grants subbing - good or bad???

[lucky green trainers 0]

for me granty has started well - and seems to have his finger well on the pulse.  last season i wasn''t always happy with his substitutions  decisions in terms of personnel or timing.  impressed me  on tuesday night though - subbing brown  right after the second ''elbow'' incident - to prevent retaliation, although drury probably copped it instead later on.  also on saturday,  subbing brellier at half-time and bring on a hungry looking fozzy - fighting for his place, who got us going imo, until getting crocked.  i would''ve either brought on dave striker or dion for brown though, who looked ineffective - instead cureton was brought off.  however, after this sub - brown seemed to drop deeper and bolster the midfield when necesary - we were ahead by then.

[Cobain18 0]

Peter Grant di exactly the right thing on Saturda. There were so many fans around me caling for more substitutions, Grant realised that Fozzy alone would create more spark and stuck to his guns - for me tactically and for substitutes Grant got it exactly right

[NCFC_Chris 0]

i think the fact he has "his" squad now and far more options than he did last season has enabled him to change games from the bench, Chris Martin wasn''t even able to get a place in the 16

[Cobain18 0]

[quote user="NCFC_Chris"]i think the fact he has "his" squad now and far more options than he did last season has enabled him to change games from the bench, Chris Martin wasn''t even able to get a place in the 16[/quote]

 

I agree, he has more options which allow him more flexibility in his substitutions

[Yellowfuture 71]

[quote user="NCFC_Chris"]i think the fact he has "his" squad now and far more options than he did last season has enabled him to change games from the bench, Chris Martin wasn''t even able to get a place in the 16[/quote]

 

So far so good. Thanks to the summer he now has players he can bring on to change a game without weakening the team. Good tactical decision that paid off on Saturday!

[USAcanary 0]

I agree i think his subs were spot on.

Bringing on Davie Striker at the end was spot on...........

At that stage we are looking to hold onto the win (its called holding our shape on the radio thingy)

Obviously Brown and DS are more useful when the long balls get hoofed forward, plus they are both tall so can defend at set plays.

If we can get Hucks and Smith back and keep the current players fit I feel we really might have something.

Add in another quality central defender and a left sided player and we might be looking at the playoffs.

I think the team has improved a lot since last year in many areas, once they start to play together more and get 100% fit I think we can match anyone in this division.

[Shyster 0]

Shocking tactics.

Brellier was clearly unfit, so shouldn''t have been fielded in the first place and Cureton''s, who saved Grant''s bacon, coming off was totally unecessary.

Dublin should''ve replaced Doherty much earlier on but didn''t even make an appearence and Chadwick should also have started on the left instead of Lappin.

Grant worries me.

[Gingerpele 0]

i wanted cureton to say on in both games though, but the rest seem to be good

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="Shyster"]

Shocking tactics.

Brellier was clearly unfit, so shouldn''t have been fielded in the first place and Cureton''s, who saved Grant''s bacon, coming off was totally unecessary.

Grant worries me.

[/quote]

Grant doesnt want Cureton getting to big for his boots by scoreing a hattrick.  You forget Grant has a problem with players with ability.  Probably due to the fact he was a talentless pile of **** when he was playing here.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Grant was right to protect Jamie and give pitch time to Dave who is also much bigger and better at holding the ball.

[Shyster 0]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="Shyster"]

Shocking tactics.

Brellier was clearly unfit, so shouldn''t have been fielded in the first place and Cureton''s, who saved Grant''s bacon, coming off was totally unecessary.

Grant worries me.

[/quote]

Grant doesnt want Cureton getting to big for his boots by scoreing a hattrick.  You forget Grant has a problem with players with ability.  Probably due to the fact he was a talentless pile of **** when he was playing here.

[/quote]

 

Performances so far suggest that Grant is content to grind out results at the expense of flair - besides Huckerby & Smith, Chadwick is the only natural flair player we have and his not being in the first eleven lends the afforementioned theory confirmation.

