Bedsheets, Pitchforks and colours nailed etc.

[Worthy4England]

Danns and Feeney aren't particularly good (as one who's tempered his criticism of Danns and Feeney) - but we seem to manage to look a whole lot shitter without them - which is hardly a resounding indictment of the other players in the squad.

[CAPSLOCK]

This plan and sticking to it thing

Its why its great being a nobhead on a forum

Our ideas never have to stand up to scrutiny

Aye, Lennon chops and changes, possibly too much

The previous fella did it and he got crucified

Fact is, if we're regularly losing, he'd get bummed senseless for not changing it

[Lost Leopard Spot]

If we are regularly losing then something needs to change so as we're not. Players in the squad, team selection, playing formation, playing tactics, training regimes, or manager. Perm anything out of all of them.

[boltonboris]

He would..

We're in this position though, where (I believe) he thinks that when we don't win and somebody plays badly, he has to change players. To the point where it looks like he's/we're guessing our way through matches in the hope that we stumble on the right formula. Doing that is okay when time's on your side, but that time us running out.

For me, he needs to know firstly, what his back 4 is. Man for man and only enforced changes should be applied.

Work our way up the pitch with that regularity.

[CAPSLOCK]

He would..

We're in this position though, where (I believe) he thinks that when we don't win and somebody plays badly, he has to change players. To the point where it looks like he's/we're guessing our way through matches in the hope that we stumble on the right formula. Doing that is okay when time's on your side, but that time us running out.

For me, he needs to know firstly, what his back 4 is. Man for man and only enforced changes should be applied.

Work our way up the pitch with that regularity.

We had a solid back 4

Wilson was in it - who he doesn't seem to fancy

I like Moxey, but can see Casado aint a bad un

Dervite and Prince was working but you can make a case for Wheaqter being our best stopper/defender

Its definitely a tricky one, but I agree with you, a settled back 4 and keeper would be a great start - he cant legislate for daft red cards and injuries, though

[boltonboris]

Of course he can't, but I'd wager we've had more back 4 variations than ANY other side in this league (regardless of enforced or not) - In fact, not just the back 4, but the whole XI

I can't be arsed looking, but I reckon the squads who have kept to a core set of let's say 16-18 players have always fared better

[BWFC_Insane]

It would be a start to play a settled system. We go from 4-4-2 with two wingers to a very narrow diamond with no width.

I get you have to adapt a bit for other teams but he's changing systems far too much in my view.

Allardyce pretty much settled quickly on a system and fitted players into it and recruited to it. I know multiple systems is the new thing, but I still think a defined shape and setup that becomes known and familiar to the players helps immensely.

[nelson66]

we aren't loosing regularly
we've lost 6 this season so far, same as the team in 12th place

our problem is we have drawn too often when we should have won
goes back again to having two stumps in Heskey 1 in 24 and Madine 2 in 10 upfront

Get a goalscorer and everything changes confidence returns

I sooooooo hope that Ameobi turns into a goal machine

[thebish]

This plan and sticking to it thing

dunno who's suggesting that - certainly not me. I'm questionning the seeming lack of an obvious plan in the games we have seen.. I don't care if it is the same plan from game to game - you're right - it probably shouldn't be - we play different teams - or even the same plan in different halves.. i don't care if there are three plans in operation in the same game as it progresses and changes...

what i don't like is there actually seeming to be no plan at all.

despite me asking several times at different parts of the season and about specific games - nobody has yet been able to explain to me what our plan actually was in any of the games...

what was our plan against Birmingham, for instance? anyone spot one? if so - spit it out! I'm all ears!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

To win, that was the plan.

[thebish]

To win, that was the plan.

ahhh - cheers! all becomes clear!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Seriously though, I think that inspiration trumps having a plan. Leadership not management and all that doodah.

[thebish]

Seriously though, I think that inspiration trumps having a plan. Leadership not management and all that doodah.

at the moment, I'd take either!

tis a serious point, I think, that we do seem to lack effective leadership on the pitch...

maybe this new loanee will impose himself and act as de fecto do-and-dare hero-leader!

[Prufrock]

We're in this position though, where (I believe) he thinks that when we don't win and somebody plays badly, he has to change players.

...

For me, he needs to know firstly, what his back 4 is. Man for man and only enforced changes should be applied.

It would be a start to play a settled system. We go from 4-4-2 with two wingers to a very narrow diamond with no width.

These two are where I'm at.

-Don't piss around with your back four if you can help it. We had what seemed a settled back 4 and then they had a horror-show against someone and then suddenly we're changing everything around every week. Occasionally we're going to have bad games and get beat, that's the nature of the division, particularly on our budget. Don't panic, and bounce back. Sure, if we have a run of games where the same people are making the same mistakes, you might have to make changes, but otherwise, continuity at the back is vital.

