Match Thread Coventry City - Portsmouth FC Match Thread - Wednesday 9th Apr (25 Viewers)

[covcity4life]

100%. In this stretch, we’ve got games v Hull, Plymouth and Luton so there will be a lot more games of a similar profile to last night. So having Simms in the box with Haji will be beneficial. I’m leaning to 4-4-2 atm because we’re a bit short on CMs with Eccles and Torp out injured.

I'd like to see 442 again to see how it fares but not sure lampard will start with it

 

---

[David O'Day]

4-4-2 against a lot of teams will leave us outnumbered in midfield

 

[Sky Blue Goblin]

I wouldn’t change shape just yet as a big strength of ours is our crossing and wouldn’t want to dampen that by asking our wingbacks to stay further back. Also depends on torp

Just need imo to be a bit more unpredictable and less wasteful in possession.

 

[Sky Blue Goblin]

4-4-2 against a lot of teams will leave us outnumbered in midfield

I do agree with you but interestingly we don’t really play down the middle. This was Sunderland.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

Jesus Christ mate, you might be the most frustrating individual on this forum.
I gave my opinions to your opinions, i wasn't arguing as i thought we were trying to get past that, i was telling you what i think. They make sense, i'm not sure it what way they don't. You're still trying this intellectually superior bit but its not really working.

How am I trying to be intellectually superior? Digging your heels into the ground by claiming none of the strikers would with any certainty put in a better performance than Wright is nonsense, especially when Simms put in a positive shift when he came on in the final stretch of the game.

 

[wingy]

EMC is busy trying to tackle himself these days in any case

Not direct at all ATM, complicates too much, fluid man!!

 

[Bigelvesy]

It depends on the opposition though, Portsmouth backline was deep in so we had to play in front of them. Sunderland played higher up the pitch which gave Wright space to run into..

Completely agree, which is why the “haji cant play CF” chat is pointless comparing this game to others. Guy spends his entire career doing it but suddenly cant anymore

 

[TomRad85]

How am I trying to be intellectually superior? Digging your heels into the ground by claiming none of the strikers would with any certainty put in a better performance than Wright is nonsense, especially when Simms put in a positive shift when he came on in the final stretch of the game.

Simms has had plenty of chances and too often puts in below par performances. I'm not sure a 'positive shift' off the bench which seems to be a ever lowering bar for Simms right now proves anything. Wright has 4 in 4 up front.

 

[David O'Day]

I do agree with you but interestingly we don’t really play down the middle. This was Sunderland.


View attachment 42455

Sunderland were shit that day, a decent team will set their pressing traps to push us infield and the main issue would be how easy it could be for teams to play through when it is 3 vs 2 in there.

There's a reason 4=4=2 isn't widely used at the top levels.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

4-4-2 against a lot of teams will leave us outnumbered in midfield

Not necessarily, it’s ever going to be a fixed ‘traditional’ 4-4-2.

The way play in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 leaves a lot of gaps between the lines because:
- The CMs overlapping with wingers to create overloads
- Grimes operates as a half back i.e. 3rd CB in possession
- the WBs either overlap or underlap to create overloads centrally/outwide
- the winger where the ball is operates high and wide
- the winger on the opposite side of the ball tends to tuck in with the forward in the final third
- the default attacking shape as a whole becomes a 3-2-5 which is in fashion right now

4-4-2 is having something of a renaissance because it’s the default defensive shape for many teams. Its flexibility can allow for a lot of interchanging players. One example from last night is the chance where Simms held up the ball, laid it off to Wright and it lead to chance from EMC in the second half. You’d have to expect a lot of interchanges with Wright and EMC/Rudoni.

Even Pompey utilised a 4-4-2 defensive shape really well and nearly caught us on the counter down those wide channels when operating that 3 CB line in the transition.

 

[torchomatic]

World class save from Collins. Well for him it’s world class


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In the first half the c**t behind me (as that is what he is) gave an ironic cheer every time Collins caught the ball. The breaking point came when Pompey fans chanted, "you're shit!" when he took the free-kick and goal kick and this guy shouted, "yeah, we know he is". At the same time me and the bloke who sits next to me turned around and told him to shut up and support the players on his team.

 

[Nick]

Anyway, it would work better if they allowed Wright to float out to the left more imo, it's too rigid up there. That's just my opinion anyway.

The issue with that is if he floats out wide there's zero up front

 

[Ccfc_Addy]

In some ways that's a much better outcome than us just beating Portsmouth easily.

It just shows you can't expect any easy games come the end of the season and sometimes you just have to keep going for the entire 90 mins. It should really keep us focused. You need games like these.

