Quick thinking!

[lake district canary 4,531]

People complain about the strikers not scoring.   People complain that the midfield doesn''t deliver the crosses. Both are partially true.   But the main issue is the lack of speed of thought, not speed of foot.   It was better against Swansea, but this at the heart of our problems and is surely the key to Hughton''s team set up, not the tactics.

Good defending and passing up to the halfway line, occasional good long ball to pressurise the defence, but  the main element that seems to get lost is the  early ball.    And for that you need speed - not pace, but speed - speed of thought.   When your winger or midfielder gets the ball in space he has two choices - run with the ball or pass it.   Snodgrass nearly always runs with the ball.  Hoolahan nearly always turns in circles.   Bennett sometimes is just not positive enough.    

The class of the player is not about his pace, or even his skill, its about his speed of thought.   A really good player always seems to have time.  When Bennett is in a positive mood he has that class and can deliver quality balls.    Snodgrass I have more concerns about.  For all his heart and trickery, he doesn''t imo always look as if he is thinking quickly enough.   Head down run with the ball - often at the expense of teamwork.  He''s not always like that - when he has his head up he is a good passer and can deliver.    Maybe he needs to concentrate more on that than running into blind alleys. Hoolahan should just move the ball on more.   Control and pass.   Its not rocket science - I do wonder if the midfield players are just thinking too much and trying too hard. 

Imo they should just keep it simple, set the thought patterns to move the ball on quickly - concentrate on passing and moving - it will start to stretch defences more.    Quick thinking and not trying to do too much on their own - a lot of the time its just too static.   Football at its best isn''t difficult - just keep it simple and remember speed of thought is often better than speed of foot.  

[Indy 3,286]

A couple things LDC, quick thinking players are the ones which generally cost millions, sometimes you pick up cheep bargain like Michu.

 

Kamara against Swansea summed up our problem at present, perfect ball accross the box and instead of running onto the ball to score just stood waiting for it, giving the defender time to get back..........sorry but had that been Morison he would have been booed from all parts!

 

As for Wes, this season he has frustrated the s**t out of me....one game in 5 he''s superb the rest of the time just gets lost and the team end up carrying him! But on his day he''s a premiership quality player.

 

You can''t teach speed of thought, you pay big bucks to get that quality.