I think a major mistake Pardew made last season was building the midfield round Song, who proved too young and lightweight.
Unfortunately he is now doing the same with Reid. For me he cant play wide as he has no pace, does not cover defensively and cuts inside too much. Also i think he is too slow and weak to play central.
For me the jury is still well and truly out on Pardew and he needs to start managing aswell as he thinks he does. Dropping Reid to a peripheral role may just help him do that
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I think not.
The problem is he is a tidy player on the ball but he is no lynchpin. pardew has talked him up but the evidence on the pitch contradicts his views
now if we're having a dig at the players from saturday then....
Fortune...what an inept waste of space...why did he let that bloke run from the half way line before then deciding to hack him down in the box, do it 40 yards out when you had the chance.
Strikers....any of them !, not convinced at all about Varney and as for Iwelumo, that bloke is still dining out on the Sheff Wed game...couldn't win a thing in the air and I cannot stnad it when he plays because we become so predictable...McClown...well !!
according to todays paper we are signing Razeak (sp?) for £2m from Southampton ?, does the transfer window affect Championship clubs or can players move from one to another still now ?
if you compare our front line to eg watford, wolves, west brom, stoke, bristol city, even Plymouth, you can see why we are struggling. Not that reid, sam, zz et al are overwhelming them with chances
The problem with Reid at the moment is that he isnt getting the ball where he can be most effective.
I would give him almost a free role in a 3 man central midfield. That way he can drift about where he pleases and do some damage.
the problem is i thought varney was a goalscorere but he is more of a channl runner.... a poor mans Gary Nelson?
But we're judging him on how he plays to orders within the constrictions of our tactical formations.
Maybe he would like to play his own more natural game.
Anyone know the positions & tactics when he played for Crewe?
In respect of Reid and ZZ the problem is pretty straight forward. You can't play both of them in a 4-4-2. Reid is not a winger and Thomas is always going to offer us more on the left wing.
To be effective Reid has to play in the middle, so does ZZ however we can't play without Semedo to do the dirty work as we get overun.
We either switch to 4-5-1/4-3-3 or drop one of either Reid or ZZ.
I think you are confusing trying harder with flapping his arms and moaning at the officials when a decision goes against us, or doing the same when one of the team doesn't do exactly what he wants them to. that said he is talented and a very good passer of the ball but I wouldn't say he tries harder than the rest of the team.
I was watching Hansen pull apart the Derby defending on MOTD2 last night and cringed at the thought of him anlaysing ours!
As well as that we seemed to lose all shape going forward on Saturday as well. The confidence has drained right out of the side - as evidenced on a couple of occasions when Weaver was greeted with the sight of ten players' backs to throw the ball to. It's Pardew's job to put that right too. I also fully agree that the substition was a big mistake. Pardew had a stinker on Saturday. The players were poor but I think he was worse.
I still think he'll come good - it's not the first time he's been in this situation and he prospered last time but he needs to up his game as much as the players do.
But the more I think about it though, we need someone with the power, physical strength and character to destroy opponents moves and go on marauding runs - and maybe a bit of intimidation and nastiness too.
But Oggy, that just swaps one problem for another - who do we play at right back? Moo2 looks the part - until it comes to actually defending!
Semedo actually manages that quite well when Pardew deigns to leave him on the pitch!
Why the F change it then???
I didn't agree with the decision but I can see why he did it.
Thomas is (theoretically) a matchwinner so he wanted to increase our attacking options and get Reid more central.
He underestimated the effectiveness and physical robustness of their midfield compared to ours though.
Don't worry Pards says our "man of steel" Matt Holland will be back soon!
But that's exactly what the Charlton midfield is lacking.
Effectiveness and physical robustness. That's why we've dropped so many points and can't 'defend our defence.
I must have missed that.