Taiwan Canary 144 Posted February 24 @Parma Ham's gone mouldy Things are looking up and we now look like a team that other teams don't want to play. Do we have any weapons or is it the "collective' threat that causes oppositions to scratch their heads? Big gane today, I hope we are able to drop some bombs! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
If wed kept Howie.. 208 Posted February 24 Our chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear, fear and surprise.. Our two weapons are fear and surprise, and errrrr ruthless efficiency.. Our three weapons are fear and surprise, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical dedication to the pope.. Our four weapons are fear and surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical dedication to the pope and Sara and Sargent.. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drazen Muzinic 1,445 Posted February 24 There are a few weapons on this forum when we lose... 2 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mannings bandy legs 389 Posted February 24 59 minutes ago, Taiwan Canary said: @Parma Ham's gone mouldy Things are looking up and we now look like a team that other teams don't want to play. Do we have any weapons or is it the "collective' threat that causes oppositions to scratch their heads? Big gane today, I hope we are able to drop some bombs! Think its a case of our manager never knows what he's doing,so the players don't know what their doing,so the opposition don't know what were doing........and repeat.....🤣 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
If wed kept Howie.. 208 Posted February 24 6 minutes ago, mannings bandy legs said: Think its a case of our manager never knows what he's doing,so the players don't know what their doing,so the opposition don't know what were doing........and repeat.....🤣 yep... surprise and fear Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
......and Smith must score. 1,343 Posted February 24 2 hours ago, Taiwan Canary said: Big gane today, I hope we are able to drop some bombs! I think the good folk of Plymouth have had enough of bombs this week so just as well Argyle are at Middlesbrough today, about the furthest away they could possibly get. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Terminally Yellow 2,448 Posted February 24 1 hour ago, Drazen Muzinic said: There are a lot of weapons on this forum Fixed it for you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty13 2,235 Posted February 24 Serious answer is Sargent and Rowe IMO. Others have weapon like abilities, like a Sara free kick. However those two are the only ones currently we will very much struggle to replace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220 Posted February 25 (edited) On 24/02/2024 at 10:57, Taiwan Canary said: @Parma Ham's gone mouldy Things are looking up and we now look like a team that other teams don't want to play. Do we have any weapons or is it the "collective' threat that causes oppositions to scratch their heads? Big gane today, I hope we are able to drop some bombs! Hmm….no is the short answer. I would suggest that Wagner’s incessant tinkering is - in part - because he wants to create difficulties for opposition coaches due our very absence of weapons. Rowe is a good player, Sargent is decent at this level, though neither are weapons. Rowe is ‘simply’ good. The only weapons in the side - weaponish - are the horribly flawed Barnes and (pace @PurpleCanary) Hernandez. Barnes creates a structural issue for opposition coaches repeatedly. He is awkward in deeper spaces and acts as a repeating fulcrum for other actions. He is hard to stop when he does this and he does it repeatedly. He is a building block. He doesn’t score however. He doesn’t really get into dangerous spaces and places either. He certainly facilitates others playing better - which is welcome - though not game-defining. Hernandez is only a weapon by technical definition. As time goes by, perhaps not even that, as opposition coaches have learned not to worry about him too much. He scares the life out of you once, bursting past players, driving bulldog-like into good areas….then…then…..nothing. He just doesn’t have the football brain or guile to make the right decision at the right moment. He can’t even be coached to ‘just hit the right areas’. It is a critical defect and frustrating. A weapon is not a ‘good player’ and good players are not necessarily weapons. The definition I like is ‘does something repeatedly to tactically affect the game in your favour that cannot be ignored by the opposition coach and forces him or her to change their preferred methodology to deal with it’ This does not mean ‘watch Rowe closely, he’s good’. It means a certain skill, ability, repeated movement or advantage that tips the overall plusvalenza of the game in your favour. You have an area of the pitch that will repeatedly lead to you winning micro battles time and time again (without tactical change). So Wagner creates deep striker midfield boxes, overloads high central areas with Barnes and Sargent working hard. The inverted wide players come in and out (not so special) and could go beyond (though Mostly don’t as they lack real pace). Full backs go outside and high when midfielders invert, though this often leaves too much central defensive responsibility on the two forwards (nominally) in that area, who are not midfielders - and certainly not defenders - and despite their relative diligence, it often leaves a fairly unconvincing ‘reverse mirror box’ of two centre backs plus Maclean and Sara. Maclean has often wandered off to cover someone else’s mistake somewhere else, whilst Sara is just…well…somewhere else. So centre backs are exposed and our midfield looks very open and flaky at times. It is something of a direct repercussion of trying to create a structural weapon in the absence of a real weapon. Me? I’m not sure why you don’t just put more faith in Rowe, play for free kicks for Sara and Nunez, solve the midfield issue by playing one striker only, and fill the gap in the middle by switching out Barnes for a CDM, freeing Sara to be more of a roaming 8-to-10 and back again… …plus of course behind the scenes I’d be in Knapper’s office every day filtering spreadsheets on weapons that we’d lovingly identified together. Then I’d kick and scream like a toddler until I got what I wanted… Parma Edited February 25 by Parma Ham's gone mouldy 🦮🙏🏼👌💪🏼 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PurpleCanary 5,562 Posted February 25 1 hour ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said: The only weapons in the side - weaponish - are the horribly flawed Barnes and (pace @PurpleCanary) Hernandez. Hernandez is only a weapon by technical definition. As time goes by, perhaps not even that, as opposition coaches have learned not to worry about him too much. He scares the life out of you once, bursting past players, driving bulldog-like into good areas….then…then…..nothing. He just doesn’t have the football brain or guile to make the right decision at the right moment. He can’t even be coached to ‘just hit the right areas’. It is a critical defect and frustrating. Parma Parma, you should stop referencing me on this cutely counter-intuitive point. It makes it look as if I am a bit of an expert on football, and we both know that absolutely isn't the case.🤩 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
