Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Desert Fox

Palying wingers properly - a reasonably positive post

Recommended Posts

There are some really encouraging signs that our central midfield three are starting to gel and no longer look frightened rabbits with the ball. We were outclasssed by better players today, but we were never overurn or bullied into our own half like we were at Spurs.However, a major area of frustration is that when we get the ball out wide, our widemen (I wont call them wingers) repeatedly seek to cut inside. This slows down the attack and means that we seldom get to the byeline. Defenders know what to expect when they play us. Also, said wingers have got to learn to look for the forward in the box rather than constantly trying to score themselves. Both Wolf and Hoops have come in for criticism, but if you look at their movement and positioning, they are often in the right place in the box and in space, but the ball is never squared to them. We had sveral great opportunities today where our players were simply being too selfish and werent looking for the simple sqaure ball to the free man.Please please Mr Hughton, I have three requests:1. Can we have a right footed winger playing on the right and and a left footed winger on the left. 2. Can we practice passing to each other in the final third. 3. Can we consider picking players on form and not giving a player is so patently out of form 90 minutes every week. Yes, I realise that Eliiot Bennett is injured, but there are other options.Otherwise, despite the scoreline today, we are miles better than some of the earlier dross and there are signs of improvement. Our season wont balance on the likes of Arsenal, and if we make a few changes, I really can see us winning our next three home games and being mid-table.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I would like to know just what Snodgrass has to do to get dropped if that is what your thrid point is about. He is showing no sign of improvement whatsoever and we can no longer blame the lack of pre-season or fitness. Surely CH is not blind?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Of course I meant playing, but I do struggle with my disability. Nice to know that the spelling police are never off duty though

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Snodgrass'' complete lack of pace was shown up a couple of times today, he was ahead of his man when the ball was played but never even touched it.  Redmond should start on the right against Cardiff, difficult question is who on the left.  It will be 100% Snodgrass as he has those photos of Hughton that he doesn''t want the world to see, but hypothetically speaking I''d probably prefer to see Garrido at left back and Olsson on the wing ahead of Pilks playing on the wrong side.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
At times Snodgrass can deliver a cracking ball, unfortunaltey theres not been so many as late.However, I dont think his fairly obvious lack of pace, shouldnt deter him from his job (playing attacking balls) that much, David Beckham made a living out it.Our problem is, we dont get men into the box quick enough, If Snoddy has the ball on the right looking to cross, RVW should be in the centre, the left winger should be coming in at the far post and whoever is playing No.10 should be at least of the edge of the box, ready to attack.Many feel Snodgrass slows the game down, I dont think he particulary does, he just doesnt play the ball in when we have 1 striker against 3 defenders. He waits them extra few seconds, allowing the City players to get forward, unfortunaley at this level it also means the dfenders are getting back, meaning Snoddy has a man to beat, this his where his lack of pace comes into play.We have 3 Wingers who are good enough to get the ball in the box, efficently and with quality, we just need the attack with more urgency

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In the recent international for Scotland, Snoddy was apparently playing off the single striker/in the hole. He scored a goal, with his head!

 

Perhaps the time has come to consider him in this role at CR, and play wingers with some pace. It is sad that we have lost Benno until 2014, because I think he on one side and Redmond on the other could add pace, get quickly to the by-line and pull back quickly to the striker. We are completely failing to do this at present, and we are delayed, giving defenders the chance to recover.  (There was a recent series of  press reports that NC were following/interested in, with several other EPL teams, a winger from Denmark? If this is the case, it suggests that CH is aware that we are not making much impact down the wings. We could certainly do with another.)

 

If I am right about weakness down the wings, plus the need for wingers to track back and do defence duties, one solution would be to play Olsson wide left, with Garrido or some other behind, and play Redmond on the right. We really are in trouble if we continue with Redmond on the bench while Snoddy and an under-fit Pilks struggle down the wings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

CDMullins wrote the following post at 19/10/2013 11:40 PM:

At times Snodgrass can deliver a cracking ball, unfortunaltey theres not been so many as late.

However, I dont think his fairly obvious lack of pace, shouldnt deter him from his job (playing attacking balls) that much, David Beckham made a living out it.

Our problem is, we dont get men into the box quick enough, If Snoddy has the ball on the right looking to cross, RVW should be in the centre, the left winger should be coming in at the far post and whoever is playing No.10 should be at least of the edge of the box, ready to attack.

Many feel Snodgrass slows the game down, I dont think he particulary does, he just doesnt play the ball in when we have 1 striker against 3 defenders. He waits them extra few seconds, allowing the City players to get forward, unfortunaley at this level it also means the dfenders are getting back, meaning Snoddy has a man to beat, this his where his lack of pace comes into play.

We have 3 Wingers who are good enough to get the ball in the box, efficently and with quality, we just need the attack with more urgency.

Oh dear!

I can never remember David Beckham making progress down the wing, stopping, cutting inside and delivering the ball to the heart of the defence with his left foot.

I agree his pace was limited but he delivered balls from the right, with his right foot, behind the defence for forwards to go on to.

