Back to Basics...

[king canary 7,607]

If I was the manager I''d be looking at going back to basics in my team setup/style of play.

Keep your best players in their best positions. Priorities a solid back four with cover from midfield and attack with pace. It feels like we''ve over complicated things recently in an attempt to shoehorn in the likes of Howson, Wes and Naismith together.

I''d line us up...

Ruddy

Pinto- Klose- Bennett- Olson

Redmond- Tettey- O''Neil- Brady

Naismith

Jerome

Exploit the fact we have pace down the flanks, don''t be afraid to play it a bit longer to Jerome, ask him to hold it up and bring Naismith into play.

Tell Tettey and O''Neil their job is simply to provide cover so if the full backs bomb on one of them fills in.

Don''t ask the centre backs to do too much with the ball as they can''t handle being pressured.

Try and exploit the channels and most of all stay in position. If we lose the ball we drop into two banks of four- against Villa Wes and Howson kept leaving Martin and Brady 2-on-1 and it was easy to exploit.

Obviously Tettey is suspended for the next game but Howson or Mulumbu can fill in.

This would be my blueprint- not exactly earth shattering but it feels like what we need right now.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,759]

agree......although i''d still have MBokani ahead of Jerome

.

If a manager picks his best players in each position, even if we lose ,its one less thing people have as a stick to beat him with as nobody could accuse him of playing square pegs in rounds holes.

.

if having played our "best team" we''re still not good enough....well thats a different argument.

[ZLF 274]

if we start with BOTH Redmond & Wes we concede a third less goals, score twice as many and gain nearly 4 times as many points per game (P10 F16 A15 Pts 17) than starting with neither or just one of them (15,12,33,6)

Chose a stable back four so they start to gel, esp at cb - beyond Klose they all have glaring issues right now - so pick and stick.

Up front none have demonstrated any real goal threat - pays ya money and takes your choice. just build around a 4231 with the 3 being mainly Redmond Wes & Naismith interchanging posititions, adding in howson for wes when he cant do two games in 3/4 days.

[sgncfc 1,228]

I''d have Bamford instead of Jerome and Martin instead of Pinto.

Except we all know he won''t do that.

[king canary 7,607]

THe reason I''ve put Pinto in over Martin is that I think pace down the flanks is important for this sort of team and Pinto gives that. Hopefully with the two more defensively minded central midfields to cover him when he gets forward his positional weaknesses won''t be exposed.

I like Bamford (from what I saw yesterday) but again think we need to be a bit more direct so need someone who can hold the ball up, work the channels and generally bring other into play. I''ve honestly not seen enough of Bamford to know if he can do that though.

I prefer Naismith to Wes as if we are going to be more direct you need someone to get close to the striker, who can pick up lay offs and flicks on etc. Wes likes to drift all over the pitch and often leaves the striker isolated which means either the ball often gets lost up top OR you have one of the wingers getting well out of position to get closer to the striker.

[Matt Morriss 69]

Is Tettey suspended again? Surely not? Is he was banned for picking up 5 yellows v Spurs yes. Thats a one game ban???

Spot on with the team selection, was saying it yesterday, I don''t like Wes and Howson on the wings, square pegs. I don''t like Brady at LB. We have perfectly good wingers at the club in Brady, Jarvis and Redmond so why aren''t we using them and putting central midfielders there instead?

What msg does this send to the likes of Jarvis and Redmond, even Brady must be thinking he''s better than Wes at left wing and questioning AN''s decision.

In the past we''ve struggled when managers started with the square peg syndrome. Hughton done it, Roeder done it. The only time we''ve looked strong was when players were played where there best. Lambert did it with Hoolahan and Holt, Pilks and Bennett etc. Neil started doing it with Hoolahan and Jerome and Redmond.

Now he''s gone all square peg syndrome and playing Wes left and Howson as a winger and Brady LB and its not working and were a shadow of our former self.

Not rocket science! Infuriates me when managers play people out of position. We seem to have a history of it and I don''t see it happening at other clubs.

[king canary 7,607]

Tettey got a two game ban as it was for picking up 10 yellows across the season.

[SwindonCanary 455]

Maybe AN should go back to our most successful period and play 5-3-2  with wing-backs.

[Kingston Yellow 220]

Agree with your back to basics principles and would like us to go back to a style that got us promoted and underpinned our positive start to the season - but from what I''ve seen of Pinto so far, no way can we afford Pinto and Redmond on the same flank. We will get destroyed. I''d play Martin or Whittaker - however unfashionable they are.

[Molly Windley 76]

I do not think our plight is down to formations, or even the players selected.Every matchday one or two players make basic errors or do something stupid that leads to the opposition scoring.If it was the same player or players we could swap them out, but its different players in every game.No idea how AN can stop that, its endemic in the squad at the moment, not pointing the finger at any individual player, they have all been guilty of it at some point.I cannot think of any player that has not cost us goals or results.

[king canary 7,607]

Molly- one of the things he could do is to simplify in my opinion. This is what Lambert did so well with some quite limited players at times, kept it simple, everyone knew their role and it meant players played as more than the sum of their parts.

[The Great Wall Of Tettey 0]

Brady is absolutely wasted at left back, not only do you lose his attacking ability but I honestly don''t think he''s any better defensively than olsson anyway but as a left hand pairing they''re IMO the best we have by a long way, they attack together and then drop back and defend together.

