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Katie Borkins

Two positives from the wreckage

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1) Lafferty''s cameo - he has a good touch and good awareness and I think he will be a good foil for Grabban.  Redmond needs to get out wide and let the strikers take charge in the box.2) Adams was willing to change up and try different approaches rather than sit on his hands and let the game slide away.  Of course, it did still slide away but Tettey for Surman and Lafferty for Whittaker were refreshing system changes that we have seldom seen in the last couple of seasons.I think that''s about it though.

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Even though he sat and watched our exposed fullbacks getting murdered for 60 mins????.

Everyone could see we needed to change as too narrow after 20mins!!!.

Too little too late I''m afraid!!!

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On a more ethereal note, BBB, then one positive I see is that, if there were any groups of fans ( or, heaven forbid, anyone at the club)who thought that this season was going to be a stroll in the park , then these people will have had a rude awakening.I know it was not 1-7 v Colchester, but the earthquake that was that game set about a wholly new attitude almost immediately. Let''s hope that yesterday brings a similar sea-change ?

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[quote user="Angry man"]Even though he sat and watched our exposed fullbacks getting murdered for 60 mins????.

Everyone could see we needed to change as too narrow after 20mins!!!.

Too little too late I''m afraid!!![/quote]Typically, as a manager, you give the players on the pitch a chance to put things right before changing it up. Sometimes accompanied with a bit of a hairdryer at half time.

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It''s fairly easy to say what ''could/should'' have been changed after it''s happened.

In which case...

I''d have switched to a flatter midfield 4. Given our options on the bench, brought Garrido on at LB with Olsson doubling up as LM (possibly at the expense of Surman).

Removed Redmond (pace but no product) and put Tettey in CM alongside Johnson.

Hoolahan''s performance has been widely criticised but for me he was the one player at least showing for the ball and putting his head up when he had it, trying to make things happen. I''d have advanced him closer to Grabban up top.

Problem with all of this is that you''re removing attacking threat to shore up a shonky backline... I''d have taken a 0-0 over a defeat though.

For me, Lafferty was the one positive. Good touch, good movement, instantly his presence made us LOOK better. Good to see a big man in the no.9 again.

Out of interest, did anyone happen to watch Sheff Utd v Bristol City on Saturday>? Wilbraham was very impressive, excellent hold-up play and some lovely flick-ons. There were times with us yesterday where we didn''t even look we had anyone up top. I hope Lafferty will be that presence in attack for us going forward. If nothing else, I put a fiver on him at 66-1 to be top scorer in the division this season and I could do with the money.

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[quote user="Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd"]Unfortunately ,,, he went against my pre match advice and played Whittaker ,,,, when will he listen ??????[/quote]It is odd that you should single him out when there were about 7 players

who were worse than him. He is the best right-back that we have. He

wasn''t at fault for the goal. He also had no support in front of him but he made some good forward runs.

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Surely we as supporters of NCFC have witnessed the diamond formation many times enough to know that the system despite having many plusses has one big minus.

And that is your full backs are exposed by a 4-4-2 or even 5-3-2.

I doubt Olsson has ever played in that system and he looked to be totally at sea for the majority of the time he was on the pitch.

Whittaker seems to know how to play it but his sorties forward were non productive. And he looked woefully short of pace,

Agreed Adams tied to change it after the sending off but a timid and deep sitting Wolves made it virtually impossible to counter attack. Fair dues to them, the tactic worked.

It isn''t up to me or any of us to tell the manager what to do but Martin did play in a diamond for us particularly in the second part of the L1 season.

Perhaps Bennett in at CB and Martin to right back would make us a bit more solid. If we use the system at home we will be open to the counter attack and he might just steady the ship that side,

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[quote user="mrdi"]It''s fairly easy to say what ''could/should'' have been changed after it''s happened.

In which case...

I''d have switched to a flatter midfield 4. Given our options on the bench, brought Garrido on at LB with Olsson doubling up as LM (possibly at the expense of Surman).

Removed Redmond (pace but no product) and put Tettey in CM alongside Johnson.

Hoolahan''s performance has been widely criticised but for me he was the one player at least showing for the ball and putting his head up when he had it, trying to make things happen. I''d have advanced him closer to Grabban up top.

Problem with all of this is that you''re removing attacking threat to shore up a shonky backline... I''d have taken a 0-0 over a defeat though.

For me, Lafferty was the one positive. Good touch, good movement, instantly his presence made us LOOK better. Good to see a big man in the no.9 again.

Out of interest, did anyone happen to watch Sheff Utd v Bristol City on Saturday>? Wilbraham was very impressive, excellent hold-up play and some lovely flick-ons. There were times with us yesterday where we didn''t even look we had anyone up top. I hope Lafferty will be that presence in attack for us going forward. If nothing else, I put a fiver on him at 66-1 to be top scorer in the division this season and I could do with the money.[/quote]I''m a bit confused.We struggled to move the ball around so you want to take off two attacking players and replace them with two defensive players?My suggestion would be that instead of changing both Surman AND Redmond, leave Olsson where he is - as he was dealing with their pace well really. Drop Grabban back to play wide - which he can do, and put Lafferty on upfront. Then play Surman centrally where he played last season for Bournemouth.

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Lafferty''s cameo when he came on was my one crumb of comfort on Sunday out of what was a pretty abysmal performance. His directness of play, running at their defence, good first touch, bringing others into play, really shone in comparison to the rest. I had been expecting that from the off from a side that I had hoped would want to show that their relegation was a mistake. Sadly, I left the ground with the thought that tbh we have found our level. I really hope this is a wake up call and any post-relegation blues/lingering Hughtonesque defensive mentality will be quickly thrown off.

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Wolves out-muscled us, big-time. Olsson was rattled from the first half onwards, their right winger was all over him.

Against Premiership teams, you can understand gaps appearing infront of the back 4. Yesterday it was unforgivable. I lost count of how many second balls we were nowhere near getting to, let alone winning.

If we''d watched Wolves in pre-season, it didn''t look like it.

Yes, I''d have released Olsson to LM. Doubles up when defending, and shown plenty that he can skin a right back and get a cross in from the by-line. Redmond''s same old ''cut in from the left onto the right and scuff it'' trick was infuriating. Not to mention he''s useless defending.

Yes, I''d have put Tettey in CM. More combative, and better distribution than Surman managed yesterday.

Don''t get me wrong, I''m one of Surman''s biggest fans but against some teams this season, his weaknesses will be highlighted.

But that''s what I would''ve done. I''m not the manager so I can''t and I didn''t. It''s probably just as well I''m not the manager as it might have gone to scr0tumland - but hey... I''ll reiterate that Lafferty impressed me. Grabban less so in terms of attacking, but his work-rate was excellent.

Hoolahan may not have had his best day yesterday but we need to stop thinking of him as a ''luxury''. We just can''t put a load of other midgets in the midfield with him. Not in this division.

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