Down in the Forest, something stirred..V. Forest Green away, 8-11-22. 3-O'clock.

[TANGODANCER]

Interesting to know what exactly has happened since the start of the season. To have one striker underperforming is understandable but when we've got three you'd have to question what's going on.

Surely its time for a bit of Sheehan / Morley to step up and deliver now.

Easily answered . You're not going to break your bxxxx trying if you don't know if you're playing next game. Pick a side and leave it alone. We've more than enough players to do that. Start with Bod and let the rest earn their keep.

[Bruce Rioja]

ooooh what a header Bod.

Unlucky.

To quote Brian Clough. "For missing the target from there you want bloody shooting".

It was appalling.

I don't wish to look at the video again but I believe he had his back to goal with a neck twist and it hit the bar? Or am I high on cafeine? Are we on about the same header?

Ah, possibly not. I'm referring to the one he stuck clean over from about 8 ft.

[Worthy4England]

Shit at October isn't a gameplan. Whatever your stats. Obvs we have plenty of time to rectify this and it previous years, correctly, we've given leeway. But we probably don't want to be playing 34 point catchup in Jan

[officer_dibble]

Concentrating on the players and it’s games like this where I worry about santos as captain. Always feels like we lack a leader and just accept the defeat once we concede.

[Harry Genshaw]

Bloody awful. First half, too pedestrian and too many looking for the safe ball sideways than anything offensive. Created 1 half chance.

Much better 2nd half but I never felt like we were going to score, too often players choosing the wrong option.

This time last year we looked like we could score every time we went forward yet concede every time the opposition attacked. Totally opposite problem this year. Peterborough, Mk Dons, Lincoln all good wins but by deflected goals, penaltys & a free kick(!).

We are much better than this.

[Jakerbeef]

Can you panic fannies button it til February? Fed up of this Nostrodamus sh*t in October...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

A Peterborough draw keeps us in 6th

Worth noting that of the teams who a week or so ago were designated the inevitable top 8, only three won today. No coincidence that they are the top three, but Pompey were held at home by Fleetwood, Barnsley lost at home to Exeter, we lost at FGR, Posh were held at home by Burton, and Promo Specialist Paul Warne's Derby lost 2-1 at home to Port Vale from 1-0 up. None of those opponents were expected to do much better than avoid relegation this season, so maybe it's not the tiered division of legend.

BWFCi made the interesting point that promotion-chasing teams rarely lose more than 10 games. That was true in last season's third tier, but the time before that only one team lost fewer than 11 of their 46, and that was Sunderland, who stayed down anyway. So maybe it's not set in stone that the Big Eight (ha!) will prevail. We'll see over time.

But whatever others do, we won't get far by losing to nil against bottom-six teams. And it seems to me the problem is quite simple. Here it is:
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Home form's fine - a few more goals would be nice, but 2.5ppg fine. Away form is 0.83ppg and, what's arguably worse, three goals in six games; two of those were at MK Dons, the other was in July. Two of them were penalties, so we've scored one non-penalty goal in nine hours away. That was Geth's header from Iredale's left-wing free-kick at MK, so that's zero open-play goals away.

For a team that wants to be known for its football, that's shocking.

And it makes me wonder whether we need to look at, yes, changing the formation – but not for every game; the home form is fine, thanks in part to the overloads we get from the wide centre-backs, along with the big pitch and the other advantages of playing on your own patch. I would be surprised if we change formation for the next game, at home to Barnsley. But we have to find a way to win on tight pitches, and maybe it's time to look at playing a different way away. That would then give us the advantage of having two systems on the go, asking more questions of the teams we're facing and the ones scouting us. We have adaptable players, and we have had success playing with a back four (season one's promotion) and a back three (season two's renaissance); surely it makes sense for a tactics-loving manager to have both on the go at once?

[BWFC_Insane]

I think we absolutely need an alternative system. Today and Tuesday we needed more width higher up the pitch to break down the stubborn sides. I don’t feel we have enough pattern to our play especially in these sorts of away games where centre halves don’t seem as able to step into midfield or supplement the wing backs as they do at home. We don’t have pace, we don’t have a player to run at the opposition and it’s all a bit predictable at times. Our set pieces are also appalling and it means we carry very little threat.

I’d ask who our great attacking options to break a team down today were…

5 defenders.

MJ and Thomason. No.

Lee? Hard grafting number ten but never picking a side apart.

Two strikers who graft but rarely look like scoring.

So where is our craft coming from? Bradley doesn’t have the game imo to unlock these teams away. John doesn’t drive enough.

It’s quite a negative team If you aren’t smothering the opposition with your spare centre half. Even then we need to find a way to play JDB and Dapo and hope they find some form. I don’t have much confidence that Kachunga and Charles will score the goals to see us up.

