Oxford (H) 1st Oct 2016 15:00

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

It's very confusing were the lack of focus, energy and direction has materialised from? I know some of it can be attributed to the loss against Everton yoof. However, you would have thought that they would be over that by now and it would only be a convenient excuse on the players part?

Would a change of formation work for us? 451? Two defensive mids and three 'rotating' attacking players with Madine/Proctor as a focus work?
Would a change for Derik/Spearing in midfield work better? Having missed my first home game yesterday my feeling has been so far that Trotter has very little to offer.

Apologies but just trying to get all my thoughts out to the forum

My reading of the problems are not anything to do with formations, more for players to stop hiding and show for the ball. Pass and move with the emphasis being on the move part.

Defensively we seem to have improved as much as we could have hoped for. Midfield wise I think we need some dynamism that is lacking in Trotter and Vela. Probably be ok with Vela in there, but not Trotter at the same time. Up front isn't great, but get them moving and a midfield showing for the ball will do wonders.

[Athertonian]

Not good enough nor will that team ever be.

[Burnden Paddock]

It's very confusing were the lack of focus, energy and direction has materialised from? I know some of it can be attributed to the loss against Everton yoof. However, you would have thought that they would be over that by now and it would only be a convenient excuse on the players part?

Would a change of formation work for us? 451? Two defensive mids and three 'rotating' attacking players with Madine/Proctor as a focus work?
Would a change for Derik/Spearing in midfield work better? Having missed my first home game yesterday my feeling has been so far that Trotter has very little to offer.

Apologies but just trying to get all my thoughts out to the forum

I would have put Derik on for Trotter and pushed Spearing a bit further forward to give us a bit more of an attacking impetus. I would also have swapped Moxey and Taylor around, as the former offers way more than the latter going forward. They are as shit as each other at full back imo.

I read the other day that someone had a stopwatch on that useless feck* Trotter during the Bradford game. He went 11 minutes between touches at one point!

[Athertonian]

Trotter never broke sweat.

[Peter Thompson]

Trotter never broke sweat.

Trotter never breaks sweat, and neither does Vela - IMO they are both lazy, lethargic players, both appear to be completely disinterested and are very poor midfield players and until we replace both with box to box midfield players who show & want the ball, who work hard, put in 100%, pass & move and show desire, effort & energy we will continue to struggle.

The actual style of football on display is abysmal, there is no fight or passion - Parkinson needs to try and get the team fired up, they do not look bothered or remotely interested - they don't appear to have any pride either for themselves or the club they represent - he needs to get the whole team passing the ball quicker, then moving forward into space giving the receiving player options when they have passed the ball, he needs to get them playing at a quicker tempo.

I don't know what they do in training, but it needs to change quickly perhaps get better quality coaches in - but it looks like they don't practice passing & moving, playing at a fast tempo or even attacking in numbers - is there possibly something dramatically wrong at the club behind the scenes because we have had Freedman, Lennon and now Parkinson in the past 4-5 years who have all had a brief 'bounce' and then they have all reverted to the exact same boring style of non football that we have now. There have been dozens of different players, 3 different managers but its the same shit, abysmal, awful to watch, low tempo football.

We have opposition players on about £1k - £2k a week (Rochdale, Oxford etc), who have only ever played in the lower leagues who are better passers, better athlete's, better attitudes, better footballers than our overpaid shower of shite.

[Prufrock]

UNINTERESTED!!!!

[Andy Waller]

Trotter never broke sweat.

Trotter never breaks sweat, and neither does Vela - IMO they are both lazy, lethargic players, both appear to be completely disinterested and are very poor midfield players and until we replace both with box to box midfield players who show & want the ball, who work hard, put in 100%, pass & move and show desire, effort & energy we will continue to struggle.

The actual style of football on display is abysmal, there is no fight or passion - Parkinson needs to try and get the team fired up, they do not look bothered or remotely interested - they don't appear to have any pride either for themselves or the club they represent - he needs to get the whole team passing the ball quicker, then moving forward into space giving the receiving player options when they have passed the ball, he needs to get them playing at a quicker tempo.

I don't know what they do in training, but it needs to change quickly perhaps get better quality coaches in - but it looks like they don't practice passing & moving, playing at a fast tempo or even attacking in numbers - is there possibly something dramatically wrong at the club behind the scenes because we have had Freedman, Lennon and now Parkinson in the past 4-5 years who have all had a brief 'bounce' and then they have all reverted to the exact same boring style of non football that we have now. There have been dozens of different players, 3 different managers but its the same shit, abysmal, awful to watch, low tempo football.

We have opposition players on about £1k - £2k a week (Rochdale, Oxford etc), who have only ever played in the lower leagues who are better passers, better athlete's, better attitudes, better footballers than our overpaid shower of shite.

Trotter and vela for me have a bit of a "too cool for school" attitude. Like they shouldn't really be playing at this level and they're far too good to be playing in League 1.

Trotter doesn't even jump for headers, he tries to ease the man out of the way and usually ends up giving a foul away. I know he's a big fella, but he doesn't even look interested in sprinting.(Just look how the lads in Super League work on their sprint speed)

Vela just seems like a petulant child. He's been booked a couple of times recently for completely stupid challenges, and lucky to stay on in some cases. He just didn't seem interested in overlapping and just switched off for the first goal.

But Vela might come good before 2019...

Who the hell is handing out these contracts????

[BWFC_Insane]

Vela is limited as a footballer and really, to be effective has to be a grafter. He hasn't worked this out yet and doesn't seem to concentrate or apply himself. Doesn't use his physicality enough.

