NUFC vs Anti-football?

[thenige]

I'd argue we have the players to play an open game with a good degree of success, however we lack the quality in midfield to break down more compact sides. Unfortunately we can't look to add to our side till January which could mean a frustrating few months at home. It's not good enough to just say if we had Ben Arfa we'd have won, because we need a squa dof players that offer us options for games like this, not just one player.

 

The one thing that's annoyed me is those across the road claiming we shouldn't complain as we did the same to Arsenal, as I don't think the two performances are comparable.

 

To be fair I agree with them to an extent. We certainly time wasted a fair bit, not to mention although we kept the ball in perhaps a nicer way, we didn't offer that much going forward other than a very direct style. I certainly think our performance v Arsenal is comparable with Blackburn's last night.

[Wullie]

I'd argue we have the players to play an open game with a good degree of success, however we lack the quality in midfield to break down more compact sides. Unfortunately we can't look to add to our side till January which could mean a frustrating few months at home. It's not good enough to just say if we had Ben Arfa we'd have won, because we need a squa dof players that offer us options for games like this, not just one player.

 

The one thing that's annoyed me is those across the road claiming we shouldn't complain as we did the same to Arsenal, as I don't think the two performances are comparable.

 

To be fair I agree with them to an extent. We certainly time wasted a fair bit, not to mention although we kept the ball in perhaps a nicer way, we didn't offer that much going forward other than a very direct style. I certainly think our performance v Arsenal is comparable with Blackburn's last night.

 

I don't think they're anything alike. We had equal if not more possession than Arsenal and played with two strikers, which not many will do at the Emirates.

[The Prophet]

The Stoke/Blackburn games were disappointing from both a offensive and defensive point of view however you have to bear in mind we're a newly promoted, relatively limited squad, the more we strengthen the squad the more we're able to deal with tactics.

 

Hughton clearly knew we'd have a problem breaking sides down who park the bus and that's why he's brought in Ben Arfa and we've been pretty unlucky to lose him so early on so you have to look to the rest of the squad. The problem in both games was we were too heavily reliant on our left hand side which made us predictable. This happened against Stoke because of the poor delivery of Routledge and Nolan being marked out of the game which left Carroll, our biggest threat, isolated. It happened against Blackburn because Barton kept drifting inside which played into their hands, Nolan was market out the game, Shola/ Ranger were poor and once again because of this Carroll was left to fight a losing battle. That's a 4-4-1-1 and a 4-4-2 which have failed to effectively break down a compact defensive unit.

 

What other options are there though? Guthrie? Vuckic?  Ryan Taylor? There isn't a lot of choice and that's part and parcel of being new to the division. We knew at the beginning of the season Ben Arfa was going to massive in unlocking defences, we've lacked that kind of options for years but now he's injured we're light in options. Initially I thought a striker and right back would be needed in January but while we still need a striker I'd be looking to bring in a quality right winger. It would provide a lot more balance and as a consequence the side would be far more threatening. A quality delivery from both flanks would make us a different proposition and while Barton has provided that to an extent we need someone who will hug the touch line and attack the left back.

 

All four goals were pretty poor from a defensive perspective. Against Stoke two set plays and an individual error and a long ball against Blackburn. Against Stoke it was more understandable when you're under the cosh from such a direct side you will make mistakes and that's what their whole philosophy is about, we lost our concentration twice and we were punished. Yesterday it was more disappointing because its not like they had us under constant pressure. The first Tiote just seemed to lose it in his feet and the second was a rare error in judgement from both centre backs. There isn't too much you can do about that except hope they don't do it again.

 

[Hanshithispantz]

to be honest Spain would struggle to unlock blackburn's defence

[JCONA]

The only time we troubled blackburn was when jose/jonas got in round the back. We had so many free kicks, long diagonal balls to carroll and shola that they just mopped up it was all too predicable. Irconically we scored from one of these due to a rare lapse in concentration from samba, but other than that he had carroll in his pocket. We should of had routledge on alot earlier, if not starting to give us some pace on the other flank and i would of brought on loven instead of ranger

[womblemaster]

imagine he will pick similar team vs fulham. However vs cheski he should experiment, as its 98% we will lose that game.

 

carrol

 

vukic  nolan

 

ferguson tiote jonas

 

back 4

 

these 2 lads have bright future, time to give em run out. we gonna have to improvise till jan and buy proper right sided midfielder.

[ponsaelius]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[wormy]

:lol:

[ohmelads]

You need to get in behind teams like that, it is much easier to defend what's in front of you. We need either quick passing and movement (a la Arsenal) or a winger beating his man and getting to the byline. That's how to unlock defences like these. One you get to the byline it is panic stations for defenders because stuff is happening all around them, they have to keep their eye on the ball, watch out for the cross (high or along the ground) or the cut back and it's much easier for a striker to pull off them or an onrushing midfielder to find space in the box. It also forces defences very deep into their own penalty area, so even if they clear the header, you may have someone on the edge of the box who can smack it into a crowded penalty area with the keeper unsighted. How many goals do you see like this.

 

We only have Gutierrez who looks capable of getting to the byline and we all know about his ability with the final ball. Teams like Chelsea even get the full backs bombing forward and overlapping but this is risky for a team like us who could be easily hit on the counter. Teams are scared to counter the likes of Chelsea in numbers because they want to always have men behind the ball and make themselves hard to beat - they don't want an end to end game.

 

Quite simply the wingers have to do better (Routledge and Gutierrez) or we need new wingers. Routledge is more likely to get in those positions than Barton or Guthrie but lacks the final ball and defensively leaves his full back exposed. In short, we need a decent right winger, and then we can have a balanced midfield and go at these teams from both sides.

[madras]

You need to get in behind teams like that, it is much easier to defend what's in front of you. We need either quick passing and movement (a la Arsenal) or a winger beating his man and getting to the byline. That's how to unlock defences like these. One you get to the byline it is panic stations for defenders because stuff is happening all around them, they have to keep their eye on the ball, watch out for the cross (high or along the ground) or the cut back and it's much easier for a striker to pull off them or an onrushing midfielder to find space in the box. It also forces defences very deep into their own penalty area, so even if they clear the header, you may have someone on the edge of the box who can smack it into a crowded penalty area with the keeper unsighted. How many goals do you see like this.

 

We only have Gutierrez who looks capable of getting to the byline and we all know about his ability with the final ball. Teams like Chelsea even get the full backs bombing forward and overlapping but this is risky for a team like us who could be easily hit on the counter. Teams are scared to counter the likes of Chelsea in numbers because they want to always have men behind the ball and make themselves hard to beat - they don't want an end to end game.

 

Quite simply the wingers have to do better (Routledge and Gutierrez) or we need new wingers. Routledge is more likely to get in those positions than Barton or Guthrie but lacks the final ball and defensively leaves his full back exposed. In short, we need a decent right winger, and then we can have a balanced midfield and go at these teams from both sides.

it's easy to say we need to get behind them as, without the quality  its bloody obvious what we'll do and that was evident on wednesday. with nothing happening through the middle the opposition will make it very difficuilt to get behind them. we need to mix it up like we did against the mackems.

 

is it pushing things too far to suggest wednesdays non performance was down to nolan not showing much and as such we had nothing through the middle ?

[Dinho lad]

imagine he will pick similar team vs fulham. However vs cheski he should experiment, as its 98% we will lose that game.

 

carrol

 

vukic  nolan

 

ferguson tiote jonas

 

back 4

 

these 2 lads have bright future, time to give em run out. we gonna have to improvise till jan and buy proper right sided midfielder.