Doom & Gloom thread (1 Viewer)

We constantly fuck ourselves over


Last night we had 3 different occasions where we were in control and it led to a Luton attack

1. Their first goal. Shit play from Dabo on the wing when he could have taken on his man not stop and wait for the inside pass where Kelly was marked. Then of course McCallums shit tracking back and poor keeping from Wilson

2. We had a throw in in Luton's half. 15 seconds later we had somehow managed to fuck about with it conceding a dangerous throw in to them ( when their player went down the tunnel for the run up)

3. Untold times where James/ Hamer/ OHARE were bearing down on the defence looking for the killer ball and Max and his complete lack of strikers instinct making a shit run meant they had no one to pass too and ended up in a blind alley conceding possession

Saddlebrains said:

We constantly fuck ourselves over


Last night we had 3 different occasions where we were in control and it led to a Luton attack

1. Their first goal. Shit play from Dabo on the wing when he could have taken on his man not stop and wait for the inside pass where Kelly was marked. Then of course McCallums shit tracking back and poor keeping from Wilson

2. We had a throw in in Luton's half. 