Forsooth, is that a tractor I see before me ?

[Jonah]

NL was doing fine until he lost Pratley and LCY. They haven't been replaced like for like have they?

NL was doing fine until a plethora of injuries unsettled a settled team with multiple loan replacements and youth players coming in as stop gaps. We don't have a settled 11.

NL was doing fine until he mentioned play offs target. Team seemed to take their eyes off the ball and lost concentration.

My offer for solution next season: Fix the defence. Get a proper LB and RB and replace one of the CHs with a dominant one. Then find a striker who can put the ball in the net and a fast winger who can cross. We are not far off but we must spend some money on a goal scorer to fire us into the top 2.

Only half a team and about 6mil of investment short then
The squad when all fit isn't bad though certainly not top two level . We've already signed a right back and a centre half though whether he's more dominant than wheater or mills can be who knows . I can't see ream bit being our regular left back next year and assuming Clayton gets fit and janko signs they are quite likely to be out wide. Your right back/ wing back might even be feeney yet in some games . We have a couple of strikers who know how to score already here , one is injured and the other we may not be able to afford .
If there was money I'm sure we'd be signing alf and chasing someone like juk but a year ago we couldn't afford juk at 1 mil so it seems unlikely a year down the line that we will be signing the 5 players that can significantly improve on what we already have .

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

In general though we seem to be signing players of more potential. Coke was an emergency signing due to more injuries and perhaps due to slavchev simply not settling .

Yeah, in general I agree: Bannan > Garvan, for example, and to answer your earlier question there's varying degrees of promise in Janko, Amos, ALF, Bannan and now Rochinha, so he's got a good hit-rate.

There at least seems to be a potentially successful approach developing away. It's a much a problem that chances aren't being taken which over 90 mins Ramps up the pressure on the defence.

It's better than it was, but we can't really claim bad luck during this run of six consecutive away defeats: only at Boro have we had more shots than the hosts, and only at Forest and Rotherham have we had more possession.

I'd imagine someone like juk would be very much on lennon's wish list as he is exactly what we need especially away from home.

Quite agree, and even though Burnley will lose a striker in summer, he's down the pecking order and I wouldn't be astonished to see him return. In some ways, I hope Burnley stay up - I'd rather see someone like Sunderland finally fall... but that's a different topic.

[TANGODANCER]

My offer for solution next season: Fix the defence. Get a proper LB and RB and replace one of the CHs with a dominant one. Then find a striker who can put the ball in the net and a fast winger who can cross. We are not far off but we must spend some money on a goal scorer to fire us into the top 2.

Why do you think describing Barcelona will help our problems?

[Jonah]

In general though we seem to be signing players of more potential. Coke was an emergency signing due to more injuries and perhaps due to slavchev simply not settling .

Yeah, in general I agree: Bannan > Garvan, for example, and to answer your earlier question there's varying degrees of promise in Janko, Amos, ALF, Bannan and now Rochinha, so he's got a good hit-rate.

There at least seems to be a potentially successful approach developing away. It's a much a problem that chances aren't being taken which over 90 mins Ramps up the pressure on the defence.

It's better than it was, but we can't really claim bad luck during this run of six consecutive away defeats: only at Boro have we had more shots than the hosts, and only at Forest and Rotherham have we had more possession.

I'd imagine someone like juk would be very much on lennon's wish list as he is exactly what we need especially away from home.

Quite agree, and even though Burnley will lose a striker in summer, he's down the pecking order and I wouldn't be astonished to see him return. In some ways, I hope Burnley stay up - I'd rather see someone like Sunderland finally fall... but that's a different topic.

The key stat in our away form is probably that we've only scored 13 goals in 19 games and only took the lead in three games one of which we scored too early against Huddersfield. Pre Lennon we achieved one goal away from home but freedman seemed to be trying to base success on letting teams come onto us in the hope that lightning beckford could do them on a long ball break . It may be a while before we have the players to dominate against quality opposition away.id imagine the key is to first stay in the game ( which have started to do) we now need to actually take the lead in a game which we've only managed 3 times this season .might be worth putting some time into set pieces and winning free kicks upfield hence the value of Heskey / cravies and the problem when we don't have them. Having targets upfield who canhold the ball or win a free kick is hugely important away to relieve pressure and it allows the team to maintain a defensive shape . It's no co incidence that our beat away performance had Heskey and cravies up top and a very hard working midfield . Pratley was crucial to that also as he was developing the knack of getting around the strikers and hitting the target as well as putting in the workfare to make it hard for opponents to play out comfortably from the back . We were developing something that could work before cravies and pratley got injured and now we may be developing something else that can work. There's been a big improvement since the three 4 goal hammerings around the Liverpool games and loans coming in . Before those games we had started to look ok away and even won a couple .