The confidence must now be well up after such a stirring goal and it's yet another goal in the dying minutes, so that must have cemented it in the backs of players minds that it's not over until it's over.

We now will surely not go into the Hull game lightly. We saw just how organised Portsmouth were (they should be fine this season, because they looked a half decent outfit).

It was bloody tense and nerve-racking, but it some ways I think it played out perfectly.

Much rather we beat Pompey 1 nil in the last minute, than just have scored early and then just breezed through the rest of the game at a canter.

We now can't be over-confident after that. We know we have to be patient, work our socks off and grind out results when we need to.

Hull is going to be tough I feel. We really need to really be on our metal.

As we don't play until Monday night, we could well find ourselves outside the playoff places once again before we kick another ball in anger.

Be fabulous if, come the end of Saturday, we're still in the top 6.

Great post; I, as I'm sure many others did, made comparisons between last night's winner and Wilson's equaliser against Blackburn in 2023. It's not just the goal, it's who scored it and the context of the gained points. It's the kind of moment that can define a season and galvanise a team going through tough times.

 

[torchomatic]

Golden boy or not; Grimes playing so deep is annoying me.

It isn’t adding anything. If we’re going to play with a QB we need runners. And in a game where they are sitting in that’s really hard.

Presumably he plays where he's told to? Agree though, much too deep.

 

[wingy]

Simms has had plenty of chances and too often puts in below par performances. I'm not sure a 'positive shift' off the bench which seems to be a ever lowering bar for Simms right now proves anything. Wright has 4 in 4 up front.

Oh well, you ever heard of rotation,it shouldn't be such a strange option really, don't have to be set in stone,

Thought Wright was terrible last night. Yakubuesque levels of non movement at
Even though I didnt think it was a great performance I thought everyone was OK individually apart from him.

got to give him the required delivery to have a sniff of a chance.

 

[David O'Day]

The issue with that is if he floats out wide there's zero up front

We need to work on our rotations better so someone is moving into that space if he goes wide.

 

[Sky Blue Goblin]

Not necessarily, it’s ever going to be a fixed ‘traditional’ 4-4-2.

The way play in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 leaves a lot of gaps between the lines because:
- The CMs overlapping with wingers to create overloads
- Grimes operates as a half back i.e. 3rd CB in possession
- the WBs either overlap or underlap to create overloads centrally/outwide
- the winger where the ball is operates high and wide
- the winger on the opposite side of the ball tends to tuck in with the forward in the final third
- the default attacking shape as a whole becomes a 3-2-5 which is in fashion right now

4-4-2 is having something of a renaissance because it’s the default defensive shape for many teams. Its flexibility can allow for a lot of interchanging players. One example from last night is the chance where Simms held up the ball, laid it off to Wright and it lead to chance from EMC in the second half. You’d have to expect a lot of interchanges with Wright and EMC/Rudoni.

Even Pompey utilised a 4-4-2 defensive shape really well and nearly caught us on the counter down those wide channels when operating that 3 CB line in the transition.

On this point our rest defence is a 4-4-2 where you normally see Rudoni or Torp acting as the second striker ( EMC sometimes).

This has been the case on our more attacking formations (3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3). Note, we also use the 4-5-1 but noticed the 4-4-2 more so

To be honest, with how fluid football is becoming, it’s less about formation and more about personnel (within reason of course).

4-4-2 can like you say transform into a 3-2-5 very easily with grimes sitting into a back two, one wingback inverting with the other Cm and everyone else going forward.

Would be interesting to watch

 

[Tommo1993]

What I hope EMC works on is when there’s a good pass to play, stop the fucking step-overs. That faffing about ultimately gives them more time get back and form a solid defensive line.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

Not necessarily, it’s ever going to be a fixed ‘traditional’ 4-4-2.

The way play in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 leaves a lot of gaps between the lines because:
- The CMs overlapping with wingers to create overloads
- Grimes operates as a half back i.e. 3rd CB in possession
- the WBs either overlap or underlap to create overloads centrally/outwide
- the winger where the ball is operates high and wide
- the winger on the opposite side of the ball tends to tuck in with the forward in the final third
- the default attacking shape as a whole becomes a 3-2-5 which is in fashion right now

4-4-2 is having something of a renaissance because it’s the default defensive shape for many teams. Its flexibility can allow for a lot of interchanging players. One example from last night is the chance where Simms held up the ball, laid it off to Wright and it lead to chance from EMC in the second half. You’d have to expect a lot of interchanges with Wright and EMC/Rudoni.

Even Pompey utilised a 4-4-2 defensive shape really well and nearly caught us on the counter down those wide channels when operating that 3 CB line in the transition.

