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people on the light side often pipe up that us “darksiders” never have anything positive to say.
With that in mind I would just like to say that I thought the lads played well on Saturday & deserved at least a point.
For the most part the defence looked solid (even Figueroa), I was very impressed by Lopez, the midfield didn’t get over run & but for one horrendous cock up from a player who has been one of the few to emerge from this season with any credit then they would have got the point/s that their performance deserved – although I’m not sure I agree with the reporter in The People who said that at times our football resembles hat of a top 3 side!!!! :hand:
It was also very interesting to see that they started to cause more problems for the City defence when he brought Sammon on & played 4-4-2. Whether Colonel Roberto Gadaffi took that on board remains to be seenPositive stuff from the ‘dark side’ !
Contrast the People reporter with Neil Ashton of the News of the World
‘they (Wigan) were a dogs dinner of a team offering pitful resisttance’
‘being beaten is the staple diet for anyone involved with Wigan’
‘they are on the fast track to the Championship’ – ‘but this is no way to go out surrendering the moment City took the lead’
‘they (Wigan) were robotic, going through the motions and willing the game to come to a rapid conclusion’
‘what a waste for players like James McCarthy and Hugo Rodallega’
‘Wigan looked dazed and confused after another dreadful performance’
‘they (Wigan) were hopeless and hapless’
‘How that kid (Rodallega) is expected to keep them in the Premier League, isolated alone up front and without any assistance is beyond me’
and there was alot more from him on the same thread – mainly that we need to score goals to stay up and it aint going to happen
Positive stuff from the ‘dark side’ !Contrast the People reporter with Neil Ashton of the News of the World
‘they (Wigan) were a dogs dinner of a team offering pitful resisttance’
‘being beaten is the staple diet for anyone involved with Wigan’
‘they are on the fast track to the Championship’ – ‘but this is no way to go out surrendering the moment City took the lead’
‘they (Wigan) were robotic, going through the motions and willing the game to come to a rapid conclusion’
‘what a waste for players like James McCarthy and Hugo Rodallega’
‘Wigan looked dazed and confused after another dreadful performance’
‘they (Wigan) were hopeless and hapless’
‘How that kid (Rodallega) is expected to keep them in the Premier League, isolated alone up front and without any assistance is beyond me’
and there was alot more from him on the same thread – mainly that we need to score goals to stay up and it aint going to happen
So he’s not that confident for our survival chances, then? :roll:
Quite how Latics surrendered the moment City took the lead when City didn’t have a single effort worthy of the name in the second half whilst latics created several, hit the bar & missed a sitter in the last minute is beyond me!!
That said, he makes a valid point in “‘How that kid (Rodallega) is expected to keep them in the Premier League, isolated alone up front and without any assistance is beyond me'”
As did Chris Waddle when he said during the commentary that Latics play some nice stuff but it doesn’t attempt to get behind the opposition defence often enough & you’ll get nowhere playing in front of the opposition all the time
Rodallega has had a sackful of chances this year, many of which he should have buried. It doesn’t matter whether you stick him up front on his own or have four other strikers up front carrying him around in a rickshaw, if he’s going to blaze gilt-edged chances yards wide or over the bar.
The stats back up the fact that we create many good opportunities. Unfortunately they also back up the fact that our finishing is dire. Blame what you will for that but in a nutshell, that’s why we are where we are.
Whether it will improve if Sammon gets more time on the pitch, we’ll just have to wait and see. He does look capable.
Mind you, he has missed 100% of his chances so far. Ha Ha!!
It was also very interesting to see that they started to cause more problems for the City defence when he brought Sammon on & played 4-4-2. Whether Colonel Roberto Gadaffi took that on board remains to be seen
Took it on board? Surely it was his idea :? ;)I think there’s a difference between playijg 442 for the last 8 minutes of a game we awere arguablty already on top of and playing that way from the start. I’m not sure our midfield is strong enough to keep out teams for 90 minutes with just 4 in there.
But, as I’ve said many times before, I’d like to see us give it a go, just to see.
