Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Rudolph Hucker

The Next Step Without New Signings?

Recommended Posts

Working with what we''ve got what would improve us from our present solid performances to something better?

For me it comes down to possession of the ball and passing completion. If we can do this we would make life much easier for ourselves, especially away from home.

The home match against Man Utd saw us do well in this area but today and in the Reading match we were way below where we need to be.

It''s a risk. Tettey must play IMO so this means Johnson who has been impressive in his work rate and attitude.

The likes of Fox today would perhaps have brought our wide midfielders into the game more and here is the nub of the argument. Can a better passer more than compensate for a destructive hard worker?

I am full of praise for what Hoots and all our players have achieved, but this is an area where we can improve ahead of improving our striking options with signings.

Personally, I''d like to see Hoots take the chance against Saints, at least for 30 minutes 2nd half.

We have a lot of games coming up so its time to give other players game time too.

I hope Bunn comes in and does well too. I suspect he might and we will find we have great competition. It seems Bunn is here to push for a first team place.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Rudolph - I went to the U-21 match on Monday night in which Fox was playing.

As a senior professional you would expect him to stand out and really be pressing for a first team place - but I''m afraid he didn''t.

Everton really pressed us hard all over the pitch today which made it hard for us to play. At the moment I''d take BJ and Tettey over Fox. And the next in line for a midfield place is probably Howson rather than Fox.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
You cant really judge him on one performance but I understand what your saying. If we think back to his performances last season, and hope he can be developed to improve on that, he will be one hell of a player. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
To pass the ball you need to be in possession, there''s a lot better chance of nicking the ball back with BJ and Tettey in the middle. Is it worth giving up 10% of our possession just for a 40 yard pass once in a blue moon?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I don''t know if we were way below it in the second half Rudolph. First half we just couldn''t keep hold of it, it kept coming straight back at us and at around the 30 minute mark there was a stat up on the screen saying they had had 67% of the possession (not sure what it was at half time, but I imagine it wasn''t far off that). Towards the end of the game there was a similar stat which had us back at 50-50 possession. Second half I thought we kept it a lot better and moved it around with a lot more composure.

The wide men were a bit of an issue for me today. Sondgrass especially seemed to tuck in too much. If we''re playing that 5 man midfield, with Tettey, BJ and Hoolahan all central, then you need the wide men to stretch it. At times today Pilks had come across almost to a right wing position, and Snodgrass tucked in causing us both defensive issues and a lack of options when trying to get forward.

The core of the side is very solid now. Hoolahan didn''t have a great game today, but that spine of Ruddy, Bassong, (Turner?), Tettey, BJ, Hoolahan, Holt has looked very good in the last few weeks. But the Whittaker-Snodgrass relationship seemed to be all over the place in the first half, and I think that''s what we need to be working on now to go the next step.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
CH does keep it quite compact. We certainly have more width with E.Bennett, but Snoddy has been good recently. Hopefully we''ll exploit the wings more

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
All I would say to this is if it ain''t broke, don''t fix it. We''d love to have a player that combines the tenacity of Johnson with the passing range of Fox, but we don''t have that quality of player yet - maybe next summer!

For now the system we are playing isn''t pretty, away from home in particular, but what is happening is that we are staying in games - last year Everton would have been 2 or 3 up before our late goal. We are keeping games tight, and dare I say being 1 down today actually suited us I felt, because Everton would not gamble on going for a second and that allowed us to gradually put them under pressure in the second half, which ultimately led to the outstanding Bassong''s goal.

6 PL games unbeaten is remarkable, and with games coming up that we have realistic chances of winning, could we make double figures??

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
"Joanna Grey"]To pass the ball you need to be in possession, there''s a lot better chance of nicking the ball back with BJ and Tettey in the middle. Is it worth giving up 10% of our possession just for a 40 yard pass once in a blue moon?

You are also in possession when you contrive to pass to one of your own team mates. This is an area where we can improve with what we have got.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I reckon if we just start fouling everyone, including the ref, all game long we can hack our way to winning the league, our good friends Leeds did it, why can''t we? Super Brad would be in his element...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
This will be very controversial. In particular Ginger Pele will lambast me but I think a potential long term progression could be a midfield of Tettey and Howson. This could potentially give us better quality on the ball and more forward thinking impetus. But it is probably churlish and wrong for me to suggest this. We are on an absolutely fabulous run and Johnson has played every minute of that. Why rock the boat?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Agree its hard to change a winning team but for me the first half showed where we need to improve.