Some interesting points. Yesterday was a good example where our flank (left hand side) can become exceptionally and probably unnecessarily over loaded at times due to some of the above reasons which left acres of space on the right where they attempted to exploit on a few occasions. Luckily because of MVE's speed an athleticism and Portsmouth genuinely being pretty poor in the final third they didn't come to anything but, and i know it's a cliche, a better side would've probably punished us.

When we do it well it works as we can overload the flanks and get frequent balls into the box but as stated it can also leave us awfully vulnerable to breaks.

 

[Matt smith]

7 to 10 in the league playing each other Saturday

makes yesterdays win so crucial

 

[TomRad85]

Oh well, you ever heard of rotation,it shouldn't be such a strange option really, don't have to be set in stone, got to give him the required delivery to have a sniff of a chance.

Not saying don't ever play Simms, he has to play his part. Was a big advocate of giving him a run of games, but at some point you have to accept he wasn't doing anywhere near enough to keep his place. Needs to pull his finger out of his arse.
As poor of a game as Wright had yesterday, Simms would not be 4 in 4 right now.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

On this point our rest defence is a 4-4-2 where you normally see Rudoni or Torp acting as the second striker ( EMC sometimes).

This has been the case on our more attacking formations (3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3). Note, we also use the 4-5-1 but noticed the 4-4-2 more so

To be honest, with how fluid football is becoming, it’s less about formation and more about personnel (within reason of course).

4-4-2 can like you say transform into a 3-2-5 very easily with grimes sitting into a back two, one wingback inverting with the other Cm and everyone else going forward.

Would be interesting to watch

This is something JDS is doing and quite well to his credit and why he is keeping Bidwell out of the team. He’s operating akin to a LCM when we’re in possession and we’re seeing MVE do it more too, that’s how he got some decent shooting opportunities of late. Under Robins his position tended to be as out wide as possible.

It's an interesting point. Yesterday was a good example where our left hand side was exceptionally and probably unnecessarily over loaded at times due to some of the above reasons which left acres of space on the right where they attempted to exploit on a few occasions. Luckily because of MVE's speed an athleticism and Portsmouth genuinely being pretty poor in the final third they didn't come to anything but, and i know it's a cliche, a better side would've probably punished us.

When we do it well it works as we can overload the flanks and get balls into the box but as stated it can also leave us very vulnerable to breaks.

We did it quite well against Sunderland and Burnley too and had we not gifted them a goal (or two) we could’ve made them work a lot harder for a goal.

We are genuinely quite good and penning teams in and can see Sheaf staying in the team to break up play, which he did a couple of times last night. You need Allen’s energy or Sheaf’s ball winning/interceptions in the system to manage the risks of being countered.

We’ve got Hull, Plymouth and Luton to play where we’re probably going to have lots of possession that we need to take advantage of.

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

We need to work on our rotations better so someone is moving into that space if he goes wide.

I think Rudoni or Sakamoto at times do quite well in that regard, the problem is they're just not natural goalscorers.

 

[David O'Day]

On this point our rest defence is a 4-4-2 where you normally see Rudoni or Torp acting as the second striker ( EMC sometimes).

This has been the case on our more attacking formations (3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3). Note, we also use the 4-5-1 but noticed the 4-4-2 more so

To be honest, with how fluid football is becoming, it’s less about formation and more about personnel (within reason of course).

4-4-2 can like you say transform into a 3-2-5 very easily with grimes sitting into a back two, one wingback inverting with the other Cm and everyone else going forward.

Would be interesting to watch

pretty much teams will now play at least 2 different formations in a game 1 when in possession and 1 when out of possession

people get too in to basic formations theses days, these days have gone as shape is now situational and creating overloads is far more important

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

This is something JDS is doing and quite well to his credit and why he is keeping Bidwell out of the team. He’s operating akin to a LCM when we’re in possession and we’re seeing MVE do it more too, that’s how he got some decent shooting opportunities of late. Under Robins his position tended to be as out wide as possible.



We did it quite well against Sunderland and Burnley too and had we not gifted them a goal (or two) we could’ve made them work a lot harder for a goal.

We are genuinely quite good and penning teams in and can see Sheaf staying in the team to break up play, which he did a couple of times last night. You need Allen’s energy or Sheaf’s ball winning/interceptions in the system to manage the risks of being countered.

We’ve got Hull, Plymouth and Luton to play where we’re probably going to have lots of possession that we need to take advantage of.

I think with Sheaf which wasn't picked up on much was he's also very good at picking up second/loose balls. From only an eye test but we seem to still be quite wasteful with the ball and lack that grit in midfield where even if we're unsuccessful in either a ground arial challenge we can still find a way of turning the ball over by picking up loose balls and either retain it or move it up the field quickly.

