All three of them are back-up players at best for a side chasing promotion. At least from what I've seen the past games. Clare brings a lot of energy but is poor on the ball. He hides from the short passing game too much, hardly ever comes short. Dobson also a very limited football player. And Morgan is not technically gifted enough for what he lacks in physicallity. He has a good passing range but that's about it to be fair. Very one dimensional. I do feel we have good forwards in Stockley, DJ, Washington and presumably Kirk (I have not seen much of him), but problem is with this midfield they will never receive any service since we will only play the long ball. Very very easy to defend.
I'm very sad to say I was right. The front 3 are decent. The back 4 are adequate & will improve. The massive problem is not having a decent fit midfielder.
Dobson looks like he struggles to even run without falling over & his efforts at trying to control the ball at times made me almost want to cry.
Morgan may be ok as your 3rd best midfielder but he still looks poor.
Watson who should have retired a year ago was the best of the three (just).
So, they have now taken us into the relegation zone.
TS has about 10 days to sign a couple of capable midfielders and hopefully a left back and forward and we could still get promotion.
It's looking like losing £10M by staying down, to save £1M in wages/fees.
NB we've still not scored from open play this season.
I’m now hoping for two good CMs and a left back. To get through the season we really need a RCB and striker too. Wouldn’t be a bad thing to bring in an experienced back up keeper either.
The way we play 433 can only be succesful with at least two midfielders who are comfortable on the ball, have positional awareness and are dynamic enough to go from box to box and pop up as a second striker. If you don't have that, you will just keep losing the ball and be overrun.
We currently have none of those players available. I feel his is why we struggle to create chances from open play and why have to resort to playing the long ball. But we then don't have the players to win the second ball off Stockley.
Gilbey would be a good player for this system as he has shown already but he is a way off fitness wise. And Clare at least has the tenacity to go from box to box and get stuck in. Bottom line is we need at least two midfielders in who strengthen us on the short term or we are looking at a mid table finish at best.
The way we play 433 can only be succesful with at least two midfielders who are comfortable on the ball, have positional awareness and are dynamic enough to go from box to box and pop up as a second striker. If you don't have that, you will just keep losing the ball and be overrun.
We currently have none of those players available. I feel his is why we struggle to create chances from open play and why have to resort to playing the long ball. But we then don't have the players to win the second ball off Stockley.
Gilbey would be a good player for this system as he has shown already but he is a way off fitness wise. And Clare at least has the tenacity to go from box to box and get stuck in. Bottom line is we need at least two midfielders in who strengthen us on the short term or we are looking at a mid table finish at best.
This 99%. I say that because Clare isn't a box to box midfielder. We need somebody like Parrot or McClean of Fraser. But actually we probably need two like that to be a top team in this league. Personally, Dobson isn't there to score goals and I can see, despite him being a bit hit or miss so far, him fitting in with the right players playing in front of him.
We totally lost the midfield and the match today once Dobson went off and Albie dropped back. A very bad substitution imo. Dobson had grown into the match as it went on. Albie was not up to the pace.
We totally lost the midfield and the match today once Dobson went off and Albie dropped back. A very bad substitution imo. Dobson had grown into the match as it went on. Albie was not up to the pace.
We must have been watching a different game. Dobson bares zero resemblance to that of a professional footballer. He runs and turns like he has rickets!
We totally lost the midfield and the match today once Dobson went off and Albie dropped back. A very bad substitution imo. Dobson had grown into the match as it went on. Albie was not up to the pace.
We must have been watching a different game. Dobson bares zero resemblance to that of a professional footballer. He runs and turns like he has rickets!
At least he can run, unlike Watson. We need three CMs, switching to 4-4-2 left far too much space in the middle.
I think the problem with Clare, Dobson and Morgan is that they're all "potential" players, and they need to be playing alongside experience to help them improve to the level we need them to be at, rather than all playing at the same time. It doesn't help that the experienced midfield is out injured or on his last legs, so we really need to sign or loan some decent cover there. I'm another who's bemused by us letting Shinnie go, and would have kept Pratley over Watson, but understand that's likely to have been driven by the contractual situation.
We totally lost the midfield and the match today once Dobson went off and Albie dropped back. A very bad substitution imo. Dobson had grown into the match as it went on. Albie was not up to the pace.
One of my mates said the same. so you may well be right. But we're discussing who is the worst, because it's difficult to discuss who is the best, because none of them are.
I wasn't a fan of Lapslie, Shinnie or Pratley (a bit old or a bit young), but I'd be pleased to have Pratley & Shinnie back if the alternative was no one.
We totally lost the midfield and the match today once Dobson went off and Albie dropped back. A very bad substitution imo. Dobson had grown into the match as it went on. Albie was not up to the pace.
We must have been watching a different game. Dobson bares zero resemblance to that of a professional footballer. He runs and turns like he has rickets!
He runs peculiarly. He looked worn out after a minute and looks to me like he struggles to stay on his feet. Phil Chapple ? Bambi on ice?
Can I just ask why people are so convinced we will finish mid table?
Seriously - unless TS holds his hands up and invests the level required we are in a relegation battle. Neither Dobson, Clare, or Morgan are starters. I have given up on play offs / promotion whatever happens. We need to invest just to guarantee safety
The reason he was subbed today was he was a defensive midfielder sacrificed for an attacker. In all honesty, he wasn't brilliant today but not awful either.
Can I just ask why people are so convinced we will finish mid table?
Seriously - unless TS holds his hands up and invests the level required we are in a relegation battle. Neither Dobson, Clare, or Morgan are starters. I have given up on play offs / promotion whatever happens. We need to invest just to guarantee safety
TS, NA & SG have said we'll be getting in a few more players and we believe them. We also presume there will be a decent midfielder or two.
