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simmo_2

Tactical Naivety!

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Found it bizarre that Howson was not bought on. When he left Tettey out a few weeks ago the reason given was that Howson gave us more going forwards to win the game and yet he was left on the bench whilst the 2 most uncreative midfielders in the league were of the pitch.

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My confidence in Neil Adams to produce the necessary is on somewhat of a roller-coaster ride.He is beginning to appear a bit limited in his team selections and tactics and seems no nearer to solving the problem of packed defences now as he was when he first encountered one against Birmingham City. We must top the ''possession'' ranks after twelve games, but our meagre recent points tally belies this statistic to a certain extent.Possession that is predictable and often somewhat slow seems to be playing into the hands of inferior opponents and then our defence is regularly caught cold.There are more new player options for Adams to address this now with Howson and Hooper back so let''s hope that he is capable of broadening his approach in order to solve the problems.Why is Hoolahan so automatically selected, even after a busy international week and for an AWAY fixture, when he should always be on the bench in any case. Quite frankly, I was non-plussed when I heard that he was to be preferred to Howson yesterday in any case,Do we really need two defensive mid-fielders by default? Especially as we will come up against a majority of defensive minded teams, whether at home or away this season. In any case, Johnson''s recent form and the prescence of a £4m+ highly trumpetted new boy on the bench demands a change from this, IMO.We battered Fulham yesterday and I felt I was supporting the home team. They did show that they had vastly improved though so there was something inevitable about them snatching a goal and then mounting a rearguard action.Lafferty would have been useful yesterday and his all-action battering approach is better suited to games on our travels than the dinky-pinky stuff, IMO.Howson should be a shoe-in for the rest of the season.I feel a lot on here under-estimate Martin as a centre-back, but it does not explain why others were brought in but never play.Let us prey that Hooper finally becomes the Mr. Goals we always expected, he showed glimpses last season now we need to see the full-frontal, especially as Grabban is lacking a bit in confidence and yesterday won''t have helped. Incidentally, why do we always play one forward player out of position, or not in their best role at least?Voo must surely be ready and Jonno can shore up a game in the last quarter when needed.From behind this pole-thing amidst Fulham fan''s who praised our team highly.

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Can we compare this game to last seasons fulham match?    In both we should have had the upper hand in terms of form and squad and in both, imo,  we have chosen players and tactics that have minimised and not maximised our chances of winning.

 

In that respect has Adams progressed at all tactically?

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Good stuff Broadstairs. I actually felt the performance was not as bad as some are calling it against a vastly improved Fulham. It was though a game we should have one and another where the team has clearly under performed and not been set up correctly to do the job.....if many on here can see it, then surely our management team can too?

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I don''t agree about Hoolahan Broadstairs but I share with you the dip in confidence in Adams at the moment. The last few weeks were a fantastic opportunity for us to impose ourselves at the top of this league and they have been a complete disaster. Instead of taking our chance we have been reeled in by half a dozen others at the top of the table.

Yes we have been unlucky in tge home games but Adams at present is not getti g things right. The formation has been unbalanced. He seems completely unprepared to drop certain players and rotate the squad. What the hell is going on with the Odidja signing and the CB situation?

In my view a good manager with this squad gets us up comfortably. A mediocre manager probably has us in the playoffs. Our league position this morning shows Adams current level of performance to be no better than average.

Just to add to the frustration Watford hit the top of the table thanks in part to a MOM performance from Bassong. If we can cancel that loan we should do so immediately because it is one of the most idiotic decisions I think I''ve ever witnessed at our club. I don''t care if it saves us money having him there on loan, its not worth it.

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The Bassong decision, as has already been widely debated, is simply bizarre. Equally, appointing a novice manager, especially after keeping most of last season''s squad together was naive at best. I retain the view that the best chance of automatic promotion was season one before the parachute payments taper away, an intact squad and with an experienced manager. Fail, and the rebuilding job was one for 2015/16 as we revert to championionship club muchness. Adams appointment may well have been a reasonable shout at that point in such a scenario.

