Two wide players vs lopsided midfield

[severnside gull]

I don't take much significance to these stats. A shot when you have little or no chance of scoring is just giving the ball to the opposition.

Ha ha! Ok. Check out the GF column, especially away from home and then look at GD and tell me hand on heart we don't need to improve to compete. If you think we can get into a play-off place maintaining the same goal ratios as currently then fine but I'm pretty sure it would see us still in the Championship next season. Up the scoring rate whilst maintaining the same reasonably tight defence on the other hand........................

 

[perseus]

Ha ha! Ok. Check out the GF column, especially away from home and then look at GD and tell me hand on heart we don't need to improve to compete. If you think we can get into a play-off place maintaining the same goal ratios as currently then fine but I'm pretty sure it would see us still in the Championship next season. Up the scoring rate whilst maintaining the same reasonably tight defence on the other hand........................

Room for improvement. Lots of room.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I was discussing this with the might [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] the other day. I think Gus might give 4-4-2 with wingers another go once he's happy that our full-backs are good enough to not require additional defensive support. At the moment, they are our weak link, and as a results the midfielders are having to cover back. Once that's sorted (Reyes and Mattock) and potentially we strengthen our midfeild with the 2 guys from Man City, then Gus will have the confidence in the whole team to play 2 wingers.

this, more or less. IIRC Barnes started playing the deep wide role when Painter got injured, the left side has been a patch-up job ever since then.

 

[BHseagull]

Does noone else think we play lopsided because Gus feels he needs extra protection for Bridcutt? Always another defence minded central midfielder playing with him; Navarro usually or the likes of Dicker, Sparrow or JFC dropping back. LB is one of our best players bit I think Gus is unsure about playing him without help.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Does noone else think we play lopsided because Gus feels he needs extra protection for Bridcutt? Always another defence minded central midfielder playing with him; Navarro usually or the likes of Dicker, Sparrow or JFC dropping back. LB is one of our best players bit I think Gus is unsure about playing him without help.

could well be, a bit like the way a quarterback gets protection in front of him.

 

[Biscuit]

Ha ha! Ok. Check out the GF column, especially away from home and then look at GD and tell me hand on heart we don't need to improve to compete. If you think we can get into a play-off place maintaining the same goal ratios as currently then fine but I'm pretty sure it would see us still in the Championship next season. Up the scoring rate whilst maintaining the same reasonably tight defence on the other hand........................

...but what you're basically saying is we need to score more and conceed less?

Gus has the balance right, I'm sure of it.

 

[drew]

Because we really don't score enough goals to get near to a promotion place.

0-0's can too easily become 0-1's and 1-0's can too easily become 1-1's ....... points dropped because we are not consistent in creating chances let alone taking them. To get into the play-offs we have to be more creative and set up to win games more comprehensively. We have to try to win games comfortably enough to avoid the risk of dropped points and in order to enhance our goal difference which, in the final mix in a very tight league, is likely to be crucial.

Arsenal won championships and cups winningn 1-0!!

As for stats, look at our last eight games. There is only one where we had a lead and ended up drawing. Of the eight, we have won 5 and drawn 3 (two of which were in the same FA cup tie). Excluding the cup (because GD is irrelevant as you only need to score 1 more than the opposition), we have conceded only two goals. The set up is working because there is a balance between defence and attack. What your advocating is to concerntrate on more attack which will only compromise the defence. As for being concerned about not seeing Lua Lua and Noone together again well the simple reason is that Noone is third choice, possibly even 4th if you play Vicente in a wider role. At the moment, the weak links in the team are Navarro and CMS. CMS could be ok if he could control the ball and put away a few of the limited number of chances he gets and his confidence returns. I am not one who thinks running around a lot makes you a skillful and valuable player. Navarro is probably at the limit of his playing level and let's be honest, JFC will eventually slot into that position anyway.

 

[Diego Napier]

From this point in the difference between doing a Norwich or being another Millwall from last season or a Cardiff is a pretty fine line but it won't be just down to points. Look at our GD and we are already disadvantaged.

I really believe we could get a play-off place but we need to turn 1-1's into 2-1's and 1-0's into 2-0's or better to have a realistic chance.
If you look at the stats we have less attempts on goal than any other side but a relatively high conversion of shots on target to goals. Create more chances and you have to believe we will score more goals and if we do that we could very well be in the mix.

I understand and agree with you; I suppose my heart is telling me one thing and gets me excited but, being realistic, my head tells me that another season in the Championship would be far better for us in the long run...........

 

[BHseagull]

could well be, a bit like the way a quarterback gets protection in front of him.

Yeah exactly. Not sure whether it is down to Gus protecting Bridcutt OR Gus feeling that Bricutt has too much work to do due to current/previous defensive weaknesses and feels he needs help. Either way, it looks as though he cannot play Bridcutt without defense-minded help in midfield.

In my opinion Bridcutt is more than capable of doing the defensive midfield job without too much help, but the defence has been relying too heavily on him. This may have been sorted due to our strengthening in the full back positions this window. I see this as a key reason for the lop-sided midfield & believe we will soon see similar to the following:

Brezovan

Calderon (Reyes) . Dunk . Greer . Mattock

Bridcutt

Sparrow (Reyes/Dicker)

Buckley . Vicente . Lua Lua (Noone)

CMS (Vokes)​

This could the move easily to a 4-4-2 diamond with an attack minded midfielder making way for Vokes:

Brezovan

Calderon . Dunk . Greer . Mattock

Bridcutt

Buckley . Sparrow . Noone

CMS . Vokes​

Both are much more balanced & play to our strengths.

 

[perseus]

No one on the Wing ?

this, more or less. IIRC Barnes started playing the deep wide role when Painter got injured, the left side has been a patch-up job ever since then.

I agree that since Painter has been injured the left side has been the weakest point in our strong defence (notably against Newcastle). I have put this down to the absence of Noone (cutting out the supply to that side, and his absence allowing Simpson to come forward in the first half).

I think the lob-sided attack?midfield is an integral result of the one winger (at a time) classic 4-3-3. And it is not bad, rather it is good. It is not Barcelona tippy-tappy though.