Our wingers, tactics, and movement off the ball

[HampsteadCanary 0]

So our wingers have not been producing (although three of them have been out for periods of time during the season) so why not try a formation that doesn''t use them? Players like Snodgrass and Redmond if they''re not producing on the wings could be tried inside, or in different positions. Just because they played most of their careers in one position, doesn''t mean they won''t be effective in another. See Wes.

4-1-2-1-2 diamond would solve that.

Ruddy

Martin-Turner-Bassong-Olsson

Johnson (Tettey when he''s fit)

Fer - Howson

Hoolahan

RVW - Hooper

Wes reverts to his free role, has two forwards ahead of him to pass to, Johnson stays as far away from the opposition''s penalty area as possible (at least four wasted long shots on Thursday!) Then introducing one winger if we''re struggling for Johnson, the team still has a good balance.

Ultimately, we just don''t move around the pitch enough to give the player with the ball options to pass to. They look like statues sometimes, and they need to want the ball, and look for angles to get it. We have moments in games where the one touch football looks beautiful (see Elmander and Hooper''s flick ons in the WBA game) but really, the midfield don''t offer enough movement OFF the ball to give the defence an option to pass to. Therefore most of our moves actually break down around the half way line, or just inside the opposition half. That invites more pressure. Then when we DO get the ball near the penalty area, we slow the play right down. The tactics are god-awful, its horrible to watch, the players don''t look motivated, and I can see us being right down there at the end of the season. Don''t want to be a gloom monger, but Hughton really needs to buck his attacking ideas up.