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Why not try Snodgrass on the left and Bennett on the right with Kamara up front?

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On the occasions that we play Snodgrass and Bennett together why can we not try playing them on the side they are naturally footed.  Bennet has pace to burn when he plays on the right side and I am sure Snodgrass would be equally comfortable on the left. Just a thought, but it would certainly give the opposition manager something to think about.  I would like to see Chris Hughton try this against Sunderland and see if the percentage of good crosses improves; and we have already seen what Kamara is capable of doing if you get the ball in the box.

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Yes. Why does Hughton persist in playing our repeated winner of player of the month in his favoured position? 

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I think it has to be worth a go. Bennett has the pace and a good cross which we badly need to see more of!

Aside from that I actually think Snodgrass would create and score goals playing in front of Johnson in midfield. His defending is pretty good too so don''t think that would weaken the spine of the team.

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I agree too. I think it is worth a try.  Snoddy''s strongest aspect has been his set play delivery and the goals he has scored from free-kicks, an option that would still be available if Hughton played him on the left. He also has bundles of energy and provides good cover at the back, which would give Garrido a bit more support and may allow him to push further forward and deliver balls, which we know he can do.  We know Bennett''s best best position is on the right and Wes has been ineffective when played out wide, so I don''t think Hughton has too many options, other than to try swapping the wingers.I think it would offer us more going forward in open play because having a left footer on the right (and vice versa) is easier to defend against, not just because there is a strong possibility that he will turn inside onto his favoured foot, but also because an inswinging ball from the right  is easier to clear defensvely than an outswinging ball delivered from the by-line.  I thought that would be easier to explain. [:^)]

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I''d leave snodgrass on the right. But I would like to see Bennett play a freer role like he did against Peterborough. I thought he played well there and it''d nice to see things being mixed up a bit. He doesn''t seem to get into the game as much when he plays on the left, which is a shame because his pace could really bring what''s needed to help us go forward.

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[quote user="Kanadyan Kanary"]I agree too. I think it is worth a try.  Snoddy''s strongest aspect has been his set play delivery and the goals he has scored from free-kicks, an option that would still be available if Hughton played him on the left. He also has bundles of energy and provides good cover at the back, which would give Garrido a bit more support and may allow him to push further forward and deliver balls, which we know he can do.  We know Bennett''s best best position is on the right and Wes has been ineffective when played out wide, so I don''t think Hughton has too many options, other than to try swapping the wingers.I think it would offer us more going forward in open play because having a left footer on the right (and vice versa) is easier to defend against, not just because there is a strong possibility that he will turn inside onto his favoured foot, but also because an inswinging ball from the right  is easier to clear defensvely than an outswinging ball delivered from the by-line.  I thought that would be easier to explain. [:^)][/quote]
Not necessarily. I''ve said it before and I''ll say it again, inverted wingers work. Yes, there is less chance of a dangerous cross being flashed across the face of goal, but that does not make them ineffective. Inverted wingers often move centrally and have more influence on the game, making more telling passes and are generally more involved then a traditional winger. Moving centrally also opens up the option for a clever through-pass from the winger, which is often more dangerous than a cross. Diagonal runs from the wider-areas into the penalty box are also more natural for inverted wingers, meaning that you often have more people in the box when the ball is played in. Lets not also forget that inverted wingers are often in better positions to have shots at goal as well.
Your point about inswinging crosses is one I hear often, but I''m not sure is actually true. There are no statistics for the amount of assists from an inswinging cross compared to an outswinging one. All I will say is this, for every outswinging cross that scores a goal that you can think of, I can find an inswinging cross goal. Look at our second against Everton, that was an inswinging cross from Martin, the Everton defenders certainly didn''t find that easy to defend.
The question should not be how effective inverted wingers are, but rather if the players (and tactics) we use are suited to a game involving inverted wingers. Snodgrass most certainly is, and I struggle to think what evidence people base this desire to see him start on the left, other than the fact he is left footed. Snodgrass is certainly not fast enough to beat his man with pace so I wouldn''t expect many crosses from the byline from him. Bennett, on the other hand, is a completely different case and should either start centrally or on the right, as his attributes make him ineffective on the left. 

