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Post by AlbertTatlock on Nov 17, 2008 15:59:34 GMT
Surely Pulis must now hold his hands up and face the fact that Cresswell, Amdy Faye even Diao and Oli (although I wouldn’t give up on Oli just yet) are not going to cut it in this division, and the time is surely right to shuffle the pack and get Rory into the middle with either Diao or Oli (until Lenny is back then play him in centre mid) with Tonge and Soares out wide, it’s imperative that we create more chances for Kitson and Mamma. With West Brazil Hull and Fulham being our next 3 home games and Newcastle sandwiched between them we should go all out for maximum points. Gouranga.  |
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Post by bayernoatcake on Nov 17, 2008 16:03:03 GMT
What about Whelan?  |
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Post by AlbertTatlock on Nov 17, 2008 16:07:32 GMT
What about Whelan? What about him? Gouranga. |
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Post by bayernoatcake on Nov 17, 2008 16:13:03 GMT
;D He's better than Faye and Seyi.........  |
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Post by Cupid Stunt on Nov 17, 2008 16:17:31 GMT
My team against West Brom would be: ------------------------------------Sorensen---------------------------------------- ---Griffin----------Shawcross-------------------------Ad Faye-------------Higgy -----------------------------------------Diao----------------------------------------- ---------------------Olofinjana-----------------------Delap----------------------- Soares-------------------------------------------------------------------------Tonge ---------------------------------------Kitson------------------------------------------ |
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Post by AlbertTatlock on Nov 17, 2008 16:29:01 GMT
;D He's better than Faye and Seyi......... I don't think he's better than any of them, maybe the same level as Amdy but that's no recommendation it’s like saying crabs are better than scabies. Gouranga. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2008 16:30:19 GMT
From what I've seen of Tonge he's looked better in the middle. Maybe him and Salif in the centre with Delap and Soares out wide?
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Post by expectedtoulouse on Nov 17, 2008 18:47:28 GMT
Olofinjana has been woeful lately. I fail to see what he brings to the team anymore.
I would go with:
------------------------------------Sorensen-------------------------------------------
---Griffin--------------Shawcross-----------------Ad Faye-----------------Higgy---
---Soares-----------------Diao--------------------Whelan------------------Delap---
-------------------------------Sidibe------------Kitson----------------------------------
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Post by bayernoatcake on Nov 17, 2008 18:57:14 GMT
I fail to see what Faye and Seyi offer to the team. For me Seyi needs to get up and down the pitch more. Faye should only play when we're desperate. Whelan is the best passer we have and I think deserves a chance.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2008 18:58:37 GMT
If he's the best passer we have then Christ help us.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Nov 17, 2008 18:59:55 GMT
Its true though and we need something! Pedro Mendes would have been perfect imo.
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Post by Jamo on the wing on Nov 17, 2008 19:09:58 GMT
I can kind of understand TP's thinking away from home but in fairness it hasn't really worked consistently so I'd like to see us change our midfield (which for me has been our main problem so far.)
For me Diao has done ok but we need some serious work rate in the middle and Rory is the man. He's completely wasted on the left hand side (despite his best efforts) so we need a change.
Liam will be fit soon so that will give us a massive lift but until then I would look at utilising Soares and maybe Tonge as well especially at home.
I think Seyi needs a rest to be honest, his most worrying performance was Rotherham where he even failed to shine against League 2 opposition. For me he doesn't put it in and you can't carry players unless what they are doing in the final third is something special and Seyi doesn't give us that quality.
I'd like to see us try (until Liam is fit) a four of...
Soares---Rory---Diao---Tonge
If it doesn't work it doesn't work but for me it can't be much worse that the four we have tried of late. Given the fact that Ric is missing against Brazil (coupled with LL's absence) means we will have to have more threat from midfield.
We're doing really well and I'm delighted with our start but you can't rest on your laurels and you should always look at how to improve things. We've paid decent money for these lads so lets give them a go.
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Post by Olgrligm on Nov 17, 2008 19:19:37 GMT
At the minute, the most likely option is a straight swap, giving us a midfield of
Soares --- Diao --- Faye --- Delap
Which isn't too bad , but we can't be doing with more 'square pegs in round holes', with Delap on the left. He does a decent job at home, but he struggles on the larger pitches away from home that suit pacier wingers. He's a man with great stamina and a great footballing brain that enables him to spot danger a mile off. Problem is, we don't seem to trust Tonge (leaves his full back too exposed?) and so we've not much chance of change until Lawrence is back fit. Hopefully then we could see a midfield of
Lawrence --- Diao --- Delap --- Soares
Although I'm struggling to come to terms with the idea of us playing both Lawrence and Soares, at home, never mind in away games. It's probably more than likely that in the future, we'll simply line up as:
Lawrence --- Diao --- Faye --- Delap
You might notice that I've completely omitted Olofinjana from these line ups. I've not seen him have a single good game for us yet.
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Post by sutekh on Nov 17, 2008 19:34:11 GMT
simmo
griff shawcross faye higgy
soares olifijana whelan tonge pugh
kitson
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skidog
Academy Starlet
Posts: 180
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Post by skidog on Nov 17, 2008 20:04:24 GMT
Can't believe that everyone of you have left cressie out of your teams |
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Post by chesterfieldstokie on Nov 17, 2008 20:09:29 GMT
"Surely Pulis must now hold his hands up and face the fact that Cresswell, Amdy Faye even Diao and Oli (although I wouldn’t give up on Oli just yet) are not going to cut it in this division, "
Pulis hold his hands up to making a mistake?
