Some Big Decisions Needed

[king canary 7,654]

Last night we looked signifcantly better without Pukki on the pitch. A Smith team seems to benefit from having a central target who can play with his back to goal. Teemu clearly can't do that so Sargent needs to be in a central role

So it it time for Pukki to be on the bench? Or do we need to find a way to return to two up top? If so how can we cover our seriously fragile central midfield?

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Yes, he must be dropped. Its no time for affection. Sarge looked livelier up the middle even if he missed a good chance. And Rowe didn't put a foot wrong. And Rashica does now look dangerous.

We can't do much about the midfield but its time for Deano to show some backbone. I for one will extremely annoyed if its Kenny, Gilmour and A N Other.

[rock bus 854]

Whilst it feels so wrong ..I tend to agree. Pukki has been off form and doesnt necessarily suit Smiths game or the players he is playing.

Sadly, I'm not sure Sargent is anywhere near an adequate replacement.

But whilst agreeing, I'm not sure Brentford is the game to take that disruptive risk (last night definitely was!)

[Haus 259]

We have noone capable of playing those incisive balls through to him since Buendia and Cantwell are gone.

Its hard watching him out there chasing lost causes, he has a lot of heart.

[Yellow Wal 314]

He needs support, not dropping.

The best our attack has played all season was when Idah was up top with Teemu supporting him.

Sargent is nowhere as good in that role as Adam but perhaps it's the best we've got.

[hogesar 9,723]

I think it's a fair point but you'd hope at home to Brentford we'd have a bit more of the ball in the final thirds making Pukki vastly more useful.

[Midlands Yellow 4,050]

3 minutes ago, Haus said:

We have noone capable of playing those incisive balls through to him since Buendia and Cantwell are gone.

Its hard watching him out there chasing lost causes, he has a lot of heart.

The midfield needs a massive overhaul in the summer. Keep an eye on Hamer and O’Hare at Coventry. The former is great at a threaded defence splitting pass. Could probably get them for £10m combined and neither is on more than £10k a week. 

[Greavsy 2,421]

2 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

The midfield needs a massive overhaul in the summer. Keep an eye on Hamer and O’Hare at Coventry. The former is great at a threaded defence splitting pass. Could probably get them for £10m combined and neither is on more than £10k a week. 

We have raided Coventry before with Madison and Mcallum in recent times. Im sure we have a good relationship with them, having leant both back initially too.   

[Midlands Yellow 4,050]

1 minute ago, Greavsy said:

We have raided Coventry before with Madison and Mcallum in recent times. Im sure we have a good relationship with them, having leant both back initially too.   

Hamer is a bit of a thug too (not nasty,in a Emi king of way) something we are so lacking now. 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,781]

8 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Hamer is a bit of a thug too (not nasty,in a Emi king of way) something we are so lacking now. 

Although he is only about 5ft 6 though which I'm not too sure is what we need..

[Midlands Yellow 4,050]

8 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Although he is only about 5ft 6 though which I'm not too sure is what we need..

Have a look at the highlights on YouTube, Bristol City away. See what you think and who he reminds you of. 

[sgncfc 1,253]

33 minutes ago, Haus said:

We have noone capable of playing those incisive balls through to him since Buendia and Cantwell are gone.

Its hard watching him out there chasing lost causes, he has a lot of heart.

That would be apart from the golden chance he missed when it was still 0-0. Plus the ones he has also missed against Wolves, Liverpool (again) and several other games this season.

His stats suggest he scores 1 in 3 chances which is just not good enough in this league. He scored 27 last year but probably missed another 40 odd.

But he is the best we have by a mile.

[canarybubbles 1,937]

I'm a huge fan of Pukki, but we may as well bench him if we're going to play a style and system for which he is totally unsuited. To me, he looks demoralised and I hate to see a player who has does so much for us, and who still works his socks off, look like that.

[king canary 7,654]

2 minutes ago, sgncfc said:

His stats suggest he scores 1 in 3 chances which is just not good enough in this league. He scored 27 last year but probably missed another 40 odd.

A shot conversion of 33% would make Pukki one of the most efficient in the entire world.

[valiant 5]

Did we look that much better? Or did Liverpool take their foot off the gas?

Seems like there are a lot more issues in the team/formation then our top scorer

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by valiant

[Nuff Said 5,166]

Dropping Teemu would be madness unless there’s something seriously wrong with him. He did really well two seasons ago in the PL until he broke his toe, and tore up the Championship last season. The problem is not him.
 

Finding an effective way of getting the best out of one of our best players is what we need to be doing.

[canarydan23 4,060]

1 hour ago, Midlands Yellow said:

The midfield needs a massive overhaul in the summer. Keep an eye on Hamer and O’Hare at Coventry. The former is great at a threaded defence splitting pass. Could probably get them for £10m combined and neither is on more than £10k a week. 

My cousin is a home and away Coventry fan and after the August window shut I was bemoaning our failure to find an adequate replacement for Skipp and he mentioned he was surprised we didn't come in for Hamer as he felt he would have done a great job for us and said he doubted they would have refused a £5 million offer. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of him so didn't really give it much thought.

Guess his stats didn't raise any flags in the NCFC scouting office.