BJ was bypassed too often and his pass completion was poor. His tackling was limited and when he is neither winning possession back and the giving it away he is at his worst - one 5 yard pass to Bassong was simply embarrasing and put us in trouble. The second half he was far better, he had some hunger and his whole game lifted.

Apart from Tettey the whole midfield was poor at passing, as often choosing the wrong option as well as executing the pass wrong - fans lambasted Wes for losing possession after he was given a ball by snodgrass despite already being surrounded by 4 everton players - as much a hospital pass as you have ever seen!

Finally a lone striker has to offer more. In the first half grant was offside 4 times and conceded 4+ free kicks, his passing was poor and his movement limited and he simply did not give an option for the players behind him. He gave away possession more than he won it. His one decent run was a bumble of ricochets before screwing a painful shot high and wide. It summed his first half up. The second was a vast improvement but he never looked like scoring (apart for the 3 seconds he thought about claiming the equaliser) and was behind the play and not anticipating decent crosses.

No sure about Howson, he had no impact against manure and was found seriously wanting in that role as bjs inferior partner in life this season BT (Before Tettey)

We simply need to maintain our energy and improve our passing until we can add that extra piece of quality with a striker in Jan. And maybe pack for the argentine midfielder from belgium to partner Tettey deep, THAT would be awesome

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
That is the only potential thing I can think of to make us slightly more dangerous going forward with the current squad. But to be honest I don''t really want changes. We are unbeaten in 7 matches. When you consider the calibre of opposition we have played during this run that is astonishing. We are an absolute swine to play against and even when we go a goal behind we are always in the game posing questions like we were yesterday. I am absolutely loving it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
spot on post Cambridge. I just came on here for a quick perusal and all I can see are people demanding that we go back to 4-4-2 and change the team. I am not saying that we are playing perfectly but the whole point is that since Liverpool we have found a system which isn''t particularly pretty but which is making us a nightmare to play against and I think has seen us play some great stuff in our home games, particularly Wes v Man Utd and Arsenal was as good as I have ever seen him. People keep worrying on about not scoring goals but we''ve won our last 3 home games 1-0 and away have had 2 1-1''s and a 0-0 - we don''t need to score loads of goals!

Long may it continue and, dare I say, in Hooton I trust.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Loving all the "sign a striker in January" posts. How much do we have to spend to replace Holt? Because that''s what any new striker will be doing.

We won''t be changing a formation that has now gelled, is improving and getting results. Holt''s shortcoming is his pace so we are looking for a striker with an excellent footballing brain, height, strength and pace, ability to ''play'' the opposition, hold the ball and form an immediate bond with the team. Shall we start at £8m?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holt''s great and is playing well. But what if he gets injured?Our other strikers don''t offer sufficient goals. Signing another striker essential if we want to avoid relegation.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Imo you have to trust the players you''ve got.   It doesn''t matter if we buy one two or no players in January.   If we do, all well and good, but if we don''t, the players we have will do the business.

Players can improve.   From what I have seen this season we are getting results without actually playing that well.   Good performances as a team, but there are several players who can up their individual contributions.    Holt and Snodgrass are two that for me aren''t quite on it - I''m not knocking them - I just think they can play better.     Johnson can improve his passing.  Howson is one that I look forward to seeing improve - he has the ability - but his chances are limited at the moment and he seemed to struggle early in the season.    In short its about trusting the players - and Hughton - that they will carry on the development and the progress that has been made - and the performances and results will continue to improve. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
As Rudolph has said, our pass completion rate was 18th out of 20 on the MOTD ''alternative'' league table.

However, I don''t see why we should take that as a necessity that we must change. Alot of counter-attacking sides prefer to relinquish the ball for long periods and invite the opposition onto them - we don''t have the quality at the moment to play differently; when we tried to do so with Howson early season look at the results.

One thing that I always felt Lambert did well was to fit the system to the strengths of the players at his disposal. In this current system, Hughton is doing exactly the same.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Rudolph - the passing table on MOTD 2 doesn''t prove your point.

If you listened you would have heard Colin Murray describe the table as "absolutely ridiculous". That''s because as they themselves admit, the table is just there for a bit of fun.

There''s only one table that matters and that the one where we currently sit in 13th place with 15 points.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

All I was saying was: how can we improve with what we have got player wise. I think it''s a fair point. If the players pass to each other a little more we will improve. The question is whether a Fox or a Surman versus a Johnson (because Tettey is a shoe in) is a gain if they put their foot in a little more effectively and match his work rate or if BJ and others improve their passing a little etc etc.

