Wandering, Why come back home? Bolton v Wycombe - 13th Feb 2024 19:45pm

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

For me don't risk Santos on Sat. The back three that started last night is fairly solid and know the system. A bit of stability in front of Coleman should help his confidence as well. Get Sheehan back in the middle should again settle the midfield. The wingbacks should probably be JDC and Ashworth, again two players who know our system better than the new boys. The only variable that is going to give Evatt something to think about is who starts up front if Dion is out?

With the usual caveat of not knowing who's got knocks or nearing the red zone – something we could and should manage much better with the increased squad options – I agree with all of this.

Although personally I'd have retained Taylor against Wycombe's aerial bombardment, Geth-Toal-Jack is a good balance for most home games. Ogbeta can float back to the bench with Ashworth coming back in; JDC probably has the legs to start again, although again I'd be looking at Ramsay (as well as Ogbeta) not long after the hour, because the games keep on coming.

(What I'd also add is that last night's subs were good game management within the squad and system. When Geth and Jack as outside centre-backs, when the oppo start to crank up the aerials we can switch either Aussie to wingback and bring on an extra "pure" centre-back; Ashworth's extra defensive abilities (and knowledge of our systems) made him a sensible sub for Ogbeta.)

In midfield, Sheehan is an upgrade on Morley. Again, I love Azzer, but right now he's quite simply neither as confident in possession nor as tigerish in defence as our Carmarthernshire dragon. As the free 8s I'd be happy to retain Demps/Maghoma, if fit enough to go again - Georgeless alternatives being Morley and Mendes Gomes, if they tweak their game slightly.

Up front is the question. I hope Dion's OK for his own sake but also to help him start linking with Collins. I like Vic and Bod but I'd strongly suggest AC/DC is the default starting partnership.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Forrester is versatile across back three. I think he gets a spot when fit. I’m surprised he’s not back tbh was in contention for Barnsley so Evatt said. What’s happened there?

Yeah, looks like either he's not as ready as we hoped – or we just haven't risked him. The feared cataclysmic lack of defenders never happened.

Interested you say he should be in the three when fit. What about when all are fit - who's your three then?

For me, Forrester is a good defender on the ground, but not (yet?) as good in possession as some others and not (yet?) as good in the air as some others when that's what the oppo lobs at us. I agree he has looked more comfortable at LCB than Toal does, but I suspect Eoin's height helps him get picked.

For me, when all are well, it's generally Geth, Rico and one more. Who that is depends on fitness, form and fixture – whether we expect us to dominate the ball and/or the oppo to go aerial. At Stevenage on Good Friday, it'd be Toal; at home to Reading on Easter Monday, it might be Iredale.

[truewhite15]

Forrester was out on the pitch pre-warm-up last night, as he was vs Barnsley, doing shuttle runs up and down the touchline. He's not far away at all.

Do like the bloke. I'm still unconvinced with Toal when the ball is at his feet - I think, from what I've seen, that Forrester does that bit of the job a little better. But I'm not unhappy with any of our central defensive options. Glad I'm not the manager who's got to perm three from six when everyone's back...

[BWFC_Insane]

Forrester is versatile across back three. I think he gets a spot when fit. I’m surprised he’s not back tbh was in contention for Barnsley so Evatt said. What’s happened there?

Yeah, looks like either he's not as ready as we hoped – or we just haven't risked him. The feared cataclysmic lack of defenders never happened.

Interested you say he should be in the three when fit. What about when all are fit - who's your three then?

For me, Forrester is a good defender on the ground, but not (yet?) as good in possession as some others and not (yet?) as good in the air as some others when that's what the oppo lobs at us. I agree he has looked more comfortable at LCB than Toal does, but I suspect Eoin's height helps him get picked.

For me, when all are well, it's generally Geth, Rico and one more. Who that is depends on fitness, form and fixture – whether we expect us to dominate the ball and/or the oppo to go aerial. At Stevenage on Good Friday, it'd be Toal; at home to Reading on Easter Monday, it might be Iredale.

I kind of meant a spot on the bench. As he can play right across the back three.

Our best back three is hard because although I don’t think Jones is our best centre half or necessarily in our best three centre backs he’s also a player I wouldn’t ever leave out through choice.

[The_Gun]

I really like Forrester, but I agree that presently he probably doesn't make our 'best' XI.

