I would love us to be able to build the side around our greatest asset- which is Sarr. Until we can do that, the out of position players and formations will be the same. What I do like, is the effort of the players overall so far this season. Today aside, we have generally been positive. Now we have lost our first league game, it will be interesting to see how much of that early positivity remains at Rooney World in two weeks time.
I see lots of calls on here and social media to play 433 so we use Sarr correctly. We tried that last year and it failed. We need a complete striker for a 433 and we don't have one, the last time we did was Marlon King. JP might turn out to be one but isn't yet. Deeney isn't, neither is Gray, Perica or Murray. Most of our strikers work best in a pair - Deeney, Gray, Perica and that means 442 (be it diamond, flat, 4222) or 352. Pedro and Sarr are the wrong combination, Pedro's lack of experience means he drops too deep and Sarr ends up having to effectively be the #9 which isn't his game. We created 4 good goal scoring opportunities today and because we don't have a #9 we fluffed every one. We need to pair Sarr with Deeney or Perica and use Pedro and Gray off the bench. When they are all fit.
Sarr isn’t a striker though. Seems odd to say we shouldn’t play our best player in his best position because we don’t have a striker so we should therefore play our best player out of position instead?
As Pep said tonight “it’s like perfume. When you win, you smell so good. When you don’t, you smell so bad”.
I have a feeling Vlad may try a 4-3-3 (however the amount of CBs we have now I think 3-5-2 is here to stay) - However a 3 of Pedro - Gray (who Vlad seems to rate a lot - I'll keep quiet and give him a chance) and Sarr might give the movement and attacking force we need, but then relies on Gray rolling back the years to put it away. I actually think the issue today was the midfield 3 were too deep. TDB was getting forward well before he was injured, and Ken did well, however is different. Against the Scummer Clevs did really well playing in the channels and we played a good mix of play through the middle and out wide. With no one getting into the channels in the 2nd half, the only attacking avenue was out wide, and without a Big guy up top the floating crosses were constantly wasted. If 3 at the back is staying, I'd like to see us use a CAM and 2 CMs. I think when a striker is fit/available Pedro could drop in behind a front 2 - Has some good flicks and can create. Sarr isn't a striker yet, I do think in type, and with the right style he could really fit into that role, but that won't happen overnight.
Ivic got it wrong today Sarr was awful Chalobah is too slow to release the ball First half we were not bad. Second half we ran out of ideas. strangely not bothered though The fact I can’t go has made football meh to me
We need a midfielder regardless. Let's be honest. It's the one area of the squad that is sorely lacking v previous promotion sides.
Deeney wasn't far off the complete forward 6 years ago. Either was Iggy. Both were a threat in behind and in the air. Both could take players on an score. We don't even have anyone of the level anymore. If we play a lone-striker we need midfielders to support them. Quina should have been doing this. Cleverly is capable. Who else is there? Maybe drop Deeney in an AM role, behind Pedro or Perica? Not sure he's mobile enough for it tbh.
Yeah agree with this. TDB was actually doing the high energy, driving role pretty well today until he was injured though. Unfortunately we haven't really got anyone else capable of doing it to a good level, unless perhaps one counts Sema if we put him there.
Agree with your assessment. Amusing that you are meh about football when we lose but still get pretty engaged when I give Pozzo both barrels
So Sarr does his stuff on the wing and puts in a dozen crosses a game, and its all wasted because and we don't have a #9 there to put them away? It's more important that the team functions cohesively.
Just seen the goal again. Poor play to start with by Chalobah. Too much time on the ball and gave it away easily.
He does that a lot. He used to be able to play in tight areas, in fact he was excellent at that in his younger days. He drew players in then managed to escape them with quick feet. Now he holds on to the ball too long, drawing players in but seems unware they are closing him down and gets caught out. He's not a patch on the player we had when he was a teenager. It's really sad to see.
You realise that you can play different ways using the same formation right? 4-3-3 isn’t just standard and that’s it - you can narrow the two wider options, you can play them slightly withdrawn of the No.9, you can instruct the striker to stand on their last man (something Deeney failed to do at all)...you can adapt what we did last season in a number of ways to make it more successful. Not to mention we are playing weaker opponents every week. I think Sarr and Pedro either side of a striker but playing narrower than last season, with LB and Ngakia providing more width than the FB’s last season would see a marked improvement personally.
Chalobah was good off the ball today snapping into tackles but on the ball squandered it a lot of the time. Garner didn't try to control the game enough with his passing while TDB was helped balance the other two before his injury which affected the team. 1st half we should have scored 3 or 4 goals but then 2nd half we were flat.
So far Garner is basically poo. Doesn't affect the game at all. Lightweight, passes sideways and that's about it other than a potentially being a decent free kick taker. Our midfield creates nothing for our out of position, average strikers to even attempt to score from. Garner, Chalobah and Cleverley as our main three in midfield is absolutely rancid. I said all along that our players wouldn't suddenly go from utter toilet in the Premier League to great at this level, and so far that's proving true. Chalobah, Cleverley, Femenia, all looking average at absolute best a division lower. Cathcart reverted to type today, too.
Yeah I don’t get this idea people have that certain formations are so rigid and certain players can’t play in them or be utilised in the best way. Sarr basically needs to play on the right side of the pitch and not as striker, but he can do that in a number of formations. Our issue at the moment is basically not having a striker, but the formation, whether it be 4-3-3 or 3-5-2, will see us struggle to put the ball in the net without someone to do it.
I tend to agree with most of that, but Cleverly has been good at this level so far, just like he was all those years ago when we last had him in the championship.
Still just feel like Cleverley is such a nothing player. Good for pressing and that's about it. Very little quality on the ball. Whatever way we look at individuals, the collective does not look anywhere near good enough.
There have been plenty of midfield players over the years that people haven’t really appreciated because they’re not creative flair players. Players like Gareth Barry, Henderson, Milner, etc. I’m not comparing him to them but hopefully you know what I mean. It’s not really Cleverly's fault that we don’t have the creative flair players elsewhere in the midfield to do that part of things, but it doesn’t mean he can’t do a good job in there.
I was just reading that doucoure put in another stellar performance for Everton. But of course most of our learned fans were glad to see the back of him.
By strange coincidence, he's now worth £40m. If only we had kept him for a few weeks longer....we could have doubled our money.
Doesn’t really change the fact that he was crap for us for 18 months, difficult to value players on what they do in the future unless you have a time machine.