I don't think we quite have a relegation midfield, but it's certainly not a top 6. Just no creativity from the middle as could be seen by playing Dobson AND Watson today.
Unless we sign something better in the middle to drive the game forward rather than sideways or backwards then we'll never score many goals. Stockley needs someone properly alongside him too, Washington can do that, but again the midfield need to pick out his runs as you can't rely on flick ons from Stockley the whole time, defences know that and crowd out Stockley as best they can or simply allow him the header and deal with the flick on.
We're far from a team right now and it's mainly the midfield balance (no recognised fit left back doesn't help but isn't the real issue).
It's very dissapointing that the huge defect of last year's midfield has not been rectified. Last year we couldn't play the diamond, or a narrow midfield as they weren't anywhere near athletic/dynamic enough.
We're back in the same situation where no one is dynamic enough to break the lines, and we give up shit chances. If you don't have the players then you pack the midfield. At a stretch 4-2-3-1 but really 4-5-1 out of possesion. Then we have a problem where we have no pace down the sides. Basically if we're not getting any players in with pace it's more than idiotic not keeping Shinnie, who was an excellent assister for Stockley and really needed to play in the opposition half not sitting with Watson. Can't fully blame the players atm, as playing a formation that can be over run whilst having virtually no open play creativity in the team doesn't require a Kasparov strategy.
I am shocked how poor our quality looks in comparison to our opponents to date. Every team has seemed loaded with players comfortable on the ball. Apart from Kirk we have no one to compare and unfortunately he can't make triangles on his own.
I am shocked how poor our quality looks in comparison to our opponents to date. Every team has seemed loaded with players comfortable on the ball. Apart from Kirk we have no one to compare and unfortunately he can't make triangles on his own.
Nigel would see a positive in this statement, he can't make triangles so we need to improve on that, but weren't his straight lines good
I don't think Wigan outplayed us. The difference, and it was a big difference, was they delivered balls with more quality in the attacking third. This is arguably easier to do when you have more players to deliver to. Our problem is our delivery quality is not great, but there are fewer players to find which makes it much harder. Look at Wigan getting numbers in the box for their first. That was the difference between both sides as everything else was pretty even.
If I was Adkins, I would be asking how I can change that and all roads point to the midfield I'm afraid. Not one player but two offensive midfield starters. Then Morgan can force his way in off the bench, not get a midfield general role he hasn't earned. He is still young and shouldn't be written off but he is not that player yet but is worthy of being in the first team squad.
Comments
The front 3 are decent.
The back 4 are adequate & will improve.
The massive problem is not having a decent fit midfielder.
Dobson looks like he struggles to even run without falling over & his efforts at trying to control the ball at times made me almost want to cry.
Morgan may be ok as your 3rd best midfielder but he still looks poor.
Watson who should have retired a year ago was the best of the three (just).
So, they have now taken us into the relegation zone.
TS has about 10 days to sign a couple of capable midfielders and hopefully a left back and forward and we could still get promotion.
It's looking like losing £10M by staying down, to save £1M in wages/fees.
NB we've still not scored from open play this season.
It's saying something when Watson was the best midfielder today...
We currently have none of those players available. I feel his is why we struggle to create chances from open play and why have to resort to playing the long ball. But we then don't have the players to win the second ball off Stockley.
Gilbey would be a good player for this system as he has shown already but he is a way off fitness wise. And Clare at least has the tenacity to go from box to box and get stuck in. Bottom line is we need at least two midfielders in who strengthen us on the short term or we are looking at a mid table finish at best.
But we're discussing who is the worst, because it's difficult to discuss who is the best, because none of them are.
I wasn't a fan of Lapslie, Shinnie or Pratley (a bit old or a bit young), but I'd be pleased to have Pratley & Shinnie back if the alternative was no one.
Phil Chapple ? Bambi on ice?
Seriously - unless TS holds his hands up and invests the level required we are in a relegation battle. Neither Dobson, Clare, or Morgan are starters. I have given up on play offs / promotion whatever happens. We need to invest just to guarantee safety
Yes we've been chasing the game, but it's a bit curious why the same player has been regularly substituted in this way, similar to Aneke last season
It’s not so much an issue that we signed them, but the fact they’re currently first choice players.
We also presume there will be a decent midfielder or two.
Unless we sign something better in the middle to drive the game forward rather than sideways or backwards then we'll never score many goals. Stockley needs someone properly alongside him too, Washington can do that, but again the midfield need to pick out his runs as you can't rely on flick ons from Stockley the whole time, defences know that and crowd out Stockley as best they can or simply allow him the header and deal with the flick on.
We're far from a team right now and it's mainly the midfield balance (no recognised fit left back doesn't help but isn't the real issue).
We're back in the same situation where no one is dynamic enough to break the lines, and we give up shit chances. If you don't have the players then you pack the midfield. At a stretch 4-2-3-1 but really 4-5-1 out of possesion. Then we have a problem where we have no pace down the sides. Basically if we're not getting any players in with pace it's more than idiotic not keeping Shinnie, who was an excellent assister for Stockley and really needed to play in the opposition half not sitting with Watson. Can't fully blame the players atm, as playing a formation that can be over run whilst having virtually no open play creativity in the team doesn't require a Kasparov strategy.
If I was Adkins, I would be asking how I can change that and all roads point to the midfield I'm afraid. Not one player but two offensive midfield starters. Then Morgan can force his way in off the bench, not get a midfield general role he hasn't earned. He is still young and shouldn't be written off but he is not that player yet but is worthy of being in the first team squad.