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CDMullins

Play to our strengths!

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Now this is in no way a negative post, I thought we were superb today, really assured, controlled and dominated the game. I really couldn’t see Forest scoring from open play. Firstly lets clear up the penalty incidents. First one stone wall penalty, Barnett took an age to clear the ball and when he tried to the Forest player was in the way! Second one, blatant dive, Anderson went down far too easy. I guess they even them self out!

Now.....This is not a Wes hate campaign it is more about our other 3 midfielders and the diamond.

The problem I think we have is with Korey and Surman. Korey is not an attacking midfielder and as no idea when in the oppositions final third, however he is very good at breaking up the oppositions play and keeping the ball. Surman cannot defend for toffee and playing him ‘tucked in’ does not suit his game, he is an attacking winger and his priority should be beating the full back and getting a cross in. However his defensive duties are affecting his attacking potential.

Crofts as been excellent, I’m so impressed with him. Him and Korey would be a fantastic centre midfield pairing, breaking down play and bringing the wingers into the game. Both are full of energy and love a tackle. I think a flat four would really play to our strengths. Drop Wes onto the left wing and play Surman on the right, alternatively Mcnamee on the left.

Holt obviously thrives on crosses into the box. Ive also been impressed with Chrissy Martin, he seems to have developed so much both mentally and physically and he is now a real presence in the box. He was so unlucky hitting the post twice in the space of a couple of minutes today!

Cant wait to see the City goal, had no idea how it went in or who had scored it!

Great day out, the best performance I have seen at this level for quite a while! And whilst id have bit your hand off for a point before the game, after such a great performance it seems like 2 points dropped!

 

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We have just left the City ground with a point and a diamond that has won us game after game and a manager that is tatically aware enough to be able to change it when it is not working. I appreciate I  was not there today but listening to the radio we were superb. If anything it sounded that the only player struggleing again was Holt. Surely our only weakness now is the lack of goals, not our defending or our attacking or our tatics. You should take a look at our record when we start with the diamond opposed to 442.

This club does not deserve to have the likes of Hoolahan playing for it, and should he get wind of some of the underlying feeling towards him from a section of our fans who would blame him for wanting out in January. The players you happen to mention Smith, Hoolahan, Surman and Crofts are all far better players than McNamee, possibly because of the way we play possibly because they just are. The person you are actually questioning here is Paul Lambert. Looks like you are also having a dig at Barnett, so I assume you think Askou should be in ahead of a premier league centre half. When was the last time any serious competition was won with 442 ? get real

  

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You cant compare the diamond in League one, to the diamond in the Championship!

"Surely our only weakness now is the lack of goals, not our defending or our attacking or our tatics" I actually have no idea what this means!

"I appreciate I  was not there today but listening to the radio we were superb" I said, we were superb.

"This club does not deserve to have the likes of Hoolahan playing for it" Why the hell not??

"Looks like you are also having a dig at Barnett" Where have I questioned Barnett?? Ive described the penalty incident, its not opinion, its fact, that is what happened!

"so I assume you think Askou should be in ahead of a premier league centre half" Where in my post did I suggest this?

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I think in certain games having two out & out wide men, ie, Surman & McNamee will be an advantage, there are full backs in this league who can be targeted in this manner rather than trying to play through teams the way we tend to. But thats the good thing about us under Lambert, we''ve got options to mix it up a bit if need be.

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The main reason we were "superb" today was the extra space we had in midfield because Forest never got to grips with our diamond.  Think about it.  Also, whilst it`s fine to try to point out how we may improve even after a terrific performance, we have just totally outplayed virtually the same team which finished third last season away from home.  I don`t think we`re doing an awful lot wrong somehow....

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Can anyone enlighten me on why we didn''t try to change things up a little when we seemed unable to finish? You know, bring in a sub to stir the pot and see if that make the difference.

It sounds like we had a great game and should have won it, If our conditioning is as good as it seems to be judging by all the late goals we;ve been getting, a set of fresh legs when the opponents have used up all their subs might have been worth a try.

This is in no way a criticism. I am honestly wondering why the bench was unused. Were the starting 11 that good and all full of beans right to the end? Is so, great!

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No one warranted being substituted, Houston. They were all playing well, and as a team. At least, that''s how i saw it.

