The man who has escaped blame this week....

[Holtcantshoot 0]

I would sum up this thread with three general points:a) Bradley Johnson would have started yesterday''s game if he was eligible and was missedb) He''s been off form like everyone else and would unlikely have had a big enough impact to change the overall result as our lack of confidence and form has engulfed the whole squad.c) Everyone posting on here thinks anyone with a different opinion is an idiot

[Buh 0]

Frankly, we''ve got to the point where any player that doesn''t play is the answer to all our problems, secretly Lionel messi and being deliberately kept out of the squad because... "Conspiracy"

[lake district canary 4,531]

[quote user="Holtcantshoot"]c) Everyone posting on here thinks anyone with a different opinion is an idiot[/quote]

You''re an idiot if you think that.......[:)]

[nutty nigel 7,533]

I think Holty meant everyone bar him :)

[Katie Borkins 1]

We are a better team with Bradley in it. No question in my mind.

[Holtcantshoot 0]

Nah, I''m an idiot as well. I just like arguing about football under the pretense I understand what''s going on.

[lake district canary 4,531]

[quote user="Bor Bor Bor"]We are a better team with Bradley in it. No question in my mind.[/quote]So why did the midfield all but disappear against Bolton when he came on as sub?? 

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,023]

From my point of view we were a player light in midfield, for me I would have liked us to have stuck with ome up front (Hooper) and have three in the middle and my personal preference would have been for Gary O`Neil on the basis that he is not afraid to get stuck in, looks after the ball well and takes a decent corner........

[Yellow Wal 314]

LDC you have raised another important point.

The movement and creativity we had early in the season has virtually disappeared.

We were making chances but we were not finishing them, as a result Grabban has paid the price of a first team place.

However, in his short time on the pitch yesterday he showed more mobility and creativity than Jerome did all match. Grabban''s play set up Murphy''s chance at the death.

Yesterday Jerome was very static, one dimensional. With a massive centre back in their midst I would have thought that Reading were very happy for him to play against a forward who never moved out of the centre, allowed him to compete for high balls all afternoon in the knowledge that he would win the majority .......... and he did.

How good was Cooper on the ground, how mobile was he? I don''t know because we never asked the question.

Now, was that the fault of the player or was he playing to the manager''s instructions?

[mrs miggins 0]

Although I know I said it last week, our results started to go down since we went 2 up top, Hoolahans influence and Grabban not being able to play with another striker hasn''t helped us, Adams especially not realising this hasn''t helped really

[Yellow Wal 314]

We seem to be best with a 4231 but what we have done is to play the 42 of a 4231 and then a front 4 of a 424 or the front two and wide men of a 424.

As you can see from that sentence it is very complicated ............ almost as complicated as the way we seem to be trying to play!

[Yellow Wal 314]

............... wide men of a 442.

(Oh, for an edit button!)

[lake district canary 4,531]

[quote user="Yellow Wall"]LDC you have raised another important point.

The movement and creativity we had early in the season has virtually disappeared.

We were making chances but we were not finishing them, as a result Grabban has paid the price of a first team place.

However, in his short time on the pitch yesterday he showed more mobility and creativity than Jerome did all match. Grabban''s play set up Murphy''s chance at the death.

Yesterday Jerome was very static, one dimensional. With a massive centre back in their midst I would have thought that Reading were very happy for him to play against a forward who never moved out of the centre, allowed him to compete for high balls all afternoon in the knowledge that he would win the majority .......... and he did.

How good was Cooper on the ground, how mobile was he? I don''t know because we never asked the question.

Now, was that the fault of the player or was he playing to the manager''s instructions?[/quote]

I watched the match online and don''t recall seeing Jerome at all.   For all his impact when he first started scoring for us, his career suggests he will not be a prolific scorer for us week in week out and maybe needs careful managing.  If he was given instructions to stay central yesterday, then it didn''t work.  

I thought our movement was verging on the brilliant earlier in the season, but that has all gone - mainly imo to incorporate Jerome.  Yet another case imo of a manager latching on to one way of playing because it worked once.  The 4231 worked because it got results. How many games have we won with two strikers starting up front?    

[hogesar 9,665]

Yep we missed Johnno big time. Tettey almost done the work of 2 players, Howson had a very poor game.

Im so confused that this "sunday league" player is picked in the Premiership by 3 different managers week in week out. Im confused we look worse without him both now and in previous seasons.

Im even more confused then that at least 1 Prem club wanted to sign him in the summer...

[ZLF 274]

Howsons loss rate remains in excess of 50% with norwich. Fr that reason we need a 5 man midfield.

It is not that johnson is better than howson, its just a 4 man mid is weak.

Our best 5 man middle is

redmond oneil tetty howson lafferty

and will outperform any 4 or 5 man midfield with BJ in it. BJ in a 5 man midfield is better (than any 4 man version) as his errors are minimised -

[ZLF 274]

to say we missed bj suggested we didnt gain a point because of midfield snap.

He would not have covered up the defensive problems and his labourious slow build up play and mis placed passes would not have created more chances. Thats where we lost the game. Missing him running around and having a physical free kick ball giving away presence is not the same as him having a positive impact on the result.

[can u sit down please 0]

Agree with ZLF.

Miss Wes a lot more than Bradley Pirlo.