when I posted the above early in the season, it received 7,580 viewings, many of whom disagreed with me, and several chose to resort to personal comments ie ; old prat, old fart, plonker... which caused me great distress, sleepless nights, and turning to the bottle for support during this stressful period, however, I have now recovered, and whilst we still cling, formationless, tactically naive, and seemingly STILL not knowing what our best team is, to 3rd place in the league, I wonder if there is anyone on the forum who may in any way agree with this self confessed stupid ode fart
could possibly be to do with lack of a long-term strategy by the club ( other than to survive) and a lack of investment in the product? Just a thought.
We have the a squad that us debatably somewhere between third best and fourth best in the league, and a budget that is 3rd highest at best... as it stands, we are third, and he's doing it with absolutely zero support from above.
Whilst I agree we should arguably be playing better football given the style of players we have, he's having to deal with a mentally weak group and injuries to his key players. You only need to look at our records with and without Mowatt, Clarke and O'Shea to see how important to us they are.
ALl things considered, I think his sheer strength of character is carrying a lot of the deadweight and malaise we have around the place and this offsets the dour football and more IMO.
Our best team is
Johnstone
Furlong
Clarke
Ajayi
Bartley
Townsend
Mowatt
Livermore
Grant
Robinson
Grady
Only debateable are Phillips or Molumby instead of one of the above. We know our best team there are just no reasonable alternatives when it gets stale!
Also I wouldn't say we were formationless, we've used the same one every week!
No, I think he's evolving game by game, just look at our possession stats, less long balls, more patience, the problem is our squad lacks creativiity and my critcism of Val is 3-4-3 is a religion and he needs to be more flexible
Fulham for example, great game to drop an extra midfielder in and go with two strikers, lack of flexibility is my only criticism of him so far personally
Cuzer
I'm uncomfortable with what's been happening, but I still don't know if it's for the good or the bad.
He has to have another window to get in players of his ilk and we have had a particularly tough time with injuries.
I've accepted this is a time of transition to a new style, but can''t work out if it's part of a long-term or short-term plan. Anyway, I think play-offs this year is about the best of it. I've accepted this.
I also accept, despite my misgivings, we have to show patience.
(11-12-2021, 12:27 PM)Sliced Wrote: [ -> ]Our best team is
Johnstone
Furlong
Clarke
Ajayi
Bartley
Townsend
Mowatt
Livermore
Grant
Robinson
Grady
Only debateable are Phillips or Molumby instead of one of the above. We know our best team there are just no reasonable alternatives when it gets stale!
Also I wouldn't say we were formationless, we've used the same one every week!
There are plenty of debatables there. Diangana shouldn't be near the first eleven gor a start.
Overall I think he is doing a good job, not sensational but good enough.
Like any manager, fans can get bogged down in minor detail, without looking at the bigger picture. Yes I'm not a massive fan of 343, and there are possibly some players I would play before others.
But I think he has made us difficult to play against, and we force other teams to change the way they play, which I think is to our advantage. And we look fitter and stronger, and we keep going to the last, to be fair that's something we always seem able to do at this level.
But no matter how good he is, there are some problems within the squad. Mainly midfield and the forward line. We still have better in those departments than the majority of teams in the championship. But my view is that it is not the standard you would want from a side going for automatic promotion. Doesn't make it impossible, just more of a struggle, less pleasing to the eye.
(11-12-2021, 12:27 PM)Sliced Wrote: [ -> ]Our best team is
Johnstone
Furlong
Clarke
Ajayi
Bartley
Townsend
Mowatt
Livermore
Grant
Robinson
Grady
Only debateable are Phillips or Molumby instead of one of the above. We know our best team there are just no reasonable alternatives when it gets stale!
Also I wouldn't say we were formationless, we've used the same one every week!
I would certainly have O'Shea in any best side.
(11-12-2021, 12:53 PM)B36baggie Wrote: [ -> ] (11-12-2021, 12:27 PM)Sliced Wrote: [ -> ]Our best team is
Johnstone
Furlong
Clarke
Ajayi
Bartley
Townsend
Mowatt
Livermore
Grant
Robinson
Grady
Only debateable are Phillips or Molumby instead of one of the above. We know our best team there are just no reasonable alternatives when it gets stale!
Also I wouldn't say we were formationless, we've used the same one every week!
I would certainly have O'Shea in any best side.
Yep definitely.