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Thanks, I was just wondering. All I had for coverage today was soccernet. When it is bad, it is really bad, and today it was really really really bad. I had no idea we were doing well until people posted things here.

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It''s a fair question. It did occur to me with about 20 minutes to go that maybe Lambert could make a change but i really couldn''t see what he could do to improve the display. If it''s not broken, don''t fix it, an'' all that.

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I agree 100% on that. Fixing the unbroken parts of NCFC was what made Grant and Roeder such miserable failures in the end, trying to put their stamp on the team even in the places where it was not needed.

Thanks again.

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It was a situation where though we were on top, an attacking sub to win the game could have easily swung it back in our face for a loss, so Lambert let them stay on top trying to win as they were, and Holty should have got it.

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For the last 6-7 minutes of the game, we were happy to settle with the point. Chrissy Martin came wide right and we played more of a 4-5-1.

However when we had the ball, we were getting at them with pace and trying to win the game.

Would like to have seen Simeon trying to stretch them in the last 10 minutes.

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[quote user="CDMullins"]

"This club does not deserve to have the likes of Hoolahan playing for it" Why the hell not??

[/quote]

That took me aback as well, reading between the lines it appears that LIK thinks that the fans get on his back too quickly and unfairly.

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[quote user="king canary"]Have you ever actually seen Surman play? He is not an out and out winger who beats full backs, he never has been! [/quote]

Course he is! Thats where he played for Southamton and England U21s.

Hes a tricky pacey winger, on either flank.

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seems odd to have a thread called play to our strengths then to suggest either playing our best player out of position or not at all...

my suggestion move to a 4-2-3-1 and use Martin as an inside forward on the right as he seems to like moving out wide anyways. That would mean Smith could move to a more central defensive role and Surman could be given a bit more freedom from having to run back and defend

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[quote user="CDMullins"]In no way, shape or form is he a centre midfielder[/quote]Surman has played nearly all his career as a centre midfielder who pushes on to support the attackers, more a play maker than ball winner though. Surman''s biggest weakness has been his lack of pace, this is why he doesn''t play on the wing. If he was a winger, Norwich wouldn''t have bought him as we don''t play with wingers. With Surman in the team we play more of an asymmetrical diamond with himself and Hoolahan attacking down the left and Korey pushing less far forward on the right.

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"Drop Wes onto the left wing and....."I think the  last time he played there Colchester beat city 7-1!!  Wes is a liability as a left winger because invariably he will be out of position when we lose the ball & that affects the way we defend down the left hand side leaving too much space for the opposition to exploit which leaves Drury too much to do (remember Hucks?).  But Lambert did recogise that changing to a 4-4-2 formation is an option which he used to good effect last week against Scunthorpe when be brought Lappin on for Wes & it did the trick on that occasion.

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[quote user="CDMullins"]In no way, shape or form is he a centre midfielder[/quote]

So that`d be why most people seem to be putting him in our top three performers yesterday playing.....centre midfield [:|]

The system worked brilliantly yesterday, it would be utterly insane to change it.

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I agree that the diamond did work well yesterday, however, Forest never really got to grips with it & consequently Wes/ Serman  got the space they needs to opperate.  Going back to the Watford game they shut Wes out of the game very well & used the wide areas well that the diamond leaves eventually this was our undoing. I think this will happen more this season as we play more tactically aware teams than we did last season.  It seems Lambert is prepared to switch to 4-4-2 if the diamond is not working.  Finally, I was at the Forest game yesterday & I think Serman had his best game for us so far...playing in centre midfield!!

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[quote user="south of the border"]"Drop Wes onto the left wing and....."I think the  last time he played there Colchester beat city 7-1!!  Wes is a liability as a left winger because invariably he will be out of position when we lose the ball & that affects the way we defend down the left hand side leaving too much space for the opposition to exploit which leaves Drury too much to do (remember Hucks?).  But Lambert did recogise that changing to a 4-4-2 formation is an option which he used to good effect last week against Scunthorpe when be brought Lappin on for Wes & it did the trick on that occasion.[/quote]

I honestly cant believe what I read on here at times! Are you actually suggesting the reason we got beat by colchester 7-1 was because Wes was playing on the left?

