Went to the Leicester game and typed out a long rant afterwards but lost it when my iphone battery conked out. No surprise there.
The jist of it was that neither the defence or attack had any sort of chance when we had such a gaping hole in the middle. I was more involved than Faye who's legs have gone, and Howson was hiding hoping not to be noticed. Nobody wanted the ball until Killkenny came on but it was too little too late then. Listened to the game on the radio tonight and was staggered to see Grayson play the same midfield. How could he not see what was so obvious to me and make the same mistake again? But who the fuck am I? It amazes me when managers continue to play players in positions where it clearly isn't working. We had our dip in form last season when Killkenny got injured and Grayson was forced to tinker with the midfield. He dropped Doyle and played Howson and Johnson in the middle and they just weren't good enough, and that was in League 1. We played our best football last season with Doyle and Killkenny in the middle and then either Howson in the free role of a 4-5-1 that suites him or a second striker in a 4-4-2. A lot of people didn't like Doyle but the spoiler role he played allowed Killkenny to be the influential player he can be. They were both pretty good at passing to a white shirt, funny that, who would have thought players that actually want the ball and don't give it away would help you be successful? I thought Faye would be a top notch replacement for Doyle until I saw him play. He's passed it and should be nowhere near the first team. Killkenny should be the first name on the team sheet, why the fuck is he not playing? I don't have all the answers. Who would I play alongside Killkenny in the center? Is Clayton good enough? I don't know, he hasn't played. Why bring him in if he isn't good enough? When a team is playing so badly you need to explore your options and give players a go. Don't stick with a line up that isn't working. I think it is criminal that we went in to this season without a credible replacement for Doyle. Why not keep Doyle on if we have nobody better at the role he was playing? He was a free agent wasn't he? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Doyle would be the answer to all our problems, but we need a solid spoiler of a midfielder who can also pass the ball and nobody at the club is currently good enough for that role. I know it's early in the season and Grayson has plenty of time to turn it around, and I really want him to be the man, but he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and that is worrying. O.k. big gob, what would you do? I can't give a straight answer to that because I would try a few things and see what worked. I think we are a pushover so first things first we need to find some bollocks and that means 5 in midfield with 1 up front. I would try a 4-1-4-1 and a 4-2-3-1 that seemed to work well for many of the teams in the world cup. Fantasy team lineups are usually just that but here goes. You may disagree with some of the players here but it is a working system we need to find, not a collection of the best players. 4-1-4-1 Kasper Connolly - 2 of Bruce/Brondby/Collins - McCartney 1 of Clayton/Hughes/Bruce 1 of Gradel/Sam/Howson/Snodgrass - Killkenny - 1 of Clayton/Howson/Watt - 1 of Clayton/Watt/Johnson/McCormack 1 of Becchio/Somma/Paynter/McCormack 4-2-3-1 Kasper Connolly - 2 of Bruce/Brondby/Collins - McCartney 2 of Clayton/Hughes/Bruce Snodgrass - Killkenny - 1 of Clayton/Watt/Johnson/McCormack 1 of Becchio/Somma/Paynter/McCormack I believe Paynter is on the verge of a return so apart from him I've left out the players that are injured. There are loads of options there. We don't have the quality holding midfielders so that, for me, is the first hole we need to fill, closely followed by a center back. I would be looking at the loan market because we can't wait until January. If I was picking the team for the next game I would have to go with the following. 4-2-3-1 Kasper Connolly - Bruce - Brondby - McCartney Clayton - Hughes Snodgrass - Killkenny - McCormack Somma What I'm aiming for is to fill that bloody great big hole we have in the middle with battlers and ball players. Players who want the ball and won't hide. Clayton is in because I'm hoping he can do a job in there. Hughes because I think he would be a disciplined spoiler. Watt is out because he's injured and McCormack in instead of Johnson because with two holding midfielders you can afford the extra flair. Gradel, Sam, Howson and Nunez are not starters for me at the moment. Brondby can't fail to be better than Collins and Naylor should be for dire emergencies only. Under no circumstances should Faye, Howson and Johnson ever start together in the middle again. There, I feel better for getting that out of my system. Si. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org MARCHING ON TOGETHER