-Yes, and I think that's what the likes of bish mean by a "plan". It doesn't necessarily mean the same players in the same shape every week, but one week we play with two wingers, then none. What is that? Are we set up to hit teams on the break? Do we want to keep the ball and break teams down? Try and get in behind wide? What? You can have flexibility of shape within that, but every week we're trying something different. You look at a team like Palace and you know exactly what their plan is, regardless of personal / tweaks in the system.

[Jugs]

He would..

We're in this position though, where (I believe) he thinks that when we don't win and somebody plays badly, he has to change players. To the point where it looks like he's/we're guessing our way through matches in the hope that we stumble on the right formula. Doing that is okay when time's on your side, but that time us running out.

For me, he needs to know firstly, what his back 4 is. Man for man and only enforced changes should be applied.

Work our way up the pitch with that regularity.

We had a solid back 4

Wilson was in it - who he doesn't seem to fancy

I like Moxey, but can see Casado aint a bad un

Dervite and Prince was working but you can make a case for Wheaqter being our best stopper/defender

Its definitely a tricky one, but I agree with you, a settled back 4 and keeper would be a great start - he cant legislate for daft red cards and injuries, though

Nope, and what is it so far? 3 CB's sent off already this season?

Lennon was picking a consistent team during the early days of his reign, but he got dogged by injuries soon enough.

Now he's dogged by injuries and maybe doubts over his own judgement/convictions or whatnot.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

[in answer to bish] Well I liked the Swallow's post match interview. Maybe he can lead from the front...
I fear that (and I have absolutely no basis in fact for saying this, but) the Citeh lad might not be as welcomed by his other team mates as any kind of leader purely because of the vagaries of human nature and a parachutee from the antipodes temporarily loaned from Citeh (on the same day Citeh signed him) doesn't strike me as the best introduction uon which 'leadership' will be conceded.

[Hoboh]

Never has Kevin Nolan been so badly missed!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

As I've said, I'm all for tactical variety. Bish, Lennon said that the plan against Birmingham was to get the ball forward quickly because "Birmingham let you have the ball" or something along those lines (might not be a verbatim quote). Fair enough, and as I've said if it works he looks like a champ, but it didn't so he looks more like a chump.

Perhaps the wider issue is team identity. It's a bit simplistic but what kind of team are we? In-your-face determination? Pass and move? High press? Fast counter-attack? Pass masters? Set-piece specialists? Kick/bite/scratch/fart crazy gang? Maybe it's because we had Allardyce, Lee, Megson, Coyle and Freedman who all (for better or worse) had a "style" that we feel a bit... lost.

For me, there were times last season, little passages in games, where we had a gorgeous amalgam of effective football. We'd press them into mistakes, get the ball, pass intelligently forward, involve creative players and score, dammit. In patches during the home wins over Wigan and Cardiff we played some of the most (to me) enjoyable football I've seen us play in years - and this was with alleged duffers like Feeney running riot. The trouble is, we have never quite managed to put together a consistent 90 minutes of it, and these days we've been struggling for even 30 minutes of it.

[thebish]

hmmm... that does kinda sum up my poorly-expressed frustration... from what I've seen, we've just about completely stopped that in-their-faces pressing game, and we're not making use of pace - the two things I thought Lenny was setting us out to do from the start... i really can't see what it is we have replaced them with other than "hope summat breaks in our favour..." (which kinda accounted for our goals at QPR - so it does sometimes work - unless we then piss the game away!)

[malcd1]

I thought on Saturday that the team worked really hard. They tried to press all over the pitch not just drop off onto the edge of our penalty area and the players are certainly still trying for the manager. Defensively our shape looked OK, especially when we were down to ten men.

I haven't seen us much this season but the team lacks pace, guile and obviously a goal scorer. We seemed too slow and predictable going forward. However, the players we need will all cost and so are probably out of our reach. Just adding a goal scorer is not going to help us much if we can't create any chances. When we did have a shot, invariably they were half chances that we would have been lucky to score. As mentioned by many, Heskey, Madine, Dobbie and Ameobi are not the answer.

I think the problem is as much to do with a lack of creativity in midfield, both through the middle and out wide. Whenever Mark Davies got the ball he was in in our own half and is wasted in that position. Feeney, Pratley and Danns are all hard working players but have something missing in their game. Perhaps it is composure or the ability to find that killer ball. I am hoping Luke Bratten is another Stu Holden because that is what we are missing at the moment.

I believe Lennon is doing as good as he possibly can under the circumstances. He will do well to keep us up this season.