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Dean Coneys boots

Tactical niggle

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At the end of last season CH finally stopped playing his beloved uber negative no shots on goal tactic and allowed the players some freedom and a chance to attack and express themselves. Suddenly we looked dangerous, scored goals and rolled over Man City...

....but now against Portland it is back to the world''s most frustrating negative tactic leaving RVW in the starved role Holt had last year.

Why? Why not go for it and open p more? Why does CH so love his cruddy defensive tactic. I fear it will be another long season with few in the goals scored column if this is the plan...

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What worries me most is that now our natural leader Grant Holt has left which of our players will have the cojones to tell the rest of the team to ignore Hughtons negative tactics this year?

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[quote user="Olly"]Did you actually watch the game last night?[/quote]

Or even read the match report?

I didn''t watch the game, but deploying EB as an attacking wing back is just 1 example of what sounds to be a more attacking version of his formation. I think that was the main problem last year, we just didn''t push up and didn''t have the wing backs overlapping enough, instantly allowing the midfielders/wingers more freedom.

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I did watch the game and I agree. Unless they attack with freedom or use 2 strikers we won''t fully benefit from having RVW. It was clear we definitely need to bring in a new striker.

Another thing that really stood out for me though was how bad Ryan Bennett was, looked just liked he did at the start of last season. He was brilliant at the end of last season and the Man City game showed we don''t to rely on Bassong and Turner.

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The thing that niggles me is that we don''t seem to have a plan B. The thing that struck me most about last season was that we were very rarely able to make significant tactical changes during a game when things were not going our way. If we went behind in a game there was no evidence of quick changes made to how we were playing to address the situation. Substitutions for example would still not happen until the last third.

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These games are experimental and purely for fitness. We will not play one game in the ongoing season with these players or formation. Likewise the last two games of last season do not represent where we are going

Add in 3 more signings likely starters and we will be a different proposition completely

If pre season is so key back the binners for promotion as they are unbeaten !

Calm and patience it''s still weeks before the season starts

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From what I saw, in the first half we played well considering we had only played 2 other games and were against a team who were mid-season. However the second half I noticed we kept hitting balls up to the lone striker who was just getting beaten - we played as if Holt was still there and was using his physicality to win the ball. There was one moment (I think Butterfield''s chance) where we kept the ball and passed it around until we eventually got it to Butterfield who almost scored.

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Agreeing with the fact that these were experimental games and formations, we must remember that last season our scrappy pre-season was followed by an awful early early season, so imho at some stage we better start looking good before the season begins...

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In the final games last season the PRESSURE was off.  Even the players stated they felt free after getting the points needed.  Ever been under pressure?  Did you watch the game?Are you stupid enough to think games about fitness and trying things are benchmark?Man Utd must be doomed in your universe as well then?

More likely you are just either a moron or trolling.

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[quote user="ref89"]In the final games last season the PRESSURE was off.  Even the players stated they felt free after getting the points needed.  Are you stupid enough to think games about fitness and trying things are benchmark?
More likely you are just either a moron or trolling.
[/quote]

I think you hit the nail on the head!

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I didn''t manage to see much of any of the games, but I read that the woodwork was hit and one keeper pulled off at least one tremendous save. CH himself has said that but for a lack of sharpness in the final third, the results could have been very different. The results could have been slightly different if we had not gifted the only goals we conceded, and that with our first choice centre backs both missing.

 

I am not sure what tactics were expected from these tour games, when we had only a small amount of fitness training before going stateside.

 

CH will certainly show a greater variety of tactics in the EPL season. The difficulty he has for the moment is the arrival quite recently of a number of new players, with more to come, we hope. He does not yet know their weaknesses, strengths and preferences, nor yet how they will interact with each other and with players who were here for some time. You can''t do this in training, only in games. I think that it was interesting that he used Fox and Butterfield, and seems prepared to consider them for the new squad he is building.

 

Last season he had little choice, with all our strikers showing failure. It had to be resolute defence and hope for the best - and set pieces eventually did the business. This year he has more possibilities, and I think that he will vary team and tactics to suit conditions and opponents. We saw him before the Portland game admitting that the nature of their pitch surface had partly dictated his selection.

 

I expect to see more subtlety once he has a full squad, they know each other''s games and he knows how best to use them.

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[quote user="Salopian"]

I didn''t manage to see much of any of the games, but I read that the woodwork was hit and one keeper pulled off at least one tremendous save. CH himself has said that but for a lack of sharpness in the final third, the results could have been very different. The results could have been slightly different if we had not gifted the only goals we conceded, and that with our first choice centre backs both missing.

 

I am not sure what tactics were expected from these tour games, when we had only a small amount of fitness training before going stateside.

 

CH will certainly show a greater variety of tactics in the EPL season. The difficulty he has for the moment is the arrival quite recently of a number of new players, with more to come, we hope. He does not yet know their weaknesses, strengths and preferences, nor yet how they will interact with each other and with players who were here for some time. You can''t do this in training, only in games. I think that it was interesting that he used Fox and Butterfield, and seems prepared to consider them for the new squad he is building.

 

Last season he had little choice, with all our strikers showing failure. It had to be resolute defence and hope for the best - and set pieces eventually did the business. This year he has more possibilities, and I think that he will vary team and tactics to suit conditions and opponents. We saw him before the Portland game admitting that the nature of their pitch surface had partly dictated his selection.

 

I expect to see more subtlety once he has a full squad, they know each other''s games and he knows how best to use them.

[/quote]

 

This is why the new players need to be brought in as soon as possible. We are only three weeks from the start of the season and there will need to be a period of integration/familiarisation for any additions. A good start is essential and signing players a few days before the first game and expecting them to make an immediate impact could be a recipe for disaster.

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[quote user="Salopian"]

I think that it was interesting that he used Fox and Butterfield, and seems prepared to consider them for the new squad he is building.

[/quote]

If I remember rightly, didn''t Fox feature quite a lot in last seasons friendlies as well, also Vaughan who was then loaned out even after impressing. So wouldn''t read too much into that.

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[quote user="Salopian"]

I think that it was interesting that he used Fox and Butterfield, and seems prepared to consider them for the new squad he is building.

[/quote]

If I remember rightly, didn''t Fox feature quite a lot in last seasons friendlies as well, also Vaughan who was then loaned out even after impressing. So wouldn''t read too much into that.

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Unfortunately I think Vazzza is right, Fox is unlikely to be used again in the league.

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These US games have replaced the usual ones against Dereham et al when unusual formations are used to get match fitness through the squad, with a different 11 players in each half. I watched last night''s game and enjoyed the first half, when Redmond (who had a rasping drive saved by a desperate fingertip save) and RvW were looking very sharp indeed. Not surprisingly they tired in the second half. But let''s remember that 10 first team players did not even feature last night and not read too much into it. I did like the look of Butterfield (who also had a good shot saved down low in the corner) and Josh Murphy in the last 20 minutes.

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