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Can''t argue with the fundamentals here, we looked tactically inept for long periods but, importantly for me at least, I''d struggle to go waving the finger at any particular player.

We lacked balance, the idea of Grabban dropping off to the left where he looked anything but comfortable, a two man midfield where once again it seemed as though we were continuosly outnumbered and overall we just didn''t move the ball quick enough.

A point I''ve mentioned in the recent past is, in games such as yesterday where let''s face it we have a truly awful record, was to have played narrow and not lose.

A three man midfield, either Wes or possibly Redderz dropped in behind and around Jerome and one other. Laff looked entirely pissed off as he walked past before the game so I''ve no idea what''s going in there. Hooper didn''t look quite as plump as people are making out and good to see him back.

VOO, why, what, how? We''ve spent a huge amount of loot on a player who looks like he''s there to keep the bench warm, at best this seems odd.

We''ve got a bus load of central defenders and yet Russel Martin seems guaranteed of a start come what way, this one really mystifies me. Nothing wrong with Russell but again, it just doesn''t look like a balanced back four.

In summary, our management team needs to get a lot lot more savvy and quickly, right at the moment it''s apparent their isn''t a Plan B to deploy let alone a Plan C, we play one way regardless and it''s going to get increasingly expensive as points slip past.

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Adams set up his team in a similar fashion to the last four games and they failed to deliver - again.  Not many clear cut chances created.  Wes flattering to deceive.....again.  Johnson passing poor....again.   This was the common factor last season too.   Johnson''s passing  is just so poor sometimes, it is difficult to defend him. 

Keeping it tight and keeping it simple is imo what we need to do.  Yesterday at Fulham was crying out for a 451 to keep things tight in midfield.  What we got was an ineffective and open 433 in which Wes got too far forward with Grabban and Jerome.  Redmond was out wide too much,  leaving huge gaps behind for a sluggish Johnson and an isolated Tettey to try and cover.  No wonder the defence looks poor when the cover isn''t there in front of them.  

So its a combination of players abilities and manager''s tactical nous.  The team was set up to attack, create and score - with a risk of defensive exposure. It didn''t create much and it didn''t score and the defence was exposed.  Too many wayward passes led to problems as it did last season. 

We dominated yesterday, as we seem to most matches, but it counts for nothing when we lose the ball so readily too far up the pitch with too many committed and get caught with the sucker punch.  Its happened again and again this season.  The teamwork is not developed enough if that keeps happening and players who keep passing badly are part of the problem.

The players and the manager have to step it up.  

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Adams set up his team for what he believed would win the game and if we had shown a bit more over the first 20 mins. When we were in charge and got a goal, we would have won the game. Unfortunately we did not score and once again the first goal went against us.What really upset me was that as the minutes ticked away there did not seem to be any urgency from our player or change in tactic from the bench.

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Johnson has a pass completion rate of 70% or lower. At least it was so last season in the Premiership.

Lowest of all midfielders in that league, and I assume he has continued in the same vain this season

Any side using BJ as a regular will struggle, because he is giving the ball away a lot.

We can tolerate it with Wes, as he creates a lot, but having BJ AND Wes both giving away the ball cheaply is too much, and the team suffers, getting countered.

Much of our problems will be solved with better passing, and we need Howson, not BJ.

Also, ditch 2 sitting midfielders against negative teams. We dont need 2 sitters if those playing can pass better.

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Johnson doesn''t take care of the ball, doesn''t read the game particularly well and doesn''t have a change of pace.

And we''ve seemingly made him the "heartbeat" of our midfield.

Not sure if that''s naivety or stupidity.

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People need to get it through their thick skulls that Bassong doesn''t want to be here - at the club, nor the area.

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[quote user="Shyster"]People need to get it through their thick skulls that Bassong doesn''t want to be here - at the club, nor the area.[/quote]

Other people need to get it through their thick skulls that whether Bassong wants to be at Norwich is really, really not the point.

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[quote user="Shyster"]People need to get it through their thick skulls that Bassong doesn''t want to be here - at the club, nor the area.[/quote]

That may be the case, but its inexcusable to Loan him to a direct rival.

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