During our PO season we were brilliant at it and made life both in attack and defence much easier for us as a collective.

 

[David O'Day]

On this point our rest defence is a 4-4-2 where you normally see Rudoni or Torp acting as the second striker ( EMC sometimes).

This has been the case on our more attacking formations (3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3). Note, we also use the 4-5-1 but noticed the 4-4-2 more so

To be honest, with how fluid football is becoming, it’s less about formation and more about personnel (within reason of course).

4-4-2 can like you say transform into a 3-2-5 very easily with grimes sitting into a back two, one wingback inverting with the other Cm and everyone else going forward.

Would be interesting to watch

Our rest defence is 3-2 most of the time, the rest defence is basically the shape of the players who don't join in an attack

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I think with Sheaf which wasn't picked up on much was he's also very good at picking up second/loose balls. From only an eye test but we seem to still be quite wasteful with the ball and lack that grit in midfield where even if we're unsuccessful in either a ground arial challenge we can still find a way of turning the ball over by picking up loose balls and either retain it or move it up the field quickly.

During our PO season we were brilliant at it and made life both in attack and defence much easier for us as a collective.

Sheaf definitely lacked sharpness on the ball, he gave away a few basic passes but as you say, his work off the ball was generally solid and we picked up a lot of second balls.

When people say ‘we need a ball winner’ the temptation is to think of a bruiser to put in big tackles in the middle of the park. In reality, you need players to latch on to loose balls and interceptions just as much as the winning the challenges.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Our rest defence is 3-2 most of the time, the rest defence is basically the shape of the players who don't join in an attack

When we’re possession, yes but in a set defence it’s a 4-4-2 most of the time. There are occasions where it’s a 4-5-1/5-4-1 when defending deeper in our own half.

 

[Sky Blue Goblin]

Our rest defence is 3-2 most of the time, the rest defence is basically the shape of the players who don't join in an attack

Spot on sorry meant defence shape

 

[KenilworthSkyBlue]

Sheaf definitely lacked sharpness on the ball, he gave away a few basic passes but as you say, his work off the ball was generally solid and we picked up a lot of second balls.

When people say ‘we need a ball winner’ the temptation is to think of a bruiser to put in big tackles in the middle of the park. In reality, you need players to latch on to loose balls and interceptions just as much as the winning the challenges.

Sorry i meant as a collective we're still quite wasteful with the ball, not just Sheaf.

He definitely wasn't totally match fit last night but he played intelligently and stopped us from getting bullied in the middle / the ball being turned over as easily by picking up said loose balls and retaining possession.

 

[Otis]

Oh well, you ever heard of rotation,it shouldn't be such a strange option really, don't have to be set in stone, got to give him the required delivery to have a sniff of a chance.

Yeah. I do t think Wright was awful. Just a bit anonymous

 

[CCFCSteve]

Can't get that dominating header against Oxford out of my mind. He should be doing way more of that.

Agree, he’s got that in him and a great leap when challenging for high balls. When Wrights on form and involved he’s a top top player in this league

Unfortunately he was pretty ineffective last night but so were many. I still personally think simms will be better down the middle against certain teams and also some aways. Portsmouth were well organised and sat deep, didn’t give us much room which meant we reverted to the slow paced, side to side, back, side to side passing.

Needed to mix it up earlier, be brave and look to get it down the channels. Kitching seemed to be the only one who passed/moved the ball with real purpose and played it into space, until very late - I think wright would’ve made more of that down the left than EMC did last night. We also missed Jamie Allen mobility and dropping into space - thought our midfield was pretty poor overall last night and I like them all as players

A wins and win though !

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Agree, he’s got that in him and a great leap when challenging for high balls. When Wrights on form and involved he’s a top top player in this league

Unfortunately he was pretty ineffective last night but so were many. I still personally think simms will be better down the middle against certain teams and also some aways. Portsmouth were well organised and sat deep, didn’t give us much room which meant we reverted to the slow paced, side to side, back, side to side passing.

Needed to mix it up earlier, be brave and look to get it down the channels. Kitching seemed to be the only one who passed/moved the ball with real purpose and played it into space, until very late - I think wright would’ve made more of that down the left than EMC did last night. We also missed Jamie Allen mobility and dropping into space - thought our midfield was pretty poor overall last night and I like them all as players

A wins and win though !

Wright excels with balls played over the top, against teams sitting deep that gets nullified.

 

[skybluecam]

I mean when you say that 3 of them were in 1 game it changes the picture slightly.

lol I forgot he scored a hattrick

it’s actually 4 in 4 with the goal v Burnley. So they weren’t all in one game!

 

[skybluecam]

You’ve missed the fact he’s scored 4.

quick mafs