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tom cavendish

Team selection and tactics

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I think that I have been proven right on my judgement of team selection and tactical analysis. Hughton has been slowly moving towards what I have been saying and the vast majority of people have said how they have seen the improvement.To reiterate the remaining outstanding points:1. Howson - he scored a great goal but he still hasn''t been providing service and support to the lone striker so it is like playing with 10 players because the lone striker is so isolated.With Fer & Tettey in central midfield it should give Howson the freedom to push much further forward than he has been doing.Neither RVW or Hooper is suited to playing as a lone striker. I think Hughton has to consider playing Elmander or Becchio at times instead of Howson.2. Whittaker should be the first-choice right-back. He is better at linking-up with Snodgrass.3. Bassong - Ryan Bennett should consider himself unfortunate to have lost his place in the team.4. Redmond - I would like to see him come on for Snodgrass on the right.

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Harsh on Howson. He can''t permanently be further up the pitch as he makes a two in midfield when Fer pushes forward. In this, and the previous two games Fer has got forward a lot and Howson has to hold with Tettey as the wingers are pushed forward and possibly even Olsson and Martin.

Thought Howson was good today as was generally aiming to get forward a lot more. Am liking the look of the 3 in midfield and is extremely unfair to write him off in this position after 3 games, 2 of which he scored in!

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Having noted the fact that this is the third of the big six sides to waltz through our defence like a dose of salts (?) ..... Spurs, Chelsea and now Arsenal and often from break-outs when we have been in the slight ascendency I am inclined to feel that Hughton''s approach to these fixtures is NOT DEFENSIVE ENOUGH.

Yes! You saw it first. A poster who criticises CH for a lack of defensiveness.

For these tough games when defeat is highly likely (although we did snatch a few points from them last season) we need the well-worn partnership of Tettey AND Johnson protecting the defense and crowding the mid-field.

Fer could be pushed into a slightly more forward role with either Snodgrass or Pilkington sacrificed. Well both really as I would prefer the directness of Redmond in this set-up.

Howson does it for me ... just due to his goals but he comes over as an industrious player who lacks a bit both constructively and defensively. I noted that it was an appalling attempted through pass by him which led to the first breakaway goal yesterday.

Yes! Shut up shop a bit more when away to these millionaire clubs CH. Set the dreaded Bradley Johnson free to do what he did to Arsenal LAST season.

Bang!

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Tom,

 

Points 2) & 4) sort of contradict themselves but understand where you are coming from.  IMO if we played Redmond full stop, or Benno when he comes back and assuming he carries on where he left off, then Russ Martin should stay at RB, simply because if you look at the stats Russ is by far the best user of the ball of all our defenders.  Snoddy besides having a mare at the moment very rarely tracks too far back, therefore restricting Russ in going forward, but he still tops the accurate passing, accurate long balls and most accurate crosses per game stats.

 

At times we appear to be accommodating a player for what reason?  Perhaps we could even give one of the U21s a go, they would no doubt perform to at least Snoddy''s level and probably better.

 

And of course carrying one player has a massive knock-on effect, insomuch as we do not supply decent ball to our forwards, we are predictable (we almost never go to the by line) and it causes dis-harmony in the team, all of which have been evident on the pitch to us fans and of course the ooposiion.

 

Come back soon Benno, stronger and even better that before (Everton), we need you.

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I''m amazed Mr Cavendish isn''t a household name with his long and illustrious career in football management. Outstanding arrogance.

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An area to improve are where we play the ball on the floor through to the central areas. This is for the midfields to do, including the outside midfielders. Of the latter Snodgrass holds some promise at this, but I''m not seeing it on the other side since Surman has been absent. Howson needs to be drilled on knocking it through, it''s strange because he can do it further back in midfield but seems to think it''s different in the opposition box!The way we played yesterday also requires the midfielders, especially deeper-lying ones such as Tettey, to be able to have decent shots from around the edge of their box. Ironically, Howson showed how to do it, but this is yet another area that needs to be further worked on.Of the selection, maybe it was a good opportunity to rest some of those players who played in the internationals in midweek? Martin looked like he''d given up towards the end, and on the point of being more defensive, we could have done with being a bit more solid at leftback after Olsson''s howler against Chelsea. Both fullbacks were obviously chosen for their offensiveness, but was this wise against a team like Arsenal?We need to ask more questions of the opposing teams'' defence, instead we''re having to commit too many forward to try and compensate for this weakness. It''s the coaches that need to provide the answers.

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--- BroadstairsR: Hughton''s approach to these fixtures is NOT DEFENSIVE ENOUGH.

I don''t think anyone questioned the manager''s defensive approach against the decent sides. It was when the same approach was taken in games against the rest that questions were asked.

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I cant say that I am not too disappointed with yesterdays team selection or tactics. Some of the performances were disappointing but thats down to the players

Disappointing

Hooper - poor touch meant he did not hold on to the ball or get others involved - I thought he was completely anonymous and we missed Rickys movement that was so influential against chelsea. Hopefully his toe will have recovered for cardiff.

Snodgrass - his quality is known but his is simply out of touch; cant fault his graft or committment but at the moment his final delivery or choice is simply letting him and the team down - he has the right ideas at least but is not implementing them. He needs a rest to sharpen up.

Olsson - simply majestic going forward but defensively his discipline lets him down. We can forgive that sentence for a Redderz but Olssons prime role is not to attack (his cross for our goal was proof of how good he is going forward) but his defensive positioning and choices are suspect. He has to improve defending or he will simply be like Eddie - lovable but too costly to have in the team.

Pros

Fer - Quality continues to shine through

Ruddy - Kept the score line presentable with countless quality saves and no blame for the 4 conceeded.

Tettey - His partnership with Fer is blossoming and his positioning and defensive work gives Fer/Howson the platform to look good. Simply streets ahead of BJ. No surprise we crumbled when he was taken off and Howson was asked to drop deeper.

Pilkington - a quieter games yesterday but again oozes class. Most of his top work yest was defensive and shoring up the left flank.

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[quote user="JonnyH"]An area to improve are where we play the ball on the floor through to the central areas. This is for the midfields to do, including the outside midfielders. Of the latter Snodgrass holds some promise at this, but I''m not seeing it on the other side since Surman has been absent. Howson needs to be drilled on knocking it through, it''s strange because he can do it further back in midfield but seems to think it''s different in the opposition box![/quote]Yes, that is the main problem with the team. Everyone should have a look at this showing Howson''s passes in the final third v Arsenal:http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694980/player-stats/38297/1_PASS_08#tabs-wrapper-anchorThis shows that Fer is passing the wall out to either wing but not getting through the middle:http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694980/player-stats/49277/1_PASS_08#tabs-wrapper-anchorThis shows why Pilkington should have stayed on the left:http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694980/player-stats/40451/1_PASS_08#tabs-wrapper-anchorThis shows that Snodgrass did actually try to make some passes into the box:http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694980/player-stats/18987/1_PASS_08#tabs-wrapper-anchorThis shows that Tettey is giving Howson & Fer a great foundation to get forward more than they have been doing. Tettey made by far the most passes and he completed 62 out of 64 of them:http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694980/player-stats/18665/1_PASS_01#tabs-wrapper-anchor

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