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[quote user="CDMullins"]I honestly cant believe what I read on here at times![/quote]I know.  Insane isn''t it?  Can you believe somebody wrote this about Surman:[quote]Hes a tricky pacey winger, on either flank.[/quote]Bonkers ain''t it?

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[quote user="Graham Humphrey"][quote user="CDMullins"]I honestly cant believe what I read on here at times![/quote]I know.  Insane isn''t it?  Can you believe somebody wrote this about Surman:[quote]Hes a tricky pacey winger, on either flank.[/quote]Bonkers ain''t it?

[/quote]I am really struggling with this, I am becoming convinced CD Mullins has got Surman confused with someone else, maybe Lallana?

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Yep, Surman has definitely played his entire career in a more central midfield position. He''s not that quick either, so certainly couldn''t ever be described as an old fashioned winger. I think the way we''ve started the season has been brilliant. Our side looks balanced and assured. I can''t believe the comment about Korey not knowing what to do in the final third either. He regularly takes up good positions on the edge of the opponents box and regularly gets shots away. They''re not the best shots, granted, but I''m sure he''ll be working on his finishing in training. We have creativity with Wes and Surman and determination and grit with Crofts and Korey. I reckon a lot of teams would love to be in our position right now.Also, to all the "defence" bashers on here; We''ve conceded ONE goal in the last three games, and that was from a penalty.Sort it out will yer??!!! [;)]

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"Are you actually suggesting the reason we got beat by colchester 7-1 was because Wes was playing on the left?"Yes I am suggesting that playing Wes on the left was ONE of the reasons our team failed on that day obviously there were many other reasons, however, Lambert has since shown us what he thinks Wesley''s best postion is & thats good enough for me!

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I disagree with a few things the OP said but, the one that particularly annoyed me was the bit about Korey Smith.  I have noticed that he is getting a few knockers recently about his attacking play and I think his attacking play is actually very good for a player who is not a natural attacker and someone who has played just one full season of football and is only 19.

He and Russel Martin always work very well together and Korey Smith is always getting into positions on the edge of the box which he either has a shot, plays a good pass or dinks a ball through for Holt/Martin.  His final ball isn''t always great but thats probably because he isn''t a natural attacker and has only played one full season of football and is only 19.  Korey Smith was excellent last season and has been this season so far.  He deserves no criticisime.  He is very good all over and the team isn''t the same without him.

As for the Surman argument, I think, and I''m sure quite a few will agree, the left sided position in the diamond is his best.  He is not an out an out winger because he has no pace and he is not an out and out centre midfielder because it''s just not his game.  Inside left suits him down to the ground.

Yes there will be times during the season when the diamond needs to be changed but we have the best manager to make it work and if it aint broke don''t fix it.

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[quote user="king canary"][quote user="Graham Humphrey"][quote user="CDMullins"]I honestly cant believe what I read on here at times![/quote]I know.  Insane isn''t it?  Can you believe somebody wrote this about Surman:[quote]Hes a tricky pacey winger, on either flank.[/quote]Bonkers ain''t it?

[/quote]I am really struggling with this, I am becoming convinced CD Mullins has got Surman confused with someone else, maybe Lallana?[/quote]Lee Croft?

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I think the problem is, we our trying to play to last years strength, which isn''t a problem as such, because when Hoolahan, Holt and Martin are on form, they are an extremely deadly attacking trio, but it does mean that the midfield three, may have to play slightly differently, to how they would in 4-4-2 which is how the would have learn''t to play, how Crofts and Surman have probably been playing prior to joining us...

Surman isn''t going to be as attacking as he can/should be, he is playing in Lappin''s position, and how attacking is Lappin?

Korey Smith, can do a job anywhere, he has so much energy and drive... I do however, think he can attack fairly well, especially when linking up with R. Martin...

Crofts, is similar to Korey really, the and energy and aggression in his performance, is something to be admired, he can suit any job, but a central two of Korey and Crofts, would be amazing, they can both pass, can cover when one of them attacks (the other one sits back), and it would seriously limit the space the other team get in the middle, it would also allow Surman and another winger, to play as actual wingers, which i think would benefit Holt and Martin.....

But at the moment, the diamond still seems to be working ok, although it doesn''t seem to be a flawless as it was last year...

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