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Philip, you make some good points, which I do not disagree with in principle. I just feel we have looked ineffective going foward this season and have scored few goals from open play and the majority have come from set pieces.  That may be beacuse we are just too defensively minded (something which has changed from last season) but the other thing that''s changed is the consistent use of the inverted wingers.  We certainly don''t seem to get enough balls into the box to provide a decent service for the strikers and I think one of those reasons may be due to the inverted wingers.  Now you could also argue that we have lacked creativity from the centre of midfield but that''s a different issue.  People were calling for us to play 4-4-2 but in my view, the strikers were never the problem; its the service which has been poor.  We need more balls into the box and they need to be better quality and until we try something different, things are not going to change. 

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I''d rather see Snoddy play in the central attack midfield position, just behind Becchio. Think that''d work nicely. Only problem is with Pilks out we have no left winger if Benno plays down the right so not feasible right now

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The major problem with playing a winger on the "wrong" side is that to deliver to a decent ball into the box you effectively have to beat the fullback once to shift it onto your stronger foot and then beat them again to actually cross the ball into the box.

It is hard enough to beat a decent Premiership full back once let alone twice in the same move. The counter argument to this is that an attacking full back can move into the space vacated by the winger. However we don''t push our full backs on massively so they are unlikely to do that.

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I''m about to just save this as a word document and copy and paste it.

-----------------------

but why put our best player going forward on his unprefered side. benno can be useful yes, but simply put he isn''t as good as snodgrass.

I have spoken to leeds fans and many have said snoddy looks very ineffective on the left.

so if we have 2 right wingers and no one for the left, with 1 right winger better than the other and both more or left as ineffective as each other on the left, who would you play on the right?

----------------------------------------------------------------

we have this convo so many times. everyone on this forum thinks that because they play football manager it''s as simple as, this player has a left foot, he can play on the left effectively.

no. stahp.

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[quote user="Phillip J Fry"]Snodgrass most certainly is, and I struggle to think what evidence people base this desire to see him start on the left, other than the fact he is left footed.  [/quote]Snodgrass played on the left wing a lot for his past clubs and

shined. By all accounts he is a genuinely 2 sided player who can perform

equally well on the left and right. 


Don''t

forget Pilkington was a right winger before he signed for us (although

very two footed) and only played on the left because Benno was very one

sided player.

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[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="Phillip J Fry"]Snodgrass most certainly is, and I struggle to think what evidence people base this desire to see him start on the left, other than the fact he is left footed.  [/quote]Snodgrass played on the left wing a lot for his past clubs and

shined. By all accounts he is a genuinely 2 sided player who can perform

equally well on the left and right. 


Don''t

forget Pilkington was a right winger before he signed for us (although

very two footed) and only played on the left because Benno was very one

sided player.
[/quote]And the reason why Snodgrass plays on the right is because Pilkington plays on the left for us.

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" And the reason why Snodgrass plays on the right is because Pilkington plays on the left for us."

So if Pilkington isn''t playing, should be fine to put Snodgrass on the left and Bennett on the right...

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[quote user="Yellow Rose of Texas"]" And the reason why Snodgrass plays on the right is because Pilkington plays on the left for us."

So if Pilkington isn''t playing, should be fine to put Snodgrass on the left and Bennett on the right...[/quote]You would think so.  Pilks and Surman are out injured.  Putting Glenn Roeder''s opinion aside, Hoolahan has shown he is no left winger, and tends to drift across to the center when he does get picked there. E Bennett is hopeless on the left.  So this would appear to be an ideal solution.

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[quote user="AJ"]I''d rather see Snoddy play in the central attack midfield position, just behind Becchio. Think that''d work nicely. Only problem is with Pilks out we have no left winger if Benno plays down the right so not feasible right now[/quote]  Kei is left sided and has played as a winger before in MLS i believe. that would give us real pace down both flanks for the first time in many years.

