Woodgate tactically inept today

parmoboy

Well-known member
His decision to start Nmecha ahead of Morrison was bad enough, but his substitutions were appalling.

Going with 4 strikers in the 2nd half and hoping for the best was straight out of the Footy Manager handbook.

Britt clearly doesn't want to be here, so surely it would have made more sense to bring on Morrison, who no doubt is hungry and desperate to make an impression.
 
Just play Fletcher up on his own and have plenty of supporting players buzzing around like Tav and Morrison and Wing.
That's what was working around Christmas, we have now sacrificed our attacking midfielders for poor forwards (Britt/Nmecha) and/or defensive midfielders (McNair)
 
The correct substitutions were plain to see. I cannot for the life of me understand how he though 4 up top was the way to go. We had no midfield creativity at all. Nmecha should have been taken off for Britt and then either Tav or Morrison on for another. Push Spence further up on the wing etc etc.

Ive been worried about Woodgates lack of tactical knowledge since he was appointed but this was downright scary.
 
The correct substitutions were plain to see. I cannot for the life of me understand how he though 4 up top was the way to go. We had no midfield creativity at all. Nmecha should have been taken off for Britt and then either Tav or Morrison on for another. Push Spence further up on the wing etc etc.

Ive been worried about Woodgates lack of tactical knowledge since he was appointed but this was downright scary.

Agreed, the obvious subs to make were Britt and Morrison for McNair and Nmecha, who were both having dreadful games, yet somehow finished the game.

He could have then gone with a midfield 2 of Wing and Saville, and Morrison playing in the hole behind Britt and Fletcher.

He could have made those changes around the 60 minute mark, and if it got to 75 minutes and it wasn't working, he could have brought Tav on for Friend, switched to a back 4 and had Morrison and Tav on the wings.

So many different things he could have tried today.
 
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Agree.

Taking Spence and Saville off for Gestede and Britt yet leaving McNair and Nmecha on was incredible.

Some very strange decisions by Woody today.
 
Spence was awful today, as was Saville. The former was woeful when it came to attacking the last man, the latter dropped far too deep, no need for it with so many defenders.

Having said that, they were no worse than most of the side today. The midfield three, like the front two, were abysmal.
 
As pointed out by a poster previously. Our only run of form came when we had bare bones. Now we have loans and players back tactics are all over the place again
 
Agree.

Taking Spence and Saville off for Gestede and Britt yet leaving McNair and Nmecha on was incredible.

Some very strange decisions by Woody today.
Hard to believe McNair was our standout player earlier in the season. Seems to have lost energy and confidence
 
Normally you can single out the players after a poor display like that but yesterday was all about the coaching staff for me. The substitutions were baffling, the tactics made no sense, and our game plan seemed to escape everyone including the players on the pitch and resulted in Luton’s keeper basically having a day off.
Poor from the manager yesterday and I hate to say it but he did look out of his depth at times hopefully he will learn from it.

But why didn’t he use that remaining third sub - bizarre
 
That's what was working around Christmas, we have now sacrificed our attacking midfielders for poor forwards (Britt/Nmecha) and/or defensive midfielders (McNair)
I can't understand why we ditched a winning formula. Perhaps we are obliged to play Nmecha, which has been a disaster in terms of formation and quality.
 
I can't understand why we ditched a winning formula. Perhaps we are obliged to play Nmecha, which has been a disaster in terms of formation and quality.

We played a different lineup in every single win.
Barring West Brom, every game was 5 at the back.
Every game since then has been the same formation, bar Wigan.
There wasn't a specific winning formula, we were just winning.

Stoke: Pears, Spence, Howson, Ayala, Fry, Coulson, Saville, Clayton, Tavernier, Fletcher, Walker

Huddersfield: Pears, Spence, Howson, Ayala, Fry, Coulson, Johnson, Wing, Saville, Tavernier, Fletcher

West Brom: Pears, Howson, Ayala, Fry, Coulson, Saville, Clayton, Tavernier, Wing, Spence, Fletcher

Preston: Pears, Spence, Howson, Ayala, Fry, Johnson, Saville, Clayton, Tavernier, Fletcher, Gestede

Every side was different, the one glaring absence from later line-ups is obviously Ayala, plus the introduction of Roberts and Nmecha.
It's only Brentford and Wigan where Spence didn't play, and he was shocking yesterday, but every one was.
Only 2 of the wins were with a single main striker, but we carried that on in to our long run without a win too.

Nmecha has been a passenger, bar his involvement in winning Blackburn penalty, and I'd drop him too.
 
We did, but we didn't play Nmecha and the formula was press and pass, even from the back with a not very confident defense on the ball. Everyone contributed to the style. The Preston game was different but the first 50 minutes were really bad to watch. We then changed tactically and won the game comfortably.
 
A lot of the changes have been enforced too.
Ayala out injured, Roberts out injured, Coulson getting food poisoning, Fry out injured.
I think the main one to question is dropping Spence for two games, but that was arguably down to fatigue.

Bringing in Moukoudi for McNair in defence too, but people were crying out for playing an actual centre back and he's been unfortunate in his first starts.
 
Roberts wasn't here when we were winning. Coulson didn't start every game in our good period.

Ayala has been a big loss but the way we kept Preston out after the injury should have been the model for how to defend. Defend wide stopping crosses. Same as how we neutralised WBA's fight back.

McNair shouldn't be in the team unless it's as centre back. Is play him in instead of Moukoudi and hope Ayala is back soon.

With Fry out, Friend should stay as CB with an occasional forward fray, as Howson does.
 
Roberts wasn't here when we were winning. Coulson didn't start every game in our good period.

I was saying it more in response to the heavy criticism Woodgate has come under for chopping and changing in every match.
If a player gets ill or injured, you have to chop and change.
 
It's formation and tactics for me. The winning run happened with chops and changes. Roberts does look as if he can fit in to a passing pressing game so he is a loss but not a real reason for what's happened in recent games.
 
It was infuriating to see Morrison stay on the bench with our 2nd and final substitution (Gestede) coming in the 69th minute when we were losing at home to a team which had conceded 8 more goals then any other team in our division.
 
It was infuriating to see Morrison stay on the bench with our 2nd and final substitution (Gestede) coming in the 69th minute when we were losing at home to a team which had conceded 8 more goals then any other team in our division.

Wouldn't shock me if he'd forgotten he'd only made 2 subs, it would make more sense than just choosing not to.
 
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