redrobo wrote:DA is stubborn and will not or can't change his style and belief in how the game should be played.
Little Shrimp wrote:redrobo wrote:DA is stubborn and will not or can't change his style and belief in how the game should be played.
See this is where your argument falls apart.
We know what Derek's preferred style is, we saw it in our promotion season. It's being happy enough to concede possession, and countering on the opposition after poaching it in midfield. And when we do build from the back, be direct and move the ball forward with speed, not afraid of a long ball if necessary. We created the most chances in League Two, and were one of the highest goalscorers. We also conceded a bucket load considering our position.
We've rarely seen that this season. Recently, we've seen much more of the ball than you'd expect but also very little incisiveness or chance creation. Everything we know about Derek tells us that this is not his preferred way to play football.
Yep, he's got some calls wrong, but the struggle this season has been trying to mould a squad into his style, being unable to due to financial restrictions, then trying to find compromises that get the best out of what we have. This isn't about his inherent/preferred style at all.
BerlinWaller wrote:The two upfront solves all our problems arguement is tiresome and if only winning games was that simple. As LS states, if you put two up front you have to lose a man from somewhere else. We aren't good enough at this level to lose a third man out of the midfield and 3 5 2 is easily counter acted. Derek has been far more attacking this season but he has a striker who has all but downed tools and a young midfied trying to get in and around him. Hunter and Taylor have been injured and our brightest hope has been an 18yr old kid. Crowley was a roll of the dice and has probably caused more problems than it solved. We can go on and on but just putting it down to not playing 4 4 f@cking 2 is pretty short sighted and lazy.
Little Shrimp wrote:Perhaps Hunter was instructed to stay forward but got frustrated as the ball wasn't reaching him? Maybe the logic was to have two attacking mids hover in-between the lines but they kept on dropping deeper with the flow of the game? Should Weir, Shaw and Bedeau not have taken a bit more ownership on the ball to progress it to Crowley and Hunter in more dangerous/attacking areas? They've certainly got the ability to do so.
The assumption throughout football is to blame basically everything that happens on the pitch on the manager. But it's rarely that simple, and for all we know Derek had told Crowley and Hunter to hang around closer to Stockton but they got frustrated and dropped deeper as the game progressed.
On two up top, there's an argument that having an extra forward in there can help stretch the defence. On the flip side, it takes away a creative midfielder, and can be a bit predictable (Derek has highlighted this as his issue with two up top, and Robbo said similar about 3-5-2) as you're just hitting two frontmen. Can be comfortable enough for a deep sitting defence to deal with. It's not exactly illogical to think that having your two most creative midfielders buzzing around in the side might be the way to unlock a team.
Keith wrote:But, if the players consistently fail to follow the manager's instructions, game after game, then the manager takes responsibility, in my opinion.
Keith wrote:The real difference of opinion comes down to, I don't think removing a creative midfielder to play two up front, would be a problem, because currently, the midfielders aren't creating in the first place. I've not looked at all the games recently, but when I did recently, it was clear that Love is our most creative player. If there is a website that has them, I suspect that Love has more assists than Gibson, and I'm sure he has more goals.
We may as well have tried a formation that worked at the start of the year, rather than one that has failed throughout. Unfortunately, I think the ship has sailed, because that was needed in the crucial Cambridge, Oxford, FGR & Milton Keynes games. Two up front against the better teams will be much more difficult.
Catte wrote:I see him as a number 10 behind a conventional striker. It is a difficult role and requires arrogance and discipline, sometimes you have to believe your team mates will get the ball back and feed it to you, at the moment I think his youth is against him and he goes searching for the ball, but then he is out of position and should be receiving the ball not supplying. He has the quality but perhaps lacks the belief that the ball will come, in a side that does not have the majority of possession it is easy to slip into go and get mode rather than seek space and wait mode.
Little Shrimp wrote:The point you've missed here though is we're missing the key component from the start of the year, as many have pointed out, in Kieran Phillips! His ability to both stretch defences and drop-in to link up play, as well as dynamic movement in the final third, was massively important. Losing him was an absolute nightmare.
Could Mellon up top with Stockton have been given more of a chance? Or maybe Gnahoua, or Watts? Perhaps, and I would have liked to have seen Derek give it a bit more of a go against Peterborough or Fleetwood, but without Phillips the argument for 3-5-2 is not compelling enough for me to really go against Derek like you have.
Imo our best look since Phillips's departure was against Bolton with Weir back in the 10 spot and Crowley out wide with Love overlapping, and Gibson sitting in midfield. Was a car crash against Cambridge though, although perhaps that was tired legs?
redrobo wrote:Cole has been a huge disappointment...BUT for me an even bigger loss has been Tooms who with loanees in midfield his guidance would have proved invaluable to those around him.
Legs might have gone but his positional sense and an eye for a killer pass could have helped Cole get on the score sheet more as he suffered from the loss of both Tooms and Aaron Wildig.
What do others think....
Andy D wrote:Derek has done miracles with us, i just wished he’d kept Toums, ok his legs were going but he could of just sat in midfield and organised things, he’s was a leader.
jbc.shrimp wrote:Andy D wrote:Derek has done miracles with us, i just wished he’d kept Toums, ok his legs were going but he could of just sat in midfield and organised things, he’s was a leader.
Talking of miracles, there is one more D.A. could perform, show some bloody passion. All through the game today we in the main stand could hear the Argyle manager shouting at his players. What did D.A do, just stand there arms folded. If we are to be relegated at least show you care.
jbc.shrimp wrote:Talking of miracles, there is one more D.A. could perform, show some bloody passion.
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