[boltonboris]

Dominant centre backs, who are consistent and mobile are no longer available to us on our budget, or perhaps at all in this division.

I'd describe all 3 of Wheater, Mills and Dervite as "dominant" in the sense, that they're strong, good aerially and vocal - However, their all prone to absolute brainfarts, or hashed clearances straight to strikers feet..

[Jonah]

Which is why they play for a mid table championship side and are not currently being scouted by Chelsea as John terry replacements . Real quality centre halves are like gold dust these days . Just ask arsene wenger and take a look at the laurel and hardy pairings at city and united and those are players who cost a hell of a lot more than our transfer budget for the next decade . Making the best of what we have and hopefully the new lad has potential is the only way to go. We can't afford ready made players that would improve significantly on those we have but you can coach a team to defend effectively and develop youngsters who may do better .

[Peter Thompson]

Dominant centre backs, who are consistent and mobile are no longer available to us on our budget, or perhaps at all in this division.

I'd describe all 3 of Wheater, Mills and Dervite as "dominant" in the sense, that they're strong, good aerially and vocal - However, their all prone to absolute brainfarts, or hashed clearances straight to strikers feet..

As is Ream - he's more mobile but has a major game losing error in him in almost every game

[boltonboris]

The problem with Ream is a strange one. In that he's absolutely shit at the back, can't pass wind and doesn't like the physical side of football. Yet is somehow longed for by the fans, to play further up the pitch. I'm all for getting him out of the back four next season, but certainly not a midfield berth.

[boltonboris]

I've seen mik turn quicker, but in fairness his improvement has been immeasurable. Just remember how bad he WAS! Least of our problems at present though, weirdly

[NiceHotCuppaTea]

Basically, Le Fondre had the shits

[StaffsTrotter]

so sounds like a chance of rochinha next season

[Jonah]

That shots on goal and possession stat stuff can be a bit misleading dsb. One of the most effective away teams in the championship at present is Leeds and they statistically get mullered every week.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

As Jonah notes, there's a general lack of genuine quality centre-backs, even for top PL clubs; when we did our Top 100 in December, Kompany was the only English-based centre-back in there. Like Boris says, I'd certainly define Wheater and Mills as more "Sam Allardyce" than "Paul Jones".

As for Leeds, they play in a very Dougie-style defensive way... but when they came to ours, they had more shots than us...

[Dr Hotdog]

From the BN:

Lennon was less forthcoming with praise for the player who replaced Rochinha late on at Portman Road, Rob Hall.
The young winger lost possession in the build up to the Tractor Boys’ winner, leaving his manager furious.
“We made a substitution and with his first touch he (Hall) gave the ball away and cost us a goal. That's unprofessional. He went on there to give us fresh legs and make us better,” the manager said. “I am not singling him out but it is consistent with our away form. We are limping through it at the minute. We have to keep going.”

[thebish]

(perhaps unfairly) judging him by his twitter feed, Rob Hall seems to fancy himself as a bit of a hip gangsta... maybe it gets in the way of him just knuckling down and being the player he could be...

[Dr Hotdog]

(perhaps unfairly) judging him by his twitter feed, Rob Hall seems to fancy himself as a bit of a hip gangsta... maybe it gets in the way of him just knuckling down and being the player he could be...

Nowt unfair about that. He had 11 minutes to impress and stake a claim on Tuesday night and effectively shot his feet clean off. £450K we paid in compo for him and should we make a profit when he moves on (hahahahahaaaa) 20% will go to westham.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

From the BN:

Lennon was less forthcoming with praise for the player who replaced Rochinha late on at Portman Road, Rob Hall.
The young winger lost possession in the build up to the Tractor Boys’ winner, leaving his manager furious.
“We made a substitution and with his first touch he (Hall) gave the ball away and cost us a goal. That's unprofessional. He went on there to give us fresh legs and make us better,” the manager said. “I am not singling him out but it is consistent with our away form. We are limping through it at the minute. We have to keep going.”

Er...Lennie, I think you just did!

Hall isn't the first and wont be the last player to make a hash of a first touch in a game when coming on lateish into a game. That said, I've seen very little to indicate he's going to make it as a player at this level so far. I would have thought a long spell out on loan playing regular football would benefit him.

[Prufrock]

Being less shit at football might help him.

[thebish]

Being less shit at football might help him.

yet there was a time when this forum clamoured for his inclusion!

I suspect there IS a decent footballer somewhere in Hall - it'd take a good manager to tease it out - but then, we have a good manager - so, no probz!

[jaffka]

He might well be a good footballer when he has the ball. He offers little in getting it back or defending, thats the team bit, which is actually very important.