The trouble with grinding out results is that you need four extremely fit, strong & reliable defenders through the middle of the team and in Brellier, Russell, Doherty & Shackell we really don''t have that - Russell looks to be the only one of those four who''s up to the task so far and he even confessed to not being fully fit before the start of the season so how long will his motor last? - Brellier is clearly unfit  and Doherty & Shackell are like headless chickens whenever they''re up against 5ft 11" + forwards, and there''s plenty of those to face within this Leagues outfits.

To date, we''ve been extremely lucky and by playing Grants way it won''t be long before we''re on the shite end of a drubbing - some skill has to be combined with the grinding in order to progress in this League - I hope that when Huckerby & Smith are fit, Grant drops a defending midfielder for Smith or Chadwick and that he plays Huckerby instead of Lappin on the left. 

In the meantime Grant should introduce more flair by dropping Brellier and use the diamond formation with Russell at DMC and Chadwick at AMC - plus we need three reinforcements in the form of two defenders and a central-midfielder.

Otherwise we''re soon going to find ourselves in the mire.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

This league is all about consistency. Chelsea have ground their way to titles so why not us?

[megson 0]

I would say that considering Curo was not fit to start last saturday, and played from the start tuesday, that Grant was probably saving him to a degree and was concerned with his fitness.

Did he really have enough in his legs to finish the 90?

Also having the two big men up when under a little pressure gives us an outlet, and as was said earlier Brown dropped back a bit which helped.

The fresh legs of Dave gave the saints something else to think about too, and he did pretty well at closing their back 4 down and putting them under pressure. 

[Le Juge 0]

[quote user="Shyster"]

Shocking tactics.

Brellier was clearly unfit, so shouldn''t have been fielded in the first place and Cureton''s, who saved Grant''s bacon, coming off was totally unecessary.

Dublin should''ve replaced Doherty much earlier on but didn''t even make an appearence and Chadwick should also have started on the left instead of Lappin.

Grant worries me.

[/quote]I agree, shocking, I hate it when we win, god damn it.

Only problems I have was Vs Barnet when he brought on Martin at left wing when Chadwick was sitting on the bench.

[Shyster 0]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]This league is all about consistency. Chelsea have ground their way to titles so why not us?[/quote]

 

Short answer:

We don''t have a squad of forty quality players.

[Paul101 94]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="Shyster"]

Shocking tactics.

Brellier was clearly unfit, so shouldn''t have been fielded in the first place and Cureton''s, who saved Grant''s bacon, coming off was totally unecessary.

Grant worries me.

[/quote]

Grant doesnt want Cureton getting to big for his boots by scoreing a hattrick.  You forget Grant has a problem with players with ability.  Probably due to the fact he was a talentless pile of **** when he was playing here.

[/quote]

 

Have to agree about grants time here as a player awful waste of space

 

but!! and its a big but all the celtic fans i have talked to in the past count him as a legend and say up untill a injury just before he joined us he was like there roy keane

[Indy_Bones 442]

[quote user="Shyster"]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]This league is all about consistency. Chelsea have ground their way to titles so why not us?[/quote]

Short answer:

We don''t have a squad of forty quality players.[/quote]

Longer response:

Neither do Chelsea. Their current first team squad holds 29 players, of which that includes such ''big names'' as Harry Worley and Michael Woods...

Being less sarcastic, they''re obviously not lacking in quality, however, you don''t just need a team of world class players to ''grind'' results.

Last season Derby spent most of their games playing defensively, then simply went for the quick goal on the break and then sat back defending again.

As RH points out, winning the league is about consistency, and relying on flair to win you the league (at least at this level) just isn''t going to work, which is another reason why it''s so encouraging to see us getting the results in, when missing players like Hucks who can change a game on their own. If we can grind out some results and get flair wins in the others, then we''re on for a strong challenge.

Simple tactic, try to get a draw away - or better still, steal all 3 points, then ensure we get the results at home, and we''re there. So if I have to watch 20-30 matches of ''grinding'' which gets us promoted - so be it. The result is what is important, not the manner in which it''s acheived.