There is a similarity in their lack of pace but absolutely no comparison with their style of play.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Desert Fox"]There are some really encouraging signs that our central midfield three are starting to gel and no longer look frightened rabbits with the ball. We were outclasssed by better players today, but we were never overurn or bullied into our own half like we were at Spurs.However, a major area of frustration is that when we get the ball out wide, our widemen (I wont call them wingers) repeatedly seek to cut inside. This slows down the attack and means that we seldom get to the byeline. Defenders know what to expect when they play us. Also, said wingers have got to learn to look for the forward in the box rather than constantly trying to score themselves. Both Wolf and Hoops have come in for criticism, but if you look at their movement and positioning, they are often in the right place in the box and in space, but the ball is never squared to them. We had sveral great opportunities today where our players were simply being too selfish and werent looking for the simple sqaure ball to the free man.Please please Mr Hughton, I have three requests:1. Can we have a right footed winger playing on the right and and a left footed winger on the left. 2. Can we practice passing to each other in the final third. 3. Can we consider picking players on form and not giving a player is so patently out of form 90 minutes every week. Yes, I realise that Eliiot Bennett is injured, but there are other options.Otherwise, despite the scoreline today, we are miles better than some of the earlier dross and there are signs of improvement. Our season wont balance on the likes of Arsenal, and if we make a few changes, I really can see us winning our next three home games and being mid-table.[/quote]

Now tell us something we don''t already know.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Matt Juler"]Snodgrass'' complete lack of pace was shown up a couple of times today, he was ahead of his man when the ball was played but never even touched it.  Redmond should start on the right against Cardiff, difficult question is who on the left.  It will be 100% Snodgrass as he has those photos of Hughton that he doesn''t want the world to see, but hypothetically speaking I''d probably prefer to see Garrido at left back and Olsson on the wing ahead of Pilks playing on the wrong side.
[/quote]

Thats an interesting idea.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is what Chris Hughton said after the Villa game:

 

I generally felt with Robert Snodgrass’ performance, although it was be fair to say it was in and out, if we were going to get something it could come from that right-hand side and the link between him and Russell Martin.

“Whatever else you say about Snoddy he is a lad who will keep going. Even in bad periods of the game with Robert where he might produce a poor cross or get dispossessed you know he will keep going. We managed to get Russ through on a couple of occasions and had balls flying into the box from that side whereas Nathan in that period was shackled quite well. Whenever he got the ball he had two or three players around him.

“Those are the decisions I have to make and even after the changes we continued to create chances.”

 

Whatever criticism is thrown at Hughton, it is clear that he is not a fool and that his decisions have a rational basis.  You might disagree with him but he does not make random decisions.  He plays Snodgrass for reasons not because he is capricious, blind or being blackmailed.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In the system being used since Stoke, the 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3 depending how you see it, Pilkington and Snodgrass are tucking in a lot more - which has helped Norwich have an element of control in midfield in all 3 games. It means that Martin and Olsson must provide the width for crossing (which we saw for Norwich''s goal against Arsenal and Chelsea). The role of Snodgrass and Pilkington is to get close to the striker to provide support, especially now Norwich aren''t playing a ''No. 10'' to sit behind Hooper/RvW - Pilkington getting closer to RvW allowed him to combine with the striker to score against Chelsea.

 

In the 4-4-1-1 Norwich had one player supporting the striker as the wingers were playing very wide and generally not so close to the box - the change to the 3 man midfield now means there are 2 player supporting the striker, but it does result in the team playing with less width overall.

 

As Norwich don''t have a ''target man'' anymore I think crosses are going to be less effective overall and Hughton has made the right choice in using a system that doesn''t rely on them as the main method of attack. Snodgrass was Norwich''s most effective attacking player last season and I can see why Hughton is sticking with him, will be interesting to see if he starts against Cardiff (I think he will) but it is a shame he hasn''t brought his recent Scotland form to Norwich.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Snodgrass looked excellent against Croatia. Strachan does utilise him in the ''10'' role and I''d like to see that against Cardiff. He looks very happy there. I''d also go with Redmond on the right and Pilks on the left. One thing Pilks does very well is to support the striker and get in the box (see his goals against Chelsea, Man Utd, Bolton etc). I think that will be essential at the weekend.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Fleckys Flip-Flop"]Snodgrass looked excellent against Croatia. Strachan does utilise him in the ''10'' role and I''d like to see that against Cardiff. He looks very happy there. I''d also go with Redmond on the right and Pilks on the left. One thing Pilks does very well is to support the striker and get in the box (see his goals against Chelsea, Man Utd, Bolton etc). I think that will be essential at the weekend.[/quote]

 

Norwich''s new system means that they don''t play with a No. 10 anymore and to accomodate one, one of Fer, Howson or Tettey would have to be dropped - which would a mistake considering how well they have been playing together since Stoke.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Bethnal,I would take the side that played Arsenal and simply switch Redmond for Snodgrass and leave Pilks and Snodgrass to fight over the left wing role. Redmond looked good against Watford in this role and he is capable of getting to the bye line which is something our wingers no longer seem to do - our core problem now is that we are not providing service to our forward.

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...