Barham Blitz

McLean's is more retrospective blame - or at least highlighting where people need to be covering for him when he is caught wandering - than constructive advice ... But that said, people should remember that Kenny wasn't signed as a defensive midfielder and really doesn't have the mentality or positional discipline for it. We have just tried to shoehorn him in there in the absence of anyone else. See also Sargent at wide right...

Parke is Farke lite. He even rhymes. Similar possession based philosophy but with less success on a bigger budget. Quite possibly better than Smith but I don't think he would address the wider issues. Of the known names out there I'd be tempted by Nathan Jones at Luton. But given the dearth of compelling domestic options I suspect that we'll be looking at a continental coach next time. One with a similar clarity of style to Farke but maybe who has had success with a small club in a decent league based on a counter-attacking philosophy rather than pure possession and therefore in Webber's mind at least better suited to the Premiership struggle. No idea who that would be. But that's how I would approach it. Edit - didn't realise Parker's net spend figures. But still worse than Farke so point still kind of relevant...

Did anyone see the post-match interview with Bilic ? Now he doesn't have any sort of reputation as a tactical genius, but listening to him talk about the way he has set Watford up based on the players he has and how and why he decided how to best utilise Sarr against us just highlighted for me a clarity of thought and understanding that we just don't seem to have at the moment. It may just be that Smith has these thoughts and just doesn't broadcast them to the nation after a game. But if that is the case those they don't seem to be translating themselves into actions on the pitch ...

As I said on another thread you can see that he is a long way from match fit, but can also see what he will bring in terms of calmness, organisation, physicality and just being in the right place to snuff things out. Pinged a couple of decent long passes as well which was nice. Encouraging.

Autos will be a lot lower points wise this season than has historically been the case. Which is probably just as well mind. I'm one of those who has been arguing that our performances didn't warrant our league position, particularly without playing any of the real promotion candidates, but the overall standard of the division this season is really not that great. There are no standout teams and Sheffield without Berge for the busiest stretch of the season just as Hayden and Dimi come back means that we shouldn't entirely despair of top two just yet. But a lot of work to be done in every department at the moment.

United have Sander Berge out until after the World Cup. Easily their best player.

Sara's corners are so much more threatening.

Hayden doesn't even look close to match fit but you can instantly see what he is going to bring. Takes up good positions and organises - looks to be taking over pointing duties from Kenny but before the event rather than after ...

So who recruits new Recruitment Chiefs then if they've all been sacked ... ? 🤔

My personal opinion - and I don't want to outright dismiss yours because I haven't seen him in that role - is that Nunez might be another Vrancic in that role. Looks good on paper but his range of passing is better suited to a deeper role. I still think a lopsided 4-3-3 with Nunez on the right of the midfield 3 but with Sargent as the nine and Pukki joining from wide is the way to go. Really need Hayden and Dimi and arguably Cantwell back to make any of the necessary formations work. I'm beginning to come around to Kenny keeping Dimi's left back role warm ahead of Byram though because we lose so much balance with a defensively minded right footer at left back.

Yes. If anybody is actually interested in how and why formations and numbering conventions have evolved over time I can thoroughly recommend 'Inverting the Pyramid' by Jonathan Wilson. Not quite as dry as it sounds, but probably not one for the all formations are the same brigade.

Sheffield United, Burnley, Watford and ourselves should - on paper at least - be the standout teams in this division. We will have a much clearer idea by the end of this month where we are likely to end up. So far we have picked up points more or less where we probably should have if we want to be challenging for automatic promotion (which to be fair may be enough to get us up anyway given our historic issues against the bigger teams in this division even when we end up winning it.) And we are second because our rivals haven't always. But there are greater challenges to come in the next few weeks. Hopefully teams with a bit more ambition will prove less of an obdurate defensive obstacle even allowing for their greater attacking threat. Although they will probably be thinking exactly the same about us. I think we've seen enough of the division to be confident of playoffs at worst but for me the jury is still out on top two come the end of the season. A potentially defining few weeks ahead.

First half I thought that there was almost a case for switching the full backs as it was evident that Reading put the fast tricky winger against Byram and tried to isolate Aarons against Carroll both with some success.

Let's knock this one on the head from the outset. You can't play two attacking full backs / wing backs if one of them is a defensively minded right footed player at left back without a defensively minded proper CDM who can slot back into a centre back role with some comfort. So without Dimi it wouldn't offer much attacking threat down the left anyway and without Hayden in a 4-3-3 it would be positional suicide. Or without Dimi and Hayden (or at a push Lungi centrally but who isn't mobile enough really) in a 3-5-2 or similar. It was noticeable yesterday that Aarons was pushed on in the second half to provide the overload on that flank but that Byram sat more tucked in (which he can do to some extent) in more of a lopsided 3-4-3 But the reverse was not true when we were attacking from the left and without that CDM we leave massive space to be exploited on the counter even then. Our current CM options don't offer enough positional nous or physical ability to counter it. In a 4-3-3 the width has to come from the two wide forwards. Aarons can't be one of the back 3 if the left back is bombing on due to his physical limitations so we would need the more physical 'Haydenesque' CDM to drop in or at least be sat right in front of the centre backs if we are asking him and / or Dimi to offer a forward option. You only have to look at the criticisms levelled at TAA to see the perils of an attacking fullback in a 4-3-3 even with the fact that Aarons doesn't offer the same threat as TAA and Liverpool both press higher and more effectively than we seem able to, consequently dominating possession more effectively with their higher quality of player. At least when they are playing well. Now the question off whether 4-3-3 is the best method of maximising the effect of the players that we have is another question entirely, but not one that the club seem prepared to ask themselves these days ...