Mbokani and Naismith seem to link up well and the latter is always 5 yards away from him looking for knock downs but what''s the point in playing so narrow with Howson & hoolahan wide when we''ve got essentially a target man upfront? Naismith spent half the game running the channels trying to create space for that very reason, zero width. Frustrating seeing Brady lb, Jarvis olsson and Redmond on the bench, all our best crossers of the ball not even involved!

I''ve said it on other posts in the past if we don''t play hoolahan behind the striker we don''t play him at all. He leaves Brady exposed at left back and offers nothing defensively, always looking to cut in wide and obviously isn''t quick enough to make a run down the wing. Don''t get me wrong I''m not blaming him but you have to look at Alex neil and ask why he''s trying to fit him in when he''s virtually useless out on the wing. Those who went yesterday I''m sure will agree, Micah Richards spent the entire first half standing on the halfway line collecting balls unmarked down the villa right and If they weren''t absolutely dire they would have created even more down that side.

I still think Howson is our best central midfielder too, poor sod is getting stuck in with it down the right but that''s not his natural position either. Although the context of the game had changed 65 minutes in, when Howson moved central he did great work distributing the ball and made some important tackles when we were committing men up the pitch.

As for the right back position everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I don''t think we can even select 1 without having a decent argument about who''s been consistant this season! I''d still go with wisdom I think he''s solid and hasn''t really made any glaring errors but that won''t ever happen now he''s not even making the bench.

The team I would select personally would be

Ruddy

Wisdom Bennett Klose Olsson

Mulumbu Howson

Redmond Naismith Brady

mbokani

I think Bennett deserves to be in the side I think he''s actually performed better than bassong and was unfairly dropped. Your guess is as good as mine as to who pairs him. As written above I would like Howson back centrally and with tettey suspended I''d have the energy of mulumbu pairing him.

[Molly Windley 76]

[quote user="king canary"]Molly- one of the things he could do is to simplify in my opinion. This is what Lambert did so well with some quite limited players at times, kept it simple, everyone knew their role and it meant players played as more than the sum of their parts.[/quote]If you are saying that AN has tinkered too much and tried to out guess the oppositions line up and game plans far too often, then I agree. If you are saying that we need to play our own game, have continuity in selection and a set formation, again I agree.If you are saying that he wrongly changes players around because "they have shown they wanted it" in training or have one off game, then I agree.Does AN or anyone else on here or at the club actually know why individuals keep making mistakes, then I cannot see that, or else we would`nt still be making them.

[Jacko 0]

Haven''t watched the horror show back but my thoughts were at the time sitting there at Villa Park:

1. Stop changing it every week. That’s 11 different defensive combinations in 25 league matches. The players don’t know whether they’re coming or going.

2.Play actual wingers (i.e. Brady and Redmond) on the wing rather than central midfielders like Hoolahan and Howson.

3.Play Bamford or Jerome up top (players that offer movement, Mbokani is too static)

4. Play actual full backs at full back (i.e. Olsson)

5. Play your most complete central midfielder (Howson) in central midfield.

6. Play Bennett (a right sided centre back) at right centre back, which will allow Klose (a left sided centre back) to play in his natural position. Only then should Klose be judged.

If we go down having done all that I can accept it. Even if I don’t like it.

[Clever Farke 64]

Agee, Mbok is too static, Brady wasted at LB.

Ruddy

Wisdom. Klose. Bassong. Olsson.

Redmond Howson. O''Neill. Brady

Naismith

Bamford

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

Bennet is our most competent CB . He is the only one that actually attacks the incoming cross ,, Klose ... I am convinced we are being conned with him .. Worst CB on the books if that is possible !

[The Great Wall Of Tettey 0]

[quote user="Hughtonanny"]Agee, Mbok is too static, Brady wasted at LB.

Ruddy

Wisdom. Klose. Bassong. Olsson.

Redmond Howson. O''Neill. Brady

Naismith

Bamford[/quote]

Completely disagree with mbokani opinions. Because he''s such a big lump there''s such an assumption he just stands in one place, would be very interesting to look at the ground covered stats. He covers more ground than he gets credit for, holds the ball up, wins shedloads of long balls, lays it off and gets into the box. He shouldn''t be taking people on and running the channels and that''s simply due to the poor tactics from Neil.

He has to play with wingers! IMO he shouldn''t be a casualty it''s silly to drop him for bamford who plays off the shoulder and then select 2 out and out wingers? If we''re going to persist with this hoolahan Howson wide then I completely agree that jerome/bamford should be playing instead of him but if we''re selecting wingers mbokani should be playing 100%

[AmericanNorwichFan 0]

I agree with Hughtonanny, remember yesterday during the game when Mbokani got into a foot race with Okore, who is by no means a slow or weak centre back, but Mbokani simply pushed him off and retained his dribble.

[93vintage 16]

I''ve said it a million times, and I heard one of the commentators say the same against Villa. We keep losing the ball, which is causing players to become tense and lose confidence. Our training ought to be with small groups passing it about, because we''d be working on our biggest weakness.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

I think these posts show just how big a problem we have with team selection, hardly anyone picks the same lineups. There arnt even regular selections, apart from Klose and Naismith and these two are probably being picked just because they are new.

[Capt. Pants 4,234]

In the words of "Mike Bassett England Manager" we will play 4-4 feckin 2.Mbok is too isolated. We need two up top and press higher up the pitch. Ask questions of the opposition, not the other way round.