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Post by gingerninja on Oct 29, 2020 13:32:19 GMT
Surely he can't play every game, every week?. We really have left ourselves short in that department.
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Post by sensiblestokie on Oct 29, 2020 13:51:01 GMT
Very much agree. We need better in the position.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 14:00:45 GMT
Very much agree. We need better in the position. That's a very sensible answer.
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Post by FullerMagic on Oct 29, 2020 14:09:14 GMT
Bit surprised we haven't brought in that ex-Sheff Utd kiddie, Freeman, that we were 'linked' with. He seems perfect.
If not him , Simpson still available?
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Post by FullerMagic on Oct 29, 2020 14:16:33 GMT
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Post by thestatusquo on Oct 29, 2020 14:17:54 GMT
Bit surprised we haven't brought in that ex-Sheff Utd kiddie, Freeman, that we were 'linked' with. He seems perfect. If not him , Simpson still available? Homer or OJ! 😀
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Oct 29, 2020 14:24:54 GMT
Bit surprised we haven't brought in that ex-Sheff Utd kiddie, Freeman, that we were 'linked' with. He seems perfect. If not him , Simpson still available? Homer or OJ! 😀 I’d rather Jessica
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Post by spitthedog on Oct 29, 2020 14:32:43 GMT
Bit surprised we haven't brought in that ex-Sheff Utd kiddie, Freeman, that we were 'linked' with. He seems perfect. If not him , Simpson still available? Freeman would be a massive upgrade on Smith Having seen him a few times he is just the type of player we need. Good DNA and effective. Miles better than Fox too, though obviously not a left back.
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Post by hardcastle on Oct 29, 2020 15:15:35 GMT
If we could only settle to playing a back four, we could target a good defending full back (or two) and not waste time chasing wing backs (like Justin James last year) that result in us playing a different system.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 15:43:25 GMT
Bit surprised we haven't brought in that ex-Sheff Utd kiddie, Freeman, that we were 'linked' with. He seems perfect. If not him , Simpson still available? Freeman would be a massive upgrade on Smith Having seen him a few times he is just the type of player we need. Good DNA and effective. Miles better than Fox too, though obviously not a left back. Do we actually know if Fox is a good left back or not. Think he may have played as a conventional left back once for us?
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Post by bayernoatcake on Oct 29, 2020 16:08:35 GMT
As much as I think he's massively average at best you have to feel for him.
He's playing a role he's not comfortable with nor suited to and he's the only one in the squad trusted to do it.
It's a bad combination and one that isn't his fault.
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Post by jezzascfc on Oct 29, 2020 16:10:58 GMT
Let me think! If only we had an international right full/wing back in our employ who could possibly provide cover for him?
Wishful thinking, I guess!
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Post by PotterLog on Oct 29, 2020 16:14:00 GMT
Let me think! If only we had an international right full/wing back in our employ who could possibly provide cover for him? Wishful thinking, I guess! I know I miss Diouf too
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Post by gingerninja on Oct 29, 2020 16:19:26 GMT
Perhaps we have no wiggle room with FFP to bring anybody in?
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Post by sensiblestokie on Oct 29, 2020 16:41:59 GMT
Very much agree. We need better in the position. That's a very sensible answer. Thank you sir.
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Post by chad on Oct 29, 2020 17:23:01 GMT
I see Cuco Martinez is still unemployed
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Post by spitthedog on Oct 29, 2020 17:28:28 GMT
Freeman would be a massive upgrade on Smith Having seen him a few times he is just the type of player we need. Good DNA and effective. Miles better than Fox too, though obviously not a left back. Do we actually know if Fox is a good left back or not. Think he may have played as a conventional left back once for us? Fox is a conventional left back. Quite average but that is his best position. He became a centre of attention for the boo boys at Wednesday when he played any other position there. Gary Monk rescued his career by shifting him back to a conventional left back where he had his best season to date. Otherwise, he was a disaster as wing back and centre half, what we think of Vokes is what they thought of Morgan Fox.
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Post by ukcstokie on Oct 29, 2020 17:43:49 GMT
I see Cuco Martinez is still unemployed And for a bloody good reason why he hasn't a club
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Post by Miles Offside on Oct 29, 2020 17:50:26 GMT
We're seeing with Smith what we saw with Pieters - being asked to play an attacking role to which he's not really suited.
He's a full-back and, just like McClean and Tymon on the other flank, isn't a wing-back.
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Post by FullerMagic on Oct 29, 2020 17:54:20 GMT
If we planned on playing this formation, why have we gone into it with ill-fitting personnel in maybe THE key, specialist areas?
It's all reminiscent of when we went into the relegation season fully intending to start the season with Diouf and Pieters as our flying wing-backs.
It's a mess - but I've got (slightly) more sympathy with MON because he's been left with a shit show to deal with. With Hughes, it was reckless.
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Post by gingerninja on Oct 29, 2020 18:01:35 GMT
Yes but he still had time to bring in a proper wing back type, pre the window closing, especially as he knew he would be loaning out Edwards. All very odd and very avoidable.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 18:12:53 GMT
Do we actually know if Fox is a good left back or not. Think he may have played as a conventional left back once for us? Fox is a conventional left back. Quite average but that is his best position. He became a centre of attention for the boo boys at Wednesday when he played any other position there. Gary Monk rescued his career by shifting him back to a conventional left back where he had his best season to date. Otherwise, he was a disaster as wing back and centre half, what we think of Vokes is what they thought of Morgan Fox. The disaster as a wingback I get because I've seen enough of him here to make that judgement. I'm sure I read somewhere that he'd only played CB for Wednesday once or twice. I think he has been ok for us as left cb defensively, no real mistakes apart from his distribution. I really don't get the criticism. He was brought in as a left back and he's not played as one.