Oh, I'm certainly not saying he would be nailed on. For me he wouldn't be. Just that if he does play it can only be as a #10 in the current side. His major saving grace previously was that he offered the only dead ball threat but now we have Nunez as an effective option there. Dowell isn't a bad player, but there are better and more effective (certainly in a 4-3-3) alternatives. If we are staying with 4-3-3 - which seems to be the case - I would like to see Ramsey or possibly Sara there [attacking member of the midfield 3] with Pukki playing nominally wide but drifting in and joining Sargent as striker. He does most of his best work in the channels anyway and might actually be more difficult to pick up. Until Dimi is back I'd probably play him from the right as Max offers more attacking width than Byram, but once Dimi is back I'd play him from the left so that he can drift into space on his right foot. Edit - got my 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 mixed up in the last paragraph ...

If Dowell plays it has to be as a 10 in a 4-2-3-1. When he played wide under Farke it was as an interchanging 3/4 3. He doesn't have the physical attributes to play wide or central in a 4-3-3. As someone has pointed out, it is concerning that he is preferred to Sara as an option in that system who was surely signed to play exactly that role.

Dimi providing width possibly. Byram on the wrong side no.

Depends on the opposition. If they sit in we have nobody who sees those little balls outside the centre back quickly enough to make Pukki effective and Sargent becomes the better option with Pukki playing off him IMO. If the opposition plays a higher line then Pukki absolutely because the ball doesn't have to be either as quick or as precise.

Not sure he did anything more than stand in the gaping hole that we inevitably leave in front of the centre backs and take pot shots. Think that says more about Norwich than Hendrick. We are so ponderous in possession we always leave ourselves open to a counter against a team that sits in and breaks quickly, then back peddle too far and leave that space.

Gibbs good. Kenny decent. Aside from that ... er ... I'm wondering if the ref could be the CDM we've been crying out for. Skipp like defensive midfield positioning on a number of occasions tonight. Reasonable point. Desperately dull performance. No incisiveness at all, exemplified by the amount of time Hanley seemed to be standing still with the ball at his feet looking confused.

I don't particularly like anybody doing it but in the professional game winning is all and it is up to the officials and the law makers to regulate it. We do it - Sheffield United have a song about playing football in the Norwich way after some particularly blatant Angus Gunn time wasting a few years back - and I'll never forget Bamford and the Middlesbrough keeper taking it to new levels a few years ago. If it is ever to stop, the officials need to recognise and penalise it. Until then, anyone not doing it puts themselves at a disadvantage. Unless you're Robbie Savage of course in which case Karma may have a say in events ... 🤣

Probably poached the guy who edited those Turkey v Luxembourg highlights that were doing the rounds on here last week ...

I'm developing a soft spot for Luton. Nathan Jones is doing a great job there on a bit of a budget and it seems to be something of a retirement home for ex canaries. Not enough of a soft spot to visit that godawful ground mind you but pleased they are doing well after their relatively recent travails.

I think Southgate is doing pretty well to be fair. People complain about the football, but which other European international side would we not be complaining about if we were from there ? The French get the same criticisms we do, Germany aren't much better, the Italian team are considered by their own fans to be a bit meh at the moment, the same with the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese sides and the golden Belgian generation haven't won anything either. International football used to be regarded as the pinnacle of the sport but in reality with the richest club teams having a better average standard of players drilled to within an inch of their lives that hasn't been the case for a long time. Southgate has taken that team a very long way in a relatively short space of time, made them tactically a lot more sophisticated and has a tournament record that we could only dream of a few years ago. The lack of a compelling alternative to Maguire has necessitated some concessions in the midfield structure that do result in our being a little stodgier than we would ideally like because we have to have a relatively deep back line to compensate for his lack of pace. But we are lacking high class competition there and for all the national conviction that we are brim full of attacking promise I'm not convinced that we could field a balanced lineup that would blow teams away. Southgate is working with what he has, and working to a plan. I forget the relatively recent match where he went a bit more gung ho but it smacked of selecting a team to prove his point and we were predictably totally undone in midfield in both a defensive and a creative sense. It may not be as easy on the eye as we would like, but I'm not convinced that a replacement would be the simple route to success that the media and many fans would have us believe.

Leeds 2018/19 the year we went up and they imploded. Although possibly because my company is based in Leeds and they have the most irritatingly glory-hunting fan base in British football who were utterly unbearable whilst they were winning and then hilariously hysterical as the wheels came off. There was one memorable rant from one of their fans about the number of last minute winners we scored that season which just made it all the sweeter as well ... That 3-1 is one of my favourite ever away trips.