Lack of Motivation

[Jack Halford]

My biggest worry is that in key games Big Dave and tippy tappy Graham are struggling to motivate the players and we lack intensity.

As we know from seasons past being up for the fight will get you further than having a squad full of half arsed better players.

Barnes was our X factor and without him and tissue paper Phillips we struggle.

Tonight cried out for a formation with a midfield 5 with energy. I would have played Barry just in front of the back 4 with field Johansen in front of him with Montero left and Murphy right. Gayle would have got the nod as the lone striker tonight.

Townsend would have been left back.

Who knows if this would have worked but I bet we wouldn’t have been 1 down after 16 seconds

[Cunninghamismagic]

Lack of urgency my big concern should we get to the play offs. Those games are all about intensity. Face a Leeds/Sheff Utd/Boro etc side showing that sort of intensity which we don't match and we'll get blown away again. Maybe a little of the Mowbray arrogance in DM. The assumption that as we have better players we can  tippy tap our way to victory at this level.

[Sandking]

The ultimate antidote to our current midfield shambles is, of course, a five man. It helps if you have a number 10 for obvious reasons. But it's not essential.  4-5-1 is and can be much more flexible than it looks on paper.

[TartanRug]

The ultimate antidote to our current midfield shambles is, of course, a five man. It helps if you have a number 10 for obvious reasons. But it's not essential.  4-5-1 is and can be much more flexible than it looks on paper.

I do like 4-5-1, I remember us playing it very well in the days of MAF & co. Gave us dominance and solidity in the middle of the park and as long as people got up in support of the 1 when appropriate we could also be a threat. Would this work with Gayle as the lone striker though, not exactly a player good at holding the ball up.

[DemonicBaggie]

My biggest worry is that in key games Big Dave and tippy tappy Graham are struggling to motivate the players and we lack intensity.

As we know from seasons past being up for the fight will get you further than having a squad full of half arsed better players.

Barnes was our X factor and without him and tissue paper Phillips we struggle.

Tonight cried out for a formation with a midfield 5 with energy. I would have played Barry just in front of the back 4 with field Johansen in front of him with Montero left and Murphy right. Gayle would have got the nod as the lone striker tonight.

Townsend would have been left back.

Who knows if this would have worked but I bet we wouldn’t have been 1 down after 16 seconds

Good post. Just arrived home and analysing that miserable performance on the way back we said that the key failures were in motivation and formation. Individually we were poor, errors all over shop from the kick off. Leeds swarmed us and we seemed to be playing in slow motion. These are motivational issues. Formation wise we were overrun in midfield yet again and offered no sustained threat up top. Playing Gayle wide is self-defeating. Credit to Leeds who ran themselves into the ground. Desire, belief and a solid game plan blew us away.

[Cheshire East Baggie]

I listened to most of the second half on Talksport. Wished I hadn't bothered, but there you go. The most pertinent thing I heard was when the commentator's sidekick (no idea who it was) said "West Brom look like a side who don't believe in what they are doing". OK, I'm paraphrasing, don't sue me if I got the words wrong, but that was the sense of it.

[Sandking]

The ultimate antidote to our current midfield shambles is, of course, a five man. It helps if you have a number 10 for obvious reasons. But it's not essential.  4-5-1 is and can be much more flexible than it looks on paper.

I do like 4-5-1, I remember us playing it very well in the days of MAF & co. Gave us dominance and solidity in the middle of the park and as long as people got up in support of the 1 when appropriate we could also be a threat. Would this work with Gayle as the lone striker though, not exactly a player good at holding the ball up.

I know what you mean about MAF. Of course, you need the ball to stick, I can see no reason why I personally wouldn`t let Gayle go directly up against the opposition Centre Halves and let him fight it out. A proper Number 10 helps ( Not seen since Sess departed ) but I've seen Mozza play the role adequately. Phillips out wide and encourage him to join in when he can. Stops immediately the 74 bus driving through our central area time and time again. I`d imagine its way of the DM and GJ radar though.

[Three Degrees]

They played Tues and still looked fitter than us ,so l dont want to hear off our manager that the amount of games in this league is a factor its the same for every team .

[Cunninghamismagic]

Hoolahan can play the number 10 role

[Squid]

Hoolahan can play the number 10 role

Agree, though he can sometimes be muscled off the ball easily. Time for a big formation rethink.