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Post by PotterLog on Oct 29, 2020 18:30:56 GMT
If we planned on playing this formation, why have we gone into it with ill-fitting personnel in maybe THE key, specialist areas? It's all reminiscent of when we went into the relegation season fully intending to start the season with Diouf and Pieters as our flying wing-backs. It's a mess - but I've got (slightly) more sympathy with MON because he's been left with a shit show to deal with. With Hughes, it was reckless. I still can't quite get over the fact we needed a dedicated left-back for so many windows, finally signed one and we're immediately playing him out of position in a system that doesn't accommodate a left-back. It's so completely, predictably Stoke.
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Post by FullerMagic on Oct 29, 2020 18:35:26 GMT
If we planned on playing this formation, why have we gone into it with ill-fitting personnel in maybe THE key, specialist areas? It's all reminiscent of when we went into the relegation season fully intending to start the season with Diouf and Pieters as our flying wing-backs. It's a mess - but I've got (slightly) more sympathy with MON because he's been left with a shit show to deal with. With Hughes, it was reckless. I still can't quite get over the fact we needed a dedicated left-back for so many windows, finally signed one and we're immediately playing him out of position in a system that doesn't accommodate a left-back. It's so completely, predictably Stoke. It is quite funny. We finally get a left-back - then go full steam ahead into a system which renders him utterly pointless Just wonder when the plan to commit to the back 5 really hardened in his mind. www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/stoke-city-transfer-morgan-fox-4429180In mid-August, he was still talking about a Fox-McClean partnership down the left.
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Post by PotterLog on Oct 29, 2020 18:38:25 GMT
I still can't quite get over the fact we needed a dedicated left-back for so many windows, finally signed one and we're immediately playing him out of position in a system that doesn't accommodate a left-back. It's so completely, predictably Stoke. It is quite funny. We finally get a left-back - then go full steam ahead into a system which renders his utterly pointless Just wonder when the plan to commit to the back 5 really hardened in his mind. www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/stoke-city-transfer-morgan-fox-4429180In mid-August, he was still talking about a Fox-McClean partnership down the left. Very late is my guess. Probably after the season started and maybe as a reaction to the sudden widespread tendency for it that you picked up on the other week.
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Post by terrorofturfmoor on Oct 29, 2020 18:39:41 GMT
Surely he can't play every game, every week?. We really have left ourselves short in that department. "Surely he can't play"... Would have been sufficient!!!
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Post by boskampsflaps on Oct 29, 2020 21:56:17 GMT
If we planned on playing this formation, why have we gone into it with ill-fitting personnel in maybe THE key, specialist areas? It's all reminiscent of when we went into the relegation season fully intending to start the season with Diouf and Pieters as our flying wing-backs. It's a mess - but I've got (slightly) more sympathy with MON because he's been left with a shit show to deal with. With Hughes, it was reckless. I'm not sure why you'd feel any sympathy for him there's quite a few things that need fixing at the club but he isn't helping himself playing a system without the players to play it. Its more a worry that he actually thinks this is what suits the squad best.
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Post by FullerMagic on Oct 29, 2020 22:12:41 GMT
If we planned on playing this formation, why have we gone into it with ill-fitting personnel in maybe THE key, specialist areas? It's all reminiscent of when we went into the relegation season fully intending to start the season with Diouf and Pieters as our flying wing-backs. It's a mess - but I've got (slightly) more sympathy with MON because he's been left with a shit show to deal with. With Hughes, it was reckless. I'm not sure why you'd feel any sympathy for him there's quite a few things that need fixing at the club but he isn't helping himself playing a system without the players to play it. Its more a worry that he actually thinks this is what suits the squad best. Yeah, I can't really argue - and I certainly can't really work out where he's coming from. It's completely out of the blue - just as it was with Hughes and it's confusing. But I do have some sympathy because he must have felt he needed to do a lot of work over the summer, and he only had so much leeway, financially, to do it. Having said that, those quotes from August do indicate he was still thinking of a back 4 deep into pre-season even though we'd seen the back 5 quite often. If he's being truthful, that does show some muddled thinking. I think he said it was McKinlay who'd bent his ear about switching formation - presumably based on 2 or 3 hammerings away at QPR, Derby and Wigan - with the Leeds thrashing happening with a back 3. That doesn't really seem worthy of ripping up the back 4 which had given us play-off form - certainly when you haven't bought properly for it in key areas without which the system is pretty impossible to function There was nothing fundamental about the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 which meant we couldn't get points away if strengthened in the right areas.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2020 11:52:04 GMT
My theory is we're not playing a back 4 because he doesn't trust the fullbacks to defend the far post, especially Smith. Virtually every decent cross that beat the cbs in the last 2 seasons resulted in a goal when either Smith or Edwards played right back.
I think he wanted a new right back but due to ffp and not getting deadwood out the door it didn't work out and lead to the change in shape.
The ironic thing is he got Fox in who fits a back 4 perfectly and doesn't play him there.
Smith seems a bit of a half way house between a fullback and a wingback, neither one thing or the other.
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Post by Championship Potter on Oct 30, 2020 12:01:22 GMT
Other advantage of moving to 4 at the back is that we could use it as a way to protect Mikel’s legs - we could effectively “cage” him and sit in front of the back 4 at all times. Given his age I don’t think we get much value from him marauding forward anyway.
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