We haven't got the personnel to play the way we do

E

equaliser

Well-known member
The football vogue is to try and dare the opposition to press you so you can break their lines and attack. Fine. But you have to have the players with the technical aptitude to be in the 'credit' column in terms of the risk/reward. We aren't. We have too many technically suspect players in defence and midfield. Ultimately, what works on the training pitch only translates to matchdays when you have a fair wind, when your tails are up. When injuries bite, when form dips, you CANNOT keep trying to dig out a result playing kamikaze football. You have to make yourselves hard to beat, earn the right to play.

The problem was that after selling Rodgers and Crooks (AFTER Jones got injured), we took away most of the genuine goal threat we had. There's no point being slick between the lines if you're never gonna score. Right now, we concede - and we always will - then you know we are going to lose. We don't look as if we're going to score.

It worries me that Carrick is wedded to his style and basically doesn't have the quality available to him to arrest the decline. I don't want him sacked - even if we go down - but it's so blatantly obvious we're going to lose when we go behind. Selling Crooks on top of Rodgers was a major error, and we're in trouble.
 
We all know and have for some time and yet we still do it.

Chelsea was humiliating and yet we learned nothing.
 
Carrick can put a team out with tactics to beat....
Chelsea
Leicester home and away
And narrowly lose to Aston Villa

Yet.... He can't put a team out to tactically beat....
Rotherham home or away
Sheffield Wednesday
Stoke City home or away

In five matches against the bottom three, we have won none!

The key is the system - he changed the tactics and set up against the good teams and we competed. When he reverted back against Chelsea away, we were hammered. The simple truth is - this group of players are both good enough to play the way he wants them to play. So he needs to change his he sets the team up.... The clues are there.... Which is more concerning that he chooses to opt for the tried and tested failure model. Just bizarre!
 
It's alright saying go 5 at the back but what if Norwich come to frustrate us like other teams have done? We both sit back and look at each other? As the home team there has to be some onus on us to dictate the game.
 
BoroPhil said:
It's alright saying go 5 at the back but what if Norwich come to frustrate us like other teams have done? We both sit back and look at each other? As the home team there has to be some onus on us to dictate the game.
Click to expand...
Not when your 6 points away from relegation and dropping like a stone

I'd take a 0-0 right now

Norwich are fighting for a play off place, they are hardly going to sit back...
 
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It's funny how everyone can see it. Yet we keep persisting with it. I'm presuming the 'tactic' is keep playing it until we win a game 😔

We can't be that limited or not flexible enough to try another way.

I would like to see us go 5 at the back. 3 CBs to try and shore up that leaky defence. Although I'd argue it's not the defence that's the issue. It's the none existent midfield that teams stroll through.

You could have Mcnair as the 3rd CB. He's also more than comfortable in possession to step into midfield whist bringing the ball out from the back.

I don't think adding an extra CB will detract from our offensive play. We didn't have any. So the very least we should be aiming for is a clean sheet. You don't lose and increases the chances of nicking a game 1-0
 
Dieng playing out to Clarke yesterday was just suicidal. None of our defenders are quality footballers on the ball, they are slow and ponderous with poor skills to effect this strategy properly. It's Carrick's way of playing, and great for the likes of Liverpool and Man City who have that calibre of player, but we do not at Boro.

#UTB
 
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