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[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="Phillip J Fry"]Snodgrass most certainly is, and I struggle to think what evidence people base this desire to see him start on the left, other than the fact he is left footed.  [/quote]Snodgrass played on the left wing a lot for his past clubs and

shined. By all accounts he is a genuinely 2 sided player who can perform

equally well on the left and right. 


Don''t

forget Pilkington was a right winger before he signed for us (although

very two footed) and only played on the left because Benno was very one

sided player.
[/quote] 
I seem to remember Snodgrass spending most of his Leeds career on the right side. Snodgrass certainly doesn''t seem to have an issue playing on the right, he hasn''t publicly asked to be played on the left. Of course privately it could be different, but I doubt it.
The most important factor, for me at least, is that Snodgrass has probably been our best offensive player all season from the right. I don''t think its beneficial to the team to take our best offensive player and play him in a position he probably hasn''t played since his league 1 career. 
We also have to factor in that Snodgrass played on the left in a lower division against slower full-backs, would he be as effective on the left? Is he fast enough to beat his man with pace? I don''t think so.
Although he might have to play on the left this week, due to our current injury issues.

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[quote user="Phillip J Fry"]
We also have to factor in that Snodgrass played on the left in a lower division against slower full-backs, would he be as effective on the left? Is he fast enough to beat his man with pace? I don''t think so.
Although he might have to play on the left this week, due to our current injury issues.
[/quote]David Beckham had no pace...  beating a man on the outside or inside does not require pace.  Snod does it with his trickery.  I have no doubt the right side is Snod''s preffered position.  But given how bad Bennett is on the left, it might be advantageous to the team to switch.  If it is not working nothing is stopping Hughton from changing it mid game.Given Hughton''s cautious approach I expect Snodgrass to play on the right.

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[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="Phillip J Fry"]
We also have to factor in that Snodgrass played on the left in a lower division against slower full-backs, would he be as effective on the left? Is he fast enough to beat his man with pace? I don''t think so.
Although he might have to play on the left this week, due to our current injury issues.
[/quote]David Beckham had no pace...  beating a man on the outside or inside does not require pace.  Snod does it with his trickery.  I have no doubt the right side is Snod''s preffered position.  But given how bad Bennett is on the left, it might be advantageous to the team to switch.  If it is not working nothing is stopping Hughton from changing it mid game.Given Hughton''s cautious approach I expect Snodgrass to play on the right.[/quote]
But David Beckham had Gary Neville providing the overlapping run, which often allowed Beckham to move into deeper positions and gave him more time on the ball. Garrido is at his best offensively when crossing from deep, not when making the overlapping run. If Whittaker was moved to left back, the perhaps the overlapping runs would allow Snodgrass the time & space necessary for a slower winger to operate in or his dummy runs would open space for Snodgrass to attack. I think it could work with Whittaker or a more fullback that looked to overlap, but not so much with Garrido.  

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Clearly, Hughton had similar thoughts with the formation today.  I thought it worked quite well; we looked more balanced and certainly created more chances than last week.  You could argue that Snoddy was not as effective on the left but I still feel his real strength is his set-pieces, which of course, we scored from today. 

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he is strong at set pieces but also in open play, however today he was not. benno looked good but not the snoddy standard we have come to terms with on the right. i''d say perhaps give it one more go, but that''s also against wigan where 3 points would be greatly welcomed.

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[quote user="Kanadyan Kanary"]Clearly, Hughton had similar thoughts with the formation today.  I thought it worked quite well; we looked more balanced and certainly created more chances than last week.  You could argue that Snoddy was not as effective on the left but I still feel his real strength is his set-pieces, which of course, we scored from today.  [/quote]And it was Benno winning a lot of those corners from the right hand side, after beating his man and whipping in crosses behind their back four.Was also impressed by Whittaker''s cameo appearance in midfield. Personally I''d find a way of putting him into the side. He''s very composed and leads by example.

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