FIVE at the back the ONLY way forward for this squad...

Nobby_Barnes

Nobby_Barnes

Well-known member
It's the only way forward for the manager with the players he has available...it's obvious for me !!!

He has to play Moukoudi, Fry and Friend at the back. Shotton comes in if one of those is out.

Howson should never play right back again. He's our best midfielder so plays there.

If Spence is out then Shotton plays right wing back, he did well there under Pulis.

Coulson at left wing back, if not then Johnson comes in.

Clayton plays in every game alongside Howson and McNair

Roberts plays just off Fletcher

That's it, 532 and play that for the last few games, solid, hard to beat, try and nick a goal

You can rotate the front 2 with Tav and Britt if required...subs etc

EASY
 
I agree on formation, but we don't need Clayton with three centre halves. We need to be on the front foot enough to score. I doubt we'll clean sheet our way to safety so we'll need to out score teams. Howson and Saville for me, Roberts in a free role behind Britt & Fletcher.

Practice set pieces till their toes and foreheads bleed.
 
Hasnt Clayton played in 7 of our 10 wins or something, it's no coincidence.

He was the best defensive midfielder in the league according to Karanka.

Sorry, but he simply has to play, we are shipping goals....we have to start with a solid base and Clayton provides that !!!
 
tend to agree. As negative as it may be we need to close up doors and try to score on the break
 
We can't keep clean sheets and we struggle to score goals. 🤣
It will be fine chaps! I actually agree with the formation mind.. just let Spence and coulson off the leash otherwise we won't ever get a scoring chance.
It's about application as much as formation though, get stuck in from the off like we did against Stoke and lead from the front. The players are good enough if they put the shift in.
 
Nobby_Barnes said:
Hasnt Clayton played in 7 of our 10 wins or something, it's no coincidence.

He was the best defensive midfielder in the league according to Karanka.

Sorry, but he simply has to play, we are shipping goals....we have to start with a solid base and Clayton provides that !!!
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree. He's had a couple of poor games this season and seems to be the new boo boy after Downing left.
There is a reason why him and Leadbitter were one of the better midfield partnerships we've had over the years.
 
I pretty much agree. The problem with our defence is we can't stop crosses coming in and we can't defend against crosses. Easiest thing to do in that situation is put numbers in the box. If you can't defend well, defend in numbers.
I think howsons a good right back though. Probably the best crossed in the team. But that's Spence's position and him and Coulson appear in pretty much every winning line up since woody first picked em. I would play howson where he is needed most. Panic at the back - stick howson there. Losing the midfield - play howson there. Hell he'd probably be better up front than our strikers too.
 
Said on 2 other threads, one keeper, 10 defenders, let's try & gain 5 points which will, IMHO, keep us out of the bottom 3
 
We don't have strikers who will upset defenders, be in their faces, or bully them
We certainly don't have strikers who will outscore other teams & the midfield is even worse, no the only option available is defend, defend, defend, 11 men behind the ball
 
Nobby_Barnes said:
Hasnt Clayton played in 7 of our 10 wins or something, it's no coincidence.

He was the best defensive midfielder in the league according to Karanka.

Sorry, but he simply has to play, we are shipping goals....we have to start with a solid base and Clayton provides that !!!
Click to expand...

Clayton made a massive difference when he came back into the side just before the break, and we had a few improved performances. He was poor against Swansea but I think it's unfair to be too harsh on him, as the entire team was poor that day. It was a shockingly bad team selection by Woodgate.
 
Post Aitor Clayton is inconsistent, but if you get his head right he is still a cracking player. Just make sure you've got a few runners in the midfield with him.
 
5-3-2 doesn;t really work for me because you just have overloads in wide areas , teams will just attack us down the wings, QPR spend pretty much the whole game attacking us wide 2 vs 1, their full backs played quite high and they double up on us on the wings, 3 centre backs agree, but with 2 wide forwards, roberts and fletcher off the left marking the full backs/wing backs off the ball, granted, that will leave us only 2 central midfielders but they can just sit and we can attack down both wings , 5 players largely defending in the central area of the pitch is enough, you don't need 3 centre backs and 3 centre mids, it's just overkill
 
Thing is, even when other teams are half bothered, thinking they're on the beach etc they're still too good for us, we try different options & they're not working, change to 1-10-0
 
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