Blackburn 1 - Wolves 1 Verdict thread

[Tony Towner]

I agree, but there is one thing you are missing....Ian Holloway chooses MOTM. He sees him involved a lot so picks him.

 

[Penk Wolf]

Yeah, good point.

 

[The Bear]

Silvio - Batth - Stears - Doherty

Would be my back line. Batth has shown in the past with a more experienced head alongside him he's fine.

 

[Norman Deeley]

Is it just me or do some of our players just look not that fit? I'm thinking of Batth and Doherty from yesterday who simply look ponderous and not that athletic. Hope a new manager overhauls the fitness dept, because I've thought for a few seasons that some of our players look a yard off the pace. Or is it just me?

 

[Tony Towner]

Doherty has always looked like that, even when he was playing well at the back end of last season. Batth looks low on confidence.

 

[Premier Quality]

The only thing I want to pick out from yesterday really is how bad our full backs were defensively.

The number of times Doherty jogged back (or wandered) as the winger went down his side was appalling, and cbj was constantly playing in the centre so their right hand side players had time and space to pick their cross - we'll never do anything when half your defence is out of position the majority of the time.

House and batth were poor but I'm not surprised when they had to cope with that level of amateurism.

 

[Carrotdude]

My team would be as in the pic. 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-1-1. So many options to change to with this set up. Id personally set up as i have done (4231).
People can slate Stearman all they like but our Captain and player of the season of 14/15 would be a better leader and teacher for Hause and Iorfa. At least until January when this obviously need addressing. Price or Coady. JDB or Dico

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Swap Hause for Batth and you could probably put any one of our midfielders alongside Saiss but this is the shape I want to see and the front 4 I want to see in particular

 

[GoldFlagFlyingHigh]

I've seen a few people mention the full-backs but can they not see they were under instruction positionally? Edwards seemed to adopt Pep style tactics getting the full-backs to come into midfield in an attempt to make playing out from the back easier and at times it worked. A lot of our better play came from them starting attacks. It's going to have it's pros and cons but was nice to see him trying things to help our overall play.

 

[Siggy]

Edwards getting MOTM tells you everything you need to know about that game, dreadful.

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[Siggy]

Is it just me or do some of our players just look not that fit? I'm thinking of Batth and Doherty from yesterday who simply look ponderous and not that athletic. Hope a new manager overhauls the fitness dept, because I've thought for a few seasons that some of our players look a yard off the pace. Or is it just me?

I agree Danny looked wrecked as did several others. The pressing was nowhere near as intense as the MM era so fitness does look an issue.

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[Jamwolf]

Swap Hause for Batth and you could probably put any one of our midfielders alongside Saiss but this is the shape I want to see and the front 4 I want to see in particular

Cody/Prince/Saiss/Coady/Evans - perm any two of the five as your central midfielders. Doesn't matter much who.

I would then play two attacking out widers - Cav and Costa. And two up front - Bod and Dicko.

Defence all much of a muchness.

Call it 4-4-2 or 4-2-4, either way it's a good positive formation.

 

[Norman Deeley]

I've seen a few people mention the full-backs but can they not see they were under instruction positionally? Edwards seemed to adopt Pep style tactics getting the full-backs to come into midfield in an attempt to make playing out from the back easier and at times it worked. A lot of our better play came from them starting attacks. It's going to have it's pros and cons but was nice to see him trying things to help our overall play.

+1

 

[Premier Quality]

I did consider that - but the full backs had completely different instructions? That meant they couldn't defend as full backs? Either rob learnt a lot From Saunders or they were doing it very wrong.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I always have the same criteria when assessing a full back, get the defending right first and worry about the rest later. It's why I loved Kevin Foley at his best and why I don't like Doherty, he's been in the team on and off for nearly four years now and he still can't defend. CBJ isn't that much better on the other side but at least you can excuse him to an extent on the basis of his age and experience. Whether we can afford to support someone through that when they aren't even our player is another matter (frankly we don't have many other options, whereas we could easily pick someone else at right back and they'd do a better job).

As for Stearman being called a leader above, did you not see the QPR and Cardiff games at the start of last season? He was tasked with being the leader of the back four and he was appalling at it. He's never been an especially good defender but he could always rely on his pace to get him out of trouble at this level, he isn't quick any more and can't turn. Fulham didn't concede 78 goals last season with him as their major defensive signing by accident, they let us have him back for a year for nothing for a good reason.

 

[Siggy]

I agree with DW on the fullback situation I also think it put additional pressure on an already unstable CB partnership. If we had a better central defense I would feel a lot more comfortable, I wonder how different things would have been had Williamson been fit and playing??

Silvio to come in next week please Rob!

 

[The Bear]

None of Batth/Hause/Iorfa can lead and organise a defence. So saying Stears can't do it either is pretty moot. He has the experience over the rest so for me he plays.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He was explicitly called a leader above, I felt it necessary to point out that he isn't one.

Good to see his reputation is rapidly improving while he's sat on the bench.

 

[Lycan]

I think it's pretty clear that CB is the number 1 priority in Jan.

 

[Kenny]

I think it's pretty clear that CB is the number 1 priority in Jan.

2 of them.

 

[Alan]

2 of them.

3 for me.