It was also very interesting to see that they started to cause more problems for the City defence when he brought Sammon on & played 4-4-2. Whether Colonel Roberto Gadaffi took that on board remains to be seen
Took it on board? Surely it was his idea :? ;)
I think there’s a difference between playijg 442 for the last 8 minutes of a game we awere arguablty already on top of and playing that way from the start. I’m not sure our midfield is strong enough to keep out teams for 90 minutes with just 4 in there.
But, as I’ve said many times before, I’d like to see us give it a go, just to see.[/quote]
:text-goodpost: Me too Griff with the position were in what have we got to lose.
It was also very interesting to see that they started to cause more problems for the City defence when he brought Sammon on & played 4-4-2. Whether Colonel Roberto Gadaffi took that on board remains to be seen
Took it on board? Surely it was his idea :? ;)
I think there’s a difference between playijg 442 for the last 8 minutes of a game we awere arguablty already on top of and playing that way from the start. I’m not sure our midfield is strong enough to keep out teams for 90 minutes with just 4 in there.
But, as I’ve said many times before, I’d like to see us give it a go, just to see.[/quote]
Ya sarcy git Griff!!!!
My point being that Bobby has tried it once before to the best of my knowledge in a home game against Spurs last season.
Latics had been struggling & with about 25 minutes to go he changed it to 4-4-2, Latics got on top & just when they looked threatening Bobby made another change, switched it back to 4-5-1, they lost momentum & Spurs scored twice late on. That was the last we saw of 4-4-2
He didn’t seem to take on board the positive impact it had then so i aint sure if he’ll do it againYa sarcy git Griff!!!!He didn’t seem to take on board the positive impact it had then so i aint sure if he’ll do it again
I honestly can’t make my mind up on this one, but…I think he likes the 5 across the middle because it gives us that extra but of security, albeit it can lessen the attacking threat. The 442 has been shown to work in short bursts, but I reckon teams would quickly cope with it if we played it all the time.
Also, do we have two central midfielders that we could rely on to cover all that space especially against teams who are, in the main these days, playing with three in there themselves? We get cut to pieces at times as it is with three central midfielders.
If we want to go two up top, why not play 352? As Hindley Blue says, we don’t have a lot to lose for the rest of the season, do we? Although I haven’t given it a great deal of thought, how about this for a line-up…
Boyce/Caldwell/Alcraraz
Stam/McCarthy/Watson/Cleverley/Figueroa
Moses/Rodallega (or Sammon)… or some variation, thereof
As you say, 8 minutes here and 25 minutes there is not going to tell anyone if either 442 (or 352 for that matter) would work.
It will be good to know that we have a manager capable of changing things around if his preferred option of playing isn’t having much joy & I’m hoping Saturday was an indication that Bobby is coming round to that
With any luck he’ll also start to see that it possibly needs to be done slightly earlier than the 82nd minute
Not sure if 3-5-2 would work. When I’ve seen it played it invariably leads to having 3 centre halves playing too narrowly & teams able to exploit the gaps on the wings or (especially if its played with 2 full backs on the wings) becomes too defensive & offers little going forward – if I recall rightly Bobby tried it against Newcastle & pardew responded by chucking a winger on as latics were leaving huge amounts of space down either flank. If Newcastle hadn’t been almost as bad as Latics that day I think we’d have got slaughtered
I do not like a 5 man midfield one bit, imho it stifles the attack and invites a more positive team onto the offensive. I prefer the tried and trusted 2 banks of 4 with 2 up top. No matter how many you pack the midfield out with it only takes one intelligent through ball or even a huge punt over the top and the wing backs are out of position. I also think 4-4-2 gives you the whole width of the pitch from front to back whereas a middle 5 can leave the 3 centre backs stretched if the ball comes over the top. The wing back position in a 3-5-2 formation is a real specialist role and i dont think there are too many class acts at lesser clubs like ourselves unfortunately. I honestly believe that clubs like us who cannot afford the better players who can play these demanding roles and adapt to the varied formations are better playing the way we always used to and keep it simple. We need now to play in our opponents half and not our own and that means the ball needs to stick when it reaches our forwards so if we are going down then lets go out having a real go. Im no manager these are just my thoughts the way ive always enjoyed watching football.
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