Should we work to the opposition or play our own game

[nasser95]

In an ideal world, we would have a working style of football that we can rely on. At the moment, this isn't working but my question is whether we should look at our own game and work purely on that or whether we should adapt to the opposition. This doesn't necessarily mean changing formations but it means looking at their weaknesses and abusing them. For example, if a team looks weak on the left hand side, should we alter the personnel to maximise output to the left and play smarter defensively on the right? Or should we stick to what we do. Consider this in two parts, one being where we are playing as we are now with little real discipline from the players tactically and the other case being if we had a style working at the moment. The reason I'm curious is because I've been looking at some of the strengths and weaknesses of some of our opposition and I came to wonder if we would ideally not have to change anything in our team every week.

My personal opinion on this is that we should always look to take advantage of the opposition changes but not by changing formation or anything but through personnel and mentality. If a team is fast on our left hand side, put luongo and Yun/Cole there and have them doing the grafting while we play as much as we can on the right where Phillips does damage. But I have seen many cases where managers have faith in their own system and try and force the opposition to adapt to them. What are your thoughts?

[QPRDave]

He, should be doing both nass. We should have our attacking plans and with scout reports attack the opposition in their weak areas.
Then he should know what we need to do out of possession.... Apparently against the bees, the plan was to ........???....play like c***s I presume

[72bus]

a bit of both for me , no doubt ramsey and his coaches study the oppo videos and set out accordingly. i feel ramsey always lacks a plan b . say if we go 2 nil down in the 1st 10 mins does he wait til half time before he changes his game plan or can he just shout out a " go to plan B lads" and the team will know what he wants . he'll know or should know how he wants us to play . what he can't do is make half hearted disinterested players run that extra mile .

[LoftusRoadLad]

think you're stating the obvious mate. But weather its obvious to Rambo thats another matter .

[nasser95]

think you're stating the obvious mate. But weather its obvious to Rambo thats another matter .

The thing is, so many managers do overlook this, its actually a surprise. You see the Fergusons and the Guardiolas, they adapt. The reason Mourinho for example isn't succeeding at the moment is because he won't adapt. He has a style, he won't alter it based on the opposition. Over here, we aren't consistent enough with our style but we aren't taking advantage of the weakness of the opponents. Last match where I saw us take advantage like that was Wolves where we shot from everywhere because their keeper was off kilter.

[upperloft]

I honestly believe we should be concentrating on our squad.. Picking our best 11 and our best formation. I'm afraid Ramsey has had long enough to sort that and we are not any closer to knowing. He keeps playing the two holding midfielders.... We don't have two good holding midfielders. Stop playing them. It's a crazy situation we have again.

[LoftusRoadLad]

no they don't overlook it. they are professionals . Otherwise you tom d!ck and me can coach !

[nasser95]

no they don't overlook it. they are professionals . Otherwise you tom d!ck and me can coach !

Yes they are, but they are also people and they are stubborn. They don't want to change (Mourinho case in point) and they don't take advantage enough as a result. And for the record, I can coach, but not at a level worth taking time out to do so at the moment.

[nasser95]

I honestly believe we should be concentrating on our squad.. Picking our best 11 and our best formation. I'm afraid Ramsey has had long enough to sort that and we are not any closer to knowing. He keeps playing the two holding midfielders.... We don't have two good holding midfielders. Stop playing them. It's a crazy situation we have again.

I disagree with this, we do have two good holding midfielders in the form of Faurlin and Sandro, Tozser and Doughty (potentially). You need to develop as style of play in the long term but alter how it is run based on the opposition. My belief is stick with your guns formation wise but alter the personnel.

Also in our case, lets say we play 442 and end up doing what most teams do with 442 and bypass the centre mids to lob it up to the strikers, fans will still be up in arms about our style and demand change, even if we are winning, then when we do change, they will find something else to complain about.

[upperloft]

I disagree with this, we do have two good holding midfielders in the form of Faurlin and Sandro, Tozser and Doughty (potentially). You need to develop as style of play in the long term but alter how it is run based on the opposition. My belief is stick with your guns formation wise but alter the personnel.

Also in our case, lets say we play 442 and end up doing what most teams do with 442 and bypass the centre mids to lob it up to the strikers, fans will still be up in arms about our style and demand change, even if we are winning, then when we do change, they will find something else to complain about.

Thought you would..Toszer?? Have you been watching him. Forget the stats.. Have you watched him? Useless. He hasn't shown any defensive capabilities, slow and can't tackle. From what I seen of faurlin he looks done. I fear for him. Another knee injury he will be struggling to walk let alone kick a ball. Dougherty, Unknown commodity.. Don't mind throwing him in but I don't see him as a DM.

IMO Sandro is our only decent DM he is the only one mobile enough to do the job, strong in the tackle, a natural in that position but constantly injured... And now looks like he wants out.

possibly Luango at DM but a bit lightweight.

[nasser95]

Thought you would..Toszer?? Have you been watching him. Forget the stats.. Have you watched him? Useless. He hasn't shown any defensive capabilities, slow and can't tackle. From what I seen of faurlin he looks done. I fear for him. Another knee injury he will be struggling to walk let alone kick a ball. Dougherty, Unknown commodity.. Don't mind throwing him in but I don't see him as a DM.

IMO Sandro is our only decent DM he is the only one mobile enough to do the job, strong in the tackle, a natural in that position but constantly injured... And now looks like he wants out.

possibly Luango at DM but a bit lightweight.

As I said in another thread, the formation doesn't call for 2 hyper defensive midfielders, rather a ball playing midfielder who can tackle and a Ball winning midfielder who can pass. Toszer and Faurlin Match the first one for me while Doughty and Sandro match the second one.

I have watched Tozser and I can safely say that he is being let down by partner in crime King Kelvin. Watch his passing and tackling against MK and Sheffield wednesday and you will see that he can take on that role well. Faurlin has been great this season bar fulham so I don't know how we can see he looks done.

[vanhoop]

I disagree with this, we do have two good holding midfielders in the form of Faurlin and Sandro, Tozser and Doughty (potentially). You need to develop as style of play in the long term but alter how it is run based on the opposition. My belief is stick with your guns formation wise but alter the personnel.

Also in our case, lets say we play 442 and end up doing what most teams do with 442 and bypass the centre mids to lob it up to the strikers, fans will still be up in arms about our style and demand change, even if we are winning, then when we do change, they will find something else to complain about.

No one complains when we're winning Nasser . Thomas and Austin should both start up top tomorrow .lets go all out !

[nasser95]

No one complains when we're winning Nasser . Thomas and Austin should both start up top tomorrow .lets go all out !

You obviously missed the post MK Dons reaction.

[upperloft]

As I said in another thread, the formation doesn't call for 2 hyper defensive midfielders, rather a ball playing midfielder who can tackle and a Ball winning midfielder who can pass. Toszer and Faurlin Match the first one for me while Doughty and Sandro match the second one.

I have watched Tozser and I can safely say that he is being let down by partner in crime King Kelvin. Watch his passing and tackling against MK and Sheffield wednesday and you will see that he can take on that role well. Faurlin has been great this season bar fulham so I don't know how we can see he looks done.

Well if Faurlin is playing great why is he on the bench?