Interesting to hear noises about Johnston perhaps coming back before the end of the season. If I were to guess, I'd say that situation might play out like Bod at the tail end of last season, with the player thinking he's ready but the manager not completely agreeing. He definitely would get into our strongest side, though.

[officer_dibble]

I think I picked the right back 3 last night
I’d keep it the same for Saturday rather than risking Rico - he comes into the team after, probably for Toal if he’s still playing through injury.

[Worthy4England]

The feared cataclysmic lack of defenders never happened.

You did see Barnsley's goal, right? If ever there was an "actual cataclysmic lack of defenders"...

Barnsley.jpg (175.08 KiB) Viewed 491 times

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Loads there. Well, not there: just up there, look.

That's not a lack, it's a misplacement

[dave the minion]

i know i thought that was a soft goal to concede at the time, but not sure I was aware that we had the whole of our team in our box (well, including Dion, who might just have his toe on the line..) - v 6 of theirs - and we still got nowhere near it!!!

[irie Cee Bee]

The thing about the style is teams have really optimised the press against us. Press high then drop off if we get comfortable possession out wide or in midfield. They aren’t being drawn out and the hybrid press is a) causing us issues from the back and b) making it very hard when we do manage to get control of possession.

I think we aren’t good enough on the ball in possession against teams who can do this and that’s different than the style is wrong or we are playing defensive football. I just don’t think we are generally good enough to beat the initial press or open the play up after that. Our ideas revolve around a 50 yard switch or a straight ball into the strikers feet. Neither work that well other than on the odd occasion.

General pattern of play I think we lack a lot of ideas for breaking a team down. We aren’t a get it wide and put it in side but we don’t have the midfield quality bar the inconsistent Maghoma to open the game up front a standing start. It’s noticeable how we looked very strong on the counter last night towards the end and that reflects I think where we are at. We have some punch but we need the spaces to open up.

This.

Teams no longer back off us and so we don't look as good as we used to look when we had room to knock it about at the back and in midfield. They have found us out. We don't have the ball handlers in tight spaces to handle this well. The best we have is Paris. So Evatt's job is to find another way. Thomason gives us the opportunity to play on the counter because he is our ball winner in midfield, and can play in our forwards behind the line when he wins it. Other than that, its our quality changes later in the game against a set of tired players (because you can't press for 90 mins) that will win it for us.
How to be able to play through the press with what we have is the problem. Not sure what the solution is for this given the players we have. Banging it aimlessly up front is not the answer, but I get nervous when Baxter or Coleman shape to play it out to our central midfield.

[TANGODANCER]

Teams no longer back off us and so we don't look as good as we used to look when we had room to knock it about at the back and in midfield. They have found us out. We don't have the ball handlers in tight spaces to handle this well. The best we have is Paris. So Evatt's job is to find another way. Thomason gives us the opportunity to play on the counter because he is our ball winner in midfield, and can play in our forwards behind the line when he wins it. Other than that, its our quality changes later in the game against a set of tired players (because you can't press for 90 mins) that will win it for us.
How to be able to play through the press with what we have is the problem. Not sure what the solution is for this given the players we have. Banging it aimlessly up front is not the answer, but I get nervous when Baxter or Coleman shape to play it out to our central midfield.

I'm happy to agree with almost all this ^. Mahoma's ball control and ability to get out of tight situations is one plus. On the other hand, we tend to come forth leaving open spaces that teams who are more attack minded must love. I'm not even pretending to know the answer, but it isn't letting the opposition boss and bully us. There's absolutely no point of the likes of Toal and other defenders coming forward playing Mr Tap-toe to just lose the ball and be engaged in a mad scramble to get back against faster opposition. We need to make it count by scoring . Easy? definitely not, but that's the problem we have to solve. .

Charles's ineffectiveness is easy to explain; he's almost always outnumbered up front because of poor service to him. It's the reason why (coupled with his lack of form right now) quite a few of our goals come from unexpected sources.

[Worthy4England]

Loads there. Well, not there: just up there, look.

That's not a lack, it's a misplacement

Tricky to disagree, but on the deficiency of defenders bit, we could've run the half time 'hit the crossbar" comp from the crowd whilst hitting that baseline... As someone said to some of our professionals, attending meetings isn't an outcome.

[DJBlu]

Language from Evatt reference Coleman seems to indicate he's going to be between the sticks for a while.