 

The finger could equally be pointed at Pilks and Snoddy.

 

The next step has to be to complete passes to the level we did against Man Utd more often. Get it above 75% against Saints and we''ll get three points.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The table may be ridiculous but its says that for every 4 passes we try we give the ball back to the opposition with one of them;  giving away piossession twice as often as the best teams.

 

Its simple for me,  you have the ball you are less likely to conceded  - and defending is about making it hard for the opposition to get and keep the ball;  giving it back needlessly  justputs ourselves under pressure.

 

And the riduculous table only confims what we are seeing with our own eyes,   our passing can be better.   And it should be  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Fair points from Zipper and Rudolph. I guess the question is, how do we achieve better passing?

If you''re just saying ''Tell Bradley to play better'', I''m not sure that contributes much to the debate. Likewise, you seem to be stopping short of saying, drop Bradley for Fox/Howson, because we know that could lead to compromising our defensive assuredness of late.

We can''t have our cake and eat it yet, we have good players but not the complete article - Tettey is the closest we have to a quality all-rounder but we don''t have another like him at the moment so we have to make a choice, and I think the choice of selecting Tettey with Bradley, contributing to us admittedly having less possession but undoubtedly conceding less, is the right one based on the results we''ve achieved and the general quality of performances.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Beefy  - that suggets the pass fail rate is BJs alone,   which while he is has been poor he cant have made 1000 misplaced passes alone bless him!! Its a team thing as I mentioned about teh everton game its about pass selection as well as execution.  I think Holt pass completion rate is just over 50% (not picking on holt,  but showing is not down to one player)   Even the usually reliabel wes gave away the ball more oten than normal at the weekend.

 

It is something you can improve upon on the training ground,  through movement and team understanding,  having an option and a runner is as important as without someone free to receive in space you end up taking a long hopeful punt.  What is realistic is for teh coaching staff to improve the success rate by 10% over the season,   passing  drills, one touch sessions and (most importantly given the volume of new faces) familiarity will see this increase (I Hope!)

 

Personally, I would bring back Fox if he was playing at last seasons levels,  he is better at breaking up play than he appears, much better than howson for example and comparable to BJ,  and uses the ball far more effectively than any of the leeds players.   However he is not in form and he looks far from match fit (is he one of the players that simply worked best for lambert?) - as such BJ is the next best thing for our formation - not so good on the ball as howson but more committed, a far better "engine" and far superior in the defensive role.   BJ is not perfect but he is doing a good enough job,  but that is why I would like another tettey signing,  like the anderlecht argentine,  to take our play to the next level.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holt playing up front on his own with a 50% pass completion rate is interesting because last season, during his effective run in the team, Moro had the worst rate in the entire division.

 

I personally think Holt is doing a very good unselfish job for the team although he has had his faults and working really hard.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree with both of you. Holt, in my view, has been doing a fine job ever since the first few weeks when he did his usual trick of being a little ring rusty. I suppose strikers typically have a lower pass completion rate simply because they have to try to play more penetrative passes and they often find themselves outnumbered. There may be exceptions but that''s my general view.

I''d love to see us move for a quality midfield player and a striker in January to improve the overall quality of the squad. As we go through further transfer windows then I feel it likely that the likes of most of our current players out on loan, plus Surman, Morison, Jackson, Fox, Barnett and Tierney will leave and with the debt repaid and the new TV deal I think we could see a dramatic improvement to the squad if we can stay in the league this year. This unbeaten run has been monumental to taking us toward that goal.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Rudolph - excuse me for bumping this thread back up, but you''ve got to be pleased about our second goal yesterday.

28 (TWENTY EIGHT) passes in the build up to the goal and Bradley Johnson playing the killer ball forward to Pilks.

Great stuff!!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Absolutely, Thirsty.

But it was when Sunderland upped their pace and pressed us that we began to give the ball away again.

Two away games in 5 days, with all the travel that involves, and two draws coming from behind leading into one of those bread and butter matches so many sides fluff makes the result on Sunday highly commendable and I can''t praise everyone enough.

But better ball retention will make a huge difference. Swansea, who we play next, are top exponents of this and that might explain why they are so good away fom home. That said, they draw a lot at home, and yet again Saturday is another intriguing one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...