Gallowgate Toon

Aye he's done that before too. I remember when we got beat away at Stevenage and he decided to portion all blame for that on Tim Krul which was quite baffling indeed. A big concern for me at the moment is how we can't mix our play up to any degree of success. Take yesterday for example - we try to keep solid at the back which worked. Yet we posed no threat at all going forward. We looked good going forward at Old Trafford and The Emirates yet our defending was shambolic. We just can't get that balance right at all. Agreed. AP seems to have no idea to get this sorted either. Taking yesterday, we were a little open in the first half but that was mainly due to Perch and Anita being all over the place in the middle and having no structure in protecting the defence. I think if we'd have just shored Perch up a little better, then we would have been a lot more balanced, but instead we went completely into our shell and moved everyone, bar Cisse, further back. His interpretation of high pressing is weird as well and was a big factor in being vulnerable in that first half. I get Marveux pressing along with Cisse but the former was closing down full backs too, despite having wide men to do that job already, rendering the 3 man midfield pointless. And sometimes Perch was the furthest man forward with Marveaux taking up a defensive midfield role. It just seems over complicated, we were too fluid in the middle and looked weak as a result.

Brilliant news. I hope he's here in time for Reading, anything to keep Shola from starting.

I think Anita can be our destroyer over Tiote, in the majority of matches. I know he's been played as a box-to-box midfielder for us but his strengths (central positioning, speed, intelligence and passing) really lie as the furthest back midfielder IMO. Tiote can still be a really useful player for us still but I think his 'purple' status is under threat, he's more of a specialised player in my eyes.

This. Unfortunately, our manager seems to be constantly worried about any threat of a goal from opposition, forgetting the benefits of being positive in our play and we consequently have no identity. I can't see us getting out of this funk with AP at the helm, he's just obsessed with weaknesses, he seems to have a complete lack of faith in the team a lot of the time. and yet we did actually play quite expansivly against man utd and arsenal. almost as if he's thought "if we are gonna get beat anyway we may aswell play pretty" Yep. It's a cowardly way of playing the game and it appears he will never change his ways. a couple of results and some confidence can change things. the way some are going on you'd think we reached 5th last season in spite of him playing for draws all last season. I think he's always, bar a handful of games, set out to be compact, hard to beat and to snatch a win with a physical, percentages style. It worked last year but not been so effective this year, it was never really a strategy that could truly last as we really rode our luck at times and relied on too many individuals to consistently make something happen. Working on defending 4 days a week says it all. It's all about stopping goals and that stems from a lack of belief in the squad he has, in my opinion, and I think we're a better team than that.

Lambert looks a bit special.

This. Unfortunately, our manager seems to be constantly worried about any threat of a goal from opposition, forgetting the benefits of being positive in our play and we consequently have no identity. I can't see us getting out of this funk with AP at the helm, he's just obsessed with weaknesses, he seems to have a complete lack of faith in the team a lot of the time.

All he has to do is lay it off to a more able player, it's not more difficult than hoofing it up Fair enough when he's being pressured but he does it when there are much better options on.

Getting fed up with this, and the thought of us potentially reverting back to 4-4-2 with Shola next week makes it so much worse.

He was shit again for me, a waste of an attacking shirt. Would rather have seen Obertan left and Marveaux right in the second half.

Fair enough. Sometimes it's easy to forget that currently we've got no attacking plan or shape to us whatsoever. (Therefore it would be unfair to judge.) It's not completely unfair to judge as we've seen his character. I agree with you that he's not a match winner in our current set up, he just doesn't have the level of aggression in a side that's so static and low on confidence. He is however, a very talented attacking midfielder (he's a definite starter when everone's fit IMO) who will thrive with some form of attacking plan, and some better players around him too.

He certainly will have more of an impact when there's more movement going on around him, he needs space to operate as he seemingly doesn't go looking for the ball much. He will never be the type to really grab a game when the going gets tough though. Today you could really see we needed Ben Arfa type, who has so much confidence he will have a go at a team no matter the situation.

I think he's great but you can see he's a number 10 as he's very passive. He floats in and out of games and doesn't impose himself enough, and when he's on the ball he is very economical but rarely drives the team forward. Norwich saw he was our dangerman and did a good job on him.

He'll make a big difference to us in the coming weeks, I assume he'll either be in a 2 man midfield or playing as a loose number 10 as Pards said. I don't think he's at his most effective in either though, put him in Anita's role today, with Vurnon taking Perch's place and we'd see a more balanced midfield.

So our only option is to go completely the opposite way? First half we lacked structure in the midfield and they found it easy to get balls through. We just had to make sure Perch positioned himself a little better and we'd have looked more solid while not giving up our entire attacking threat.

He had no support whatsoever. He was always about 20 yards away from our other players.

That would be funny if it weren't true! It's depressingly predictable. That whole Everton stuff with Shola starting (and not coming off) means he's going to play both of them together.

Got the point and clean sheet that he wanted, I think he'll be delighted with the result. Next match Shola's back so we can go back to 4-4-2.

We need his ability to actually drive at teams. Marveaux is too chilled and Jonas is shit.

Finally, a bit of penetration and drive.

Midfield protection poor again, they're getting balls through on the deck too easily.

Woeful lack of options in the box there.

Better.

Our central midfield marking is shocking, it doesn't help that Pards' version of high press is shit. Pretty much negates the 3 man midfield when the likes of Perch and Marveaux are pressing too high.

Honestly, the midfield's positioning is just weird. Where's the protection?

That's the kind of stuff we need to be doing.