[officer_dibble]

The fecking annoying thing is we now have a squad full of players who could fit different systems. Mr stubborn head refuses to give it a go! Keep thinking back to him saying how Lincoln surprised us last weekend - try it some time sunshine!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think we absolutely need an alternative system. Today and Tuesday we needed more width higher up the pitch to break down the stubborn sides. I don’t feel we have enough pattern to our play especially in these sorts of away games where centre halves don’t seem as able to step into midfield or supplement the wing backs as they do at home. We don’t have pace, we don’t have a player to run at the opposition and it’s all a bit predictable at times. Our set pieces are also appalling and it means we carry very little threat.

I’d ask who our great attacking options to break a team down today were…

5 defenders.

MJ and Thomason. No.

Lee? Hard grafting number ten but never picking a side apart.

Two strikers who graft but rarely look like scoring.

So where is our craft coming from? Bradley doesn’t have the game imo to unlock these teams away. John doesn’t drive enough.

It’s quite a negative team If you aren’t smothering the opposition with your spare centre half. Even then we need to find a way to play JDB and Dapo and hope they find some form. I don’t have much confidence that Kachunga and Charles will score the goals to see us up.

Yep, that's a problem. The wingbacks are capable of making things happen but it's harder on a smaller pitch. MJ and Tomo work hard but they don't cut teams apart.

Trouble is that nobody outside that standard XI is producing cameos demanding further minutes. Dapo and Sadlier aren't exactly changing the game. Dempsey is probably our strongest midfield runner and Morley our best passer but they're not stealing the show when they come on. Up front, too, it's hard to say anyone is a can't-drop.

I suspect there is mileage in a 4-2-3-1 with Dapo and Sads either side of a striker (probably Bod, but maybe Charles) – but it's also possible that we'd then have two indifferent wingers. Every attacking tweak loses a bit of defensive solidity.

We must also be very careful not to get into multiple-Andranik territory. I can imagine a 4-2-3-1 of say...
Traf / Bradley - Santos - Johnston - John / MJ - Morley / Sads - Lee - Dapo / Bod
...being good. but I can also imagine it being tosh and torn apart.

[BWFC_Insane]

I think we absolutely need an alternative system. Today and Tuesday we needed more width higher up the pitch to break down the stubborn sides. I don’t feel we have enough pattern to our play especially in these sorts of away games where centre halves don’t seem as able to step into midfield or supplement the wing backs as they do at home. We don’t have pace, we don’t have a player to run at the opposition and it’s all a bit predictable at times. Our set pieces are also appalling and it means we carry very little threat.

I’d ask who our great attacking options to break a team down today were…

5 defenders.

MJ and Thomason. No.

Lee? Hard grafting number ten but never picking a side apart.

Two strikers who graft but rarely look like scoring.

So where is our craft coming from? Bradley doesn’t have the game imo to unlock these teams away. John doesn’t drive enough.

It’s quite a negative team If you aren’t smothering the opposition with your spare centre half. Even then we need to find a way to play JDB and Dapo and hope they find some form. I don’t have much confidence that Kachunga and Charles will score the goals to see us up.

Yep, that's a problem. The wingbacks are capable of making things happen but it's harder on a smaller pitch. MJ and Tomo work hard but they don't cut teams apart.

Trouble is that nobody outside that standard XI is producing cameos demanding further minutes. Dapo and Sadlier aren't exactly changing the game. Dempsey is probably our strongest midfield runner and Morley our best passer but they're not stealing the show when they come on. Up front, too, it's hard to say anyone is a can't-drop.

I suspect there is mileage in a 4-2-3-1 with Dapo and Sads either side of a striker (probably Bod, but maybe Charles) – but it's also possible that we'd then have two indifferent wingers. Every attacking tweak loses a bit of defensive solidity.

We must also be very careful not to get into multiple-Andranik territory. I can imagine a 4-2-3-1 of say...
Traf / Bradley - Santos - Johnston - John / MJ - Morley / Sads - Lee - Dapo / Bod
...being good. but I can also imagine it being tosh and torn apart.

I’d like to see this team in games like today.

Traf
Bradley
Santos
Johnston
Iredale

MJ
GT

Lee/Dempsey/Sheehan

Dapo
Sadlier
JDB/Baka/Charles

I think the midfield of MJ and GT is fine. The problem isn’t there. It’s what happens around it.

I don’t think we need to be fixed on one system being it. I think this is needed for certain games. 3 at the back suits us against better sides I feel.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

So the exact same problems we had next year are still here this season.

Alright alright Mystic Meg

[TANGODANCER]

Too early to start a Barnsley thread, so I'm putting this here from B.N.. Tough luck for them and wishing him well and an early recovery.

"Barnsley midfielder Luke Thomas is facing a lengthy spell out of action after suffering a broken leg in training."

[officer_dibble]

Free week to “put things right on the training ground”.

[boltonboris]

Well, the positives. Nailsworth was a lovely place to spend a few days

[LeverEnd]

They got spanked at Peterborough on Tuesday, dropping us to 7th. Makes the defeat seem even worse, and Saturday against 6th placed Barnsley even more important.