Problem area?

[hal9thou]

There were plenty of signs of improvement pre Fulham, but one area seldom commented on which still needs work is link up play in the final third going forward.

The Cottagers ;) backed off against Adel for long periods and he skillfully helped himself. It wont always be like that, and when it isn't you have to link up. If you watched Man City against Newcastle it was incredibly striking how going forward there was always at least one light blue shirt within ten to twelve metres of another - they often attacked from mid park together as a foursome. Spain do the same from further back - in fact if you look at the tactical history of the game you'll find units or pods are the key to success. It's also the only way to keep posession against really hard working opposition who are up you all day long, ie make the ball do the work.

Now I know we obviously don't have that depth of quality, but we can start attacking from mid park more as a unit. So if we have one up top with Adel tucked in behind, he shouldn't be going forward with the nearest support 35m away. To have any chance staying up, going forward is our best bet (for the simple reason we aren't strong enough at the back to park the bus for any length of time). I just think looking ahead we'll need a little bit more attention paid to attacking as a unit.

Thoughts?

[Ginger Ninja]

Totally agree mate. Defensively we look a lot stronger since harry took over. But there are still issues with our play going forward.

[zeberdee]

@hal9thou - I agree but as you say it is not going to happen overnight. Adel provided a lovely band aid yesterday to cover over the weakness among the strikers. Not complaining about them btw they did as well as anyone could reasonably hope. There is a lack of bodies due to injuries but also Cisse/Mackie/SWP are supporting cast that need a star or two alongside to bring out the best in them. One other thing - Harry got Spurs attacking as a team with all 11 players involved. So I think you will love where he is heading once there is some breathing space and less fire fighting about his job.

[hal9thou]

yup, it will take time,and that philosophy of attacking units from deep was totally alien to the last regime. So things move on, thank fvck.

For me, AJ DJ & Zamora are surplus baggage. Between them they're all either too slow, too old, and too inconsistent and the only one with a decent EPL strike tatio in recent years was DJ at Blackpool, a while back now.

I'd sooner use a tactical approach based on what we have then bring in more third rate strikers in the window, and I'd lessen the wage bill by severing connections with at least two of the above mentioned.

[Yousef]

Good post. The best way to defend in to attack from the middle. Once you have a strong blend of defensive / attacking midfielders, you can always create opportunities

[DouDou_87]

To free up space for Adel and make him as effective as possible in the middle, Mackie & SWP have to stay wide, which in turn makes it difficult to have 3 or 4 players close to one another when we attack like you mention.

That approach also needs a forward willing to drop deep, link the play and be willing to lay on chances for others like Tevez, RVP Suarez. We don't have one of those at our club- Cisse is purely an out an out finisher.

IMO with the players we have the system and style of play we had yesterday at home was spot on. We will need a big step up in the technical ability of our wingers and full backs to play the tight attacking play like Spain.

[zeberdee]

Well AJ/BZ wont be useful this season and would give DJ a run out but not going to expect heroics there - not sure how easily they can be sold though.

Seen plenty of people talking about avoiding relegation with the current squad. I don't see it myself. Not with the current squad, the gaps, number of game remaining, need to win half the remaining games to survive on the final day, way too many fingers crossed on that one, might as well buy a lottery ticket with odds that long.

If relegation is accepted however then all the fire fighting impetus goes out the window and there is time to just work on improving the current squad.
But then you just got to find another manager in the summer I expect - can't see him sticking a year in the championship myself. Especially if he though he could have stayed up with a little backing in January.

[WeAreQPR12]

problem area is simple, it's cisse. Thought to myself if we had that big lad that villa have up top we'd be a top half side.

[Shania]

Good post. The best way to defend in to attack from the middle. Once you have a strong blend of defensive / attacking midfielders, you can always create opportunities

That´s why should go for Lampard, IMO. I bet he still can hack it .

[Shania]

problem area is simple, it's cisse. Thought to myself if we had that big lad that villa have up top we'd be a top half side.

It´s unbeliavble how poor his finishing is this season.
But who knows, it could be a matter of form.. He could be on fire against Newcastle,already.

[Rangers77]

Having that muppet Anton on the bench is a problem for me......

[hal9thou]

To free up space for Adel and make him as effective as possible in the middle, Mackie & SWP have to stay wide, which in turn makes it difficult to have 3 or 4 players close to one another when we attack like you mention.

Good post, good point. But at the end of the day we have to sort this one way or the other, and Adel wont be given that kind of space every weekend by the opposition. I just feel right now that we have more players who can drop back and attack from deep than we do quality out and out front men.

To me we looked 4-2-1-3 at times, but with our players 4-2-3-1 is the more obvious route. Hughes never understood either. I regard Cisse as the only viable striker we have, and we all know that is a double edged sword.

If you accept that we have no quality strikers but plenty of midfielders, would you be brave and try 4-3-3-0 aka 4-6-0? If you're going there you can also set it up as 4-2-4-0, which I like. Sorry about the numbers. Adel could still be in the middle going forward. He wont get that space in the future which is why we need to link around him more. On reflection, with Cisse it probably has to be 4-2-3-1, but nothing wil work if the nearest attacker is 40m away from the ball carrier going forward. It also leaves a massive hole if the ball carrier looses it.

Incidentally, if you watch Spain, they sometimes restrict the full backs to play as full backs. They did this against Italy until the last quarter when everyone was everywhere. Personally I think the idea of wing backs is itself out dated, I like specialist defenders, the key area where Hughes went wrong. Because we didn't have any ;)

[gator]

Some good points made all round! The thing is in the EPL there are a number of different styles you're going to be up against as well as large differences in the quality of sides, I think Harry gets that and will adjust our formation and tactics accordingly! I agree that our link up play has been sub par but there have been issues all over the pitch obviously, it looks like the attackers are starting to get on the same page instead of openly argueing with each other! I think Cisse looked alright vs Fulham, he just missed a couple of chances and was at least a threat for the Fulham defence to deal with which hasn't been the case every match! I think we would do well to bring in another quality striker, imagine Berbatov or someone like that playing up front for us!

[Yousef]

Having that muppet Anton on the bench is a problem for me......

Forget him. He will only come in the 90th minute.