Theres more chance of us signing Ronaldo and Messi than him doing that.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2008 20:25:01 GMT
the last time i saw a good midfield performance from us was bristol city at home- with delap and whelan in the centre
i would drop oli, i honestly cannot recall him making a contribution this season apart from the neat volley v everton and the scrambled goal v arsenal
i'd go for
soares-----delap------whelan/diao------tonge
tonge can drift into the centre and pick up the ball as much as he wants as long as when they have the ball he gets back to help his full back
whatever he does, he HAS to drop oli
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Post by jezzascfc on Nov 18, 2008 21:57:18 GMT
Our home record means we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater after Saturday ahead of two big back to back home games. We will beat WBA, as we always do(!), by the type of blood and thunder, up and at 'em football that saw off Villa, Spurs and Arsenal.
From last weekend, I'd rest Seyi, who is carrying an injury anyway, and play Soares and Tonge out wide and push Delap in to partner Salif. TP will probably keep Amdy in, though, and leave Rory on the left.
It is away from home we get caught out by our inability to retain posession and to break quickly out wide (Ricardo is our only pacey outlet). Trying to defend our 18 yard box for 90 minutes against the better teams, save for the odd fluke like the one at Anfield, is only going to produce one thing - more results like Saturday. We can't do much about it right now (is bringing in Glenn Whelan going to make much difference?), but none of our central midfield partnerships look right and we need at least one proper pacey wide man (and Liam back to full fitness) to be able to stretch teams more on the counter-attack.
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Post by mermaidsal on Nov 18, 2008 22:07:01 GMT
Apart from Liverpool, I just think Tone's getting it consistently wrong away from home. I'd like to see the Whelan/Kitson combo we had v Rotherham, we have to risk being more creative and the results really couldn't be any worse away than they already are. And apart from another quality striker we have GOT to find a quality, experienced creative midfielder in January - not a Soares, Tonge or Whelan, I mean someone really proven at the top level.
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Post by garyhackett on Nov 19, 2008 7:17:16 GMT
I completely agree our midfield just isnt operating as it should, all it does is shield the back 4 and doesnt create anything.
Salif does a sterling job pretecting the back 4 and breaking up play but we need someone in the middle alongside him with a decent engine, i would put Rory there or give Whelan a go and see what happens. Oli and Faye are all too similar to Diao but not good enough in my opinion.
Soares needs to be first choice on the right and i would give Kitson a go on the left until Lawrence comes back.
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Post by Northy on Nov 19, 2008 7:47:33 GMT
My team against West Brom would be: ------------------------------------Sorensen---------------------------------------- ---Griffin----------Shawcross-------------------------Ad Faye-------------Higgy -----------------------------------------Diao----------------------------------------- ---------------------Olofinjana-----------------------Delap----------------------- Soares-------------------------------------------------------------------------Tonge ---------------------------------------Kitson------------------------------------------ why make room for delap, who has been poor on the field lately, when no Sidibe and Fuller who are the main recipitents of his throw? Sidibe and Kitson to start up front witha more creative midfield of Soares, Whelan, delap and Tongu |
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Post by Godo on Nov 19, 2008 8:03:03 GMT
It's not just the personnel it's the shape.
Pulis will always want his midfield 4 sitting deep and protecting the back 4 but with the lack of pace that means that no-one from midfield hardly ever breaks forward to support the forwards in open play.
If Pulis wants to play narrow and deep the least he can do is adopt a diamond which would at least push one of the midfield closer to the forwards and offer some support to the second striker.
However I don't expect Mr Pulis to change anything. I did say on here at the time of the 0-0 at Liverpool that it could prove to be a bad result because it would further encourage Mr Pulis to try and defend his own box for the next dozen away games - regardless of oppposition - with the resut that we would only probably pick up about 3 points out of 36 in the process! This is a critical next few games looking ahead to the December/January fixtures and we need to be looking to play a higher tempo and to press and put pressure on the next 3 teams we play. They are weak at the back but if we let them play they can all keep the ball much better than us.
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Post by matt1986 on Nov 19, 2008 8:34:14 GMT
It's not just the personnel it's the shape. Pulis will always want his midfield 4 sitting deep and protecting the back 4 but with the lack of pace that means that no-one from midfield hardly ever breaks forward to support the forwards in open play. Agreed, this is what really gets me annoyed at the minute. Lack of support from the midfield in attacking areas  |
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Post by hchpotter on Nov 19, 2008 8:43:26 GMT
Why make room for Rory? - Because he's had a good season so far, he's near top of the assists charts and other recipients of his throw could include, Kitson, Shawcross, Faye, Oli, Danny, Diao and Cresswell. Oh and we're playing West Brom.
If Tone has to make changes for Ric, and maybe Mama, he'll bring in Kitson and then who? Knowing Tone, it will be Cressie on the grounds that we're without our top 2 scorers from last year and Cressie managed to bag 12. I agree that he probably falls short as a premiership player but he will give 100%, he's match fit and he can score goals when played up front. And against the Baggies that might be enough.
If we go for mass changes in midfield and try the tippy tappy stuff the Baggies will love it because they're more used to that approach than we are and probably better at it.
If it's Kitson and Cresswell up front I'd like to see Whelan in for Oli, as he's most likely to find the ball to feet. If it's Kitson and Mama you won't see many changes to midfield - and for West Brom that's possibly not a bad thing. After all this strategy worked at home against Villa, Tottenham, Sunderland and Arsenal.
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