Trotter is uber frustrating as one minute he can do something very good then for the next ten looks like a bloke straight out of a pub team thrown into a professional game. He's also incredibly laxidazical. Frustrating beyond belief. If he chose to work hard I do think he's talented enough.

[boltonboris]

Keeps doing the same thing Parkinson and wondering why it doesn't work.

As already mentioned, the changes were bonkers. We needed to get a grip of the midfield. I'd have gone one up top (though it wouldn't have been popular) when we made the subs.

Playing full backs on the wing and midfielders at full-back. It's just baffling. The football we are playing is nothing short of disgraceful. No use dissecting anything, because it was ALL bad

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Keeps doing the same thing Parkinson and wondering why it doesn't work.

Not sure on that, Boz. He flirts with the idea of playing wingers - did it at Rochdale, by most accounts - but seems all too keen to retreat to his safety-blanket midfield diamond. The diamond can work, just about, if you have enormously fit and able central midfielders and full-backs covering the entire wing. We don't; it's up for discussion whether the full-backs are instructed to stay home or incapable of roaming, while the central midfielders just aren't playing well enough. Again, that translates to poor transition, usually seen when Spearing looks up for options and finds f*ck-all to pass to.

As a defender or a coach I'd much rather face a midfield diamond than a 4-2-3-1. Parky's diamond is starting to remind me of Lennon's back three in that both seem to be an attempt to find room for a second forward, in order to fit in Clough. I'd like to see us try Clough behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1, linking with a forward told to run his balls off (Madine or Proctor) and wider players who can both cross and shoot. Behind that, it might be worth considering pairing Spearing with Derik, who can pick a pass and spread the play better than Trotter or Vela.

I know we've been limping from game to game but tomorrow's match in an irrelevant cup might be a very good opportunity to try a new approach with a couple of new players. Sadly, I'm beginning to suspect that like most managers – including our most famously successful, recently rendered unemployed - during a bad run Parky will revert to type rather than seek a new answer.

[BWFC_Insane]

Keeps doing the same thing Parkinson and wondering why it doesn't work.

Not sure on that, Boz. He flirts with the idea of playing wingers - did it at Rochdale, by most accounts - but seems all too keen to retreat to his safety-blanket midfield diamond. The diamond can work, just about, if you have enormously fit and able central midfielders and full-backs covering the entire wing. We don't; it's up for discussion whether the full-backs are instructed to stay home or incapable of roaming, while the central midfielders just aren't playing well enough. Again, that translates to poor transition, usually seen when Spearing looks up for options and finds f*ck-all to pass to.

As a defender or a coach I'd much rather face a midfield diamond than a 4-2-3-1. Parky's diamond is starting to remind me of Lennon's back three in that both seem to be an attempt to find room for a second forward, in order to fit in Clough. I'd like to see us try Clough behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1, linking with a forward told to run his balls off (Madine or Proctor) and wider players who can both cross and shoot. Behind that, it might be worth considering pairing Spearing with Derik, who can pick a pass and spread the play better than Trotter or Vela.

I know we've been limping from game to game but tomorrow's match in an irrelevant cup might be a very good opportunity to try a new approach with a couple of new players. Sadly, I'm beginning to suspect that like most managers – including our most famously successful, recently rendered unemployed - during a bad run Parky will revert to type rather than seek a new answer.

Yeah, agree with DSB. The only point I'd argue is that Clough has never looked very good playing in a deeper role and frankly I'm struggling to see how he fits into any viable system right now.

Definitely need to go 4-2-3-1 though. However, fans will probably boo one up front!

[BWFC_Insane]

Classy comments from Parky here.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/14 ... ed_defeat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Certainly different in reaction to previous managers. Now he must show he can turn it round.

[boltonboris]

Keeps doing the same thing Parkinson and wondering why it doesn't work.

Not sure on that, Boz. He flirts with the idea of playing wingers

It's not the personnel, it's the strikers playing miles apart, the lack of width, the direct play, the non receipt of passes into the midfield. The same players coming inside because the full backs aren't overlapping. Proctor trying his very best to make sure he's not within the width of the box so he doesn't have chances to miss whilst his strike partner is somewhere in the centre circle.

It's so bad and disjointed in the same way, every single week, that I believe it's actually intentional.

[Bruce Rioja]

Classy comments from Parky here.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/14 ... ed_defeat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Certainly different in reaction to previous managers. Now he must show he can turn it round.

"Classy"? I'm not sure that there's anything classy about stating the obvious.

[Andy Waller]

On the subject of the Sh*tehouse Family of Vela and Trotter, when was the last time our midfield ran the game? Or at least looked as good as the opposition?

I'd go even further to ask, when was the last time we won and were clearly the "better side"?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Keeps doing the same thing Parkinson and wondering why it doesn't work.

Not sure on that, Boz. He flirts with the idea of playing wingers

It's not the personnel, it's the strikers playing miles apart, the lack of width, the direct play, the non receipt of passes into the midfield. The same players coming inside because the full backs aren't overlapping. Proctor trying his very best to make sure he's not within the width of the box so he doesn't have chances to miss whilst his strike partner is somewhere in the centre circle.

It's so bad and disjointed in the same way, every single week, that I believe it's actually intentional.

All that, too.

[Bijou Bob]

When Deryck started against Blackpool, we had a solid presence in midfield who shielded the centre backs but importantly, someone who could pick a pass and get us moving. For me, it's worth a go, we can't do any worse