Edited March 3, 2022 by canarydan23

[smooth 114]

He had a decent chance in the first half as placheta and rashica bundled the ball to him to take strike at goal.

There was a lot of running and it was interesting to see rashica, placheta and puķki make forward runs either running offside or players missing the right ball. So the right things were being done and just not capitalised on. 

Sargent had his chance where again he didn't put his foot through the ball. We need to get shots on target and shoot when the chances are there. We do not have the vision on buendia, vrancic or cantwell to slip in great balls. So we need to take shots early and try and wrong step the brentford defence and goalkeeper.

I do wonder with the players either side where he may be best now Idah is injured. Pukki needs chances to get some confidence but he hasn't quite clicked with the wider players. He is well marked and stewarded in this league, so we need someone to step up to take a little pressure away.

[ridgeman 135]

One big decision for Saturday is it Byram or Aarons. In a receent encounter with Brentford the commentator said that Brentfford had been told to launch high balls to the far post to test Aarons lack of height. This is not a knock at Aarons but just a preference for Byram for this particular game.

[Yellow Wal 314]

The other side of this coin is that we will need Aarons' attacking play against a weaker team in the league.

[Mr.Carrow 378]

20 minutes ago, ridgeman said:

One big decision for Saturday is it Byram or Aarons. In a receent encounter with Brentford the commentator said that Brentfford had been told to launch high balls to the far post to test Aarons lack of height. This is not a knock at Aarons but just a preference for Byram for this particular game.

I will seriously start to doubt Smith if Gilmour starts Saturday and Byram doesn't. Byram is taller, more physical and experienced than Aarons. We need these experienced leaders right now. 

[Midlands Yellow 4,050]

1 hour ago, canarydan23 said:

My cousin is a home and away Coventry fan and after the August window shut I was bemoaning our failure to find an adequate replacement for Skipp and he mentioned he was surprised we didn't come in for Hamer as he felt he would have done a great job for us and said he doubted they would have refused a £5 million offer. I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of him so didn't really give it much thought.

Guess his stats didn't raise any flags in the NCFC scouting office.

 

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

17 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

 

I may well be wrong but I thought Hamer was more of a playmaker.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,781]

Really big shame we can't revert to 4-4-2 as it really does seem to fit Pukki perfectly. Guess we could try Sargent as a striker but we would have to then have Placheta on the wing.. Which, yeah. I used to be critical of Pukki playing with two up top but the Finland team only ever play him that way and he has become their all time top goalscorer as a result playing that way for them so..

 

Sadly when he plays on his own in a one up top formation and does not get any support from the players around him he ends up looking invisible and sadly his killer first touch finishing seems to have vanished too

Edited March 3, 2022 by cambridgeshire canary

[rock bus 854]

29 minutes ago, Mr.Carrow said:

I will seriously start to doubt Smith if Gilmour starts Saturday and Byram doesn't. Byram is taller, more physical and experienced than Aarons. We need these experienced leaders right now. 

I've been calling for Byram to start instead of Aarons for weeks.

Having seen the way Byram dealt robustly with the Liverpool players and continually got across to the wingers to block crosses (ironically only one he missed did lead to 1st goal but that was as much due to inept marking in the box) I'm even more convinced he should be starting.

[Yellow Wal 314]

18 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Really big shame we can't revert to 4-4-2 as it really does seem to fit Pukki perfectly. Guess we could try Sargent as a striker but we would have to then have Placheta on the wing.. Which, yeah. I used to be critical of Pukki playing with two up top but the Finland team only ever play him that way and he has become their all time top goalscorer as a result playing that way for them so..

 

Sadly when he plays on his own in a one up top formation and does not get any support from the players around him he ends up looking invisible and sadly his killer first touch finishing seems to have vanished too

If we went to 4-4-2 I would prefer Rowe to Placheta. I am still waiting for a meaningful shot from Placheta, at least Rowe caused them problems and had a strike on goal.

[pete 320]

we don't have personell to play an effective 433.  Back to 4231 with Sorensen as one of the 2 with a new recruit.  And a proper No 10 not Dowell.  And a revitalised Pukki or a replacement.  This is for next season toolate for this.  Impressed with Zimm lasr night can be 4th choice CB in the Champs provided can remain fit.  

[Dr Greenthumb 750]

We look better with Pukki getting some support. We kept three attackers up the pitch as the 2nd half wore on. 
Id like to see Pukki get that support

[Midlands Yellow 4,050]

5 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

I may well be wrong but I thought Hamer was more of a playmaker.

However you’d describe him he’s something we are lacking now. Likes a tackle, can pick a pass and takes one for the team. Absolute bargain for someone in the summer taking it that Coventry stay down. 

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

40 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

However you’d describe him he’s something we are lacking now. Likes a tackle, can pick a pass and takes one for the team. Absolute bargain for someone in the summer taking it that Coventry stay down. 

You said your conversation with the Coventry City fan was about a direct replacement for Skipp, so if Hamer isn’t a defensive central midfielder but a principally a playmaker then he would hardly fit the bill. Which might explain why it isn’t so surprising that we didn’t sign him last summer. Whether he might be a suitable signing this summer is an altogether different question to the point you were making about a supposed past mistake.