A few thoughts, if I may...

TheCardinal · August 12, 2008

Time to panic? Hardly.

We''ve started seasons off in just as poor a fashion and gone on to be quite successful. Equally, there are examples of going on to do very, very poorly as well. We still don''t know where we''re going.

What I am worried about is three fold:

1) Roeder''s continued use of 4-3-1-2 formation. Used by top quality players, this formation works fabulously. In a lower division, it meets with unmitigated failure. Why? Simply because players in this division aren''t so multi-talented to make this formation work. You need players who are strong, hard working and talented. Usually, players in this division are only two of the three.

2) We need to find an effective system, and work it. Last season we had that with the one winger system. I''m not advocating a return to that system but rather sticking with the one system and work with it. Against Coventry, we seemed to have a decent system in the offering. We''ve changed that and looked poorer for it. I appreciate this system is lacking a fundamental aspect - the solid, target man - and the sooner this man is added the better. Even so, let''s run with the 4-4-2 - if all that is wrong is the finishing, let''s keep it up and at least keep doing what we''re doing right.

3) Our strike force. Obviously, again, not finished. But even so, we do seem to have two shot-shy strikers. We must learn to stop taking one, two, three touches too many, as has been a fatal flaw in both defeats so far. Obviously, though, this is well covered and needs not be discussed further.

But anyway, we''ll wait and see what happens. I''m sure many will jump to unrealistic, gloomy conclusions with no real justifications - but I think we shouldn''t read too much into things.

Buncey · August 12, 2008

Well this is probably the most logical and sensible thread so I''ll post in here! (some of this is copied from the match thread)The reality is, is that this was on the cards. This is no different to

a pre-season game except that the other team are really fired up to

win. It''s difficult to win against teams that consider this match to be their final. And their next game will be their final too. Tonight was a chance to see how some other players are getting on and to try different things, in that respect I''m a bit annoyed we didn''t change our system but the problems are there to see. I''m disappointed we lost, but in reality it''s not the end of the

world and it confirms my doubts in some aspects of our squad at the

moment.Anyway. In reality with two small strikers and a team that likes to

pass rather than shoot, you will need to play a different style of

football than that played tonight. Two defensive central midfielders

will not work. As much as people want to blame the lack of a goalscorer

or a big guy up front, if we changed our attacking style we would be

more successful. We can chop and change our strikers we have at the club as much as we want but the problem is, is that they don''t get enough chances. Now there''s two ways of fixing that. Either you create more chances, or you sign strikers who can score goals from fewer chances, but why not try both? That said, I support the signing of a big guy and a

goalscorer because to be quite frank, we need one.Even with the

new striker we will need to see if this cligan/fozzy partnership will

work. I didn''t go to game tonight, or against Coventry but from what

I''ve seen (spurs game) and what I''ve heard, they are far to defensive

and hinder the team when moving forward. We''ll see but I wouldn''t be

surprised if roeder rethinks his attacking options next game.Finally,

we really need to bring in another striker as soon as. The fact is if

we can''t rely on other teams then we have to rely on ourselves to make

our offers extra special. Because to be quite frank we can''t let other

teams jeopardise our season because we can''t agree a price. In hindsight

the rubbish about the investment rumours bumping up the price were just

that rubbish. The fact is, goalscorers and good target men are hard to

come by and they come at premium, a premium we have to pay.Now of course people are going to be disappointed. Some perennial complainers will point straight to Delia and blame her, some will blame roeder, some will blame the players. In reality the blame can be spread onto anybody, and it''s a typical british attitude to blame somebody for our short comings. The team needs time to gel, we haven''t quite got our tactics right, we haven''t built a complete team ready to take the league on, we don''t have the confidence rolling through the side and we don''t have that winners desperation yet. I don''t think any one party is to blame but questions do need to be asked as always but the last thing we need is negativity rolling through the stands again. That is not the stance of a fence-sitter it''s the stand of somebody using logic and reason in a time where it seems chaos prevades.

renegade tootsie · August 12, 2008

If your logic dicatates that nobody is to blame for defeats, then I dont think we need any more of your logic. [quote user="Fellas"]Well this is probably the most logical and sensible thread so I''ll post in here! (some of this is copied from the match thread)The reality is, is that this was on the cards. This is no different to