Always going backwards... (1 Viewer)

[gouldberg]

Something I noticed the commentator saying a fair bit today. We always had the ball in midfield and then went backwards.....

Are we being crippled simply by lacking ONE player in the form of a creative forward? Jutkiewicz does well to hold the ball up but there's no flair alongside him.

The defence seemed to cope well against Leicester last weekend and once again today against Birmingham barring silly one off errors that could easily be accounted to the fact we're having to play so close to the defence through the game.

I see people slating Bell and McSheffrey once again but I really do wonder if they're struggling so much because we need them far too much.

McSheffrey was constantly trying to go it alone before turning back on himself because there's no support ahead of him in the form of a scoring forward.

With no real attacking presence in the final 3rd, it's no wonder Gary and David are coming under so much pressure. Gael and Sammy seemed comfortable but every single time it got towards the Birmingham box everything stalled.

We've shown some creativity in the way we pass the ball around the defence and midfield but I think it's painfully obvious what we need is a striker that will either draw the extra man so McSheffrey can be dangerous cutting in like last season, or will be clinical enough to make the play go through him.

Currently I don't see that and think it's drastically effecting the way we play once we get past the half way line.

Opinions?

 

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[tehspecialone]

Think we're going to miss King a lot more than we expected this season. Just for his movement off the ball really. Think that's the main reason the ball is going backwards a lot more than at the end of last season. I don't think we're too far being off a half-decent team though. But our squad isn't big enough, and we're missing that little bit of quality we had last season.

 

[CovScott88]

Yeah, I would agree to a certain extent. We definitely need a striker, but still, it's pointless if we haven't got anyone to play that killer pass and create something out of nothing.

 

[kg82]

While I agree it's now become obviously apparent that it's not even worth thinking about what sort of player we need and where in the team we need them and for that very reason I am posting this for the first time:

:blue: Absolute joke of an outfit.

 

[gouldberg]

Yeah, I would agree to a certain extent. We definitely need a striker, but still, it's pointless if we haven't got anyone to play that killer pass and create something out of nothing.

I think to be honest though we have that creative player in McSheffrey, the problem is that too much heat is on him at the moment. When he blends into the squad as just a part of the 11 he comes up with those special moments a lot more like he did last season. When he's the focal point like he is now, he tends to go missing.

I think with a good striker in front of him, Gary would show that creative spark he had at times last season. It's just difficult for the lad to create something for nobody.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

King always made himself available for the pass which is what I don't see Juke doing often enough. King could then hold up the ball well and bring in other players to the game higher up the the pitch in the attacking third. What I see with Juke is a hard working player, he doesn't make himself available for the pass enough. When he does he doesn't seemed to be composed enough, he either turns and runs straight for goal or takes a snap shot, King had a great awareness of where he was on the pitch and where his team mates were he could easily bring in players to be involved in the attacking move. We just need a player with some skill and quality in the attacking third for our attacks to go through.

 

[Macca]

Apparently if you moan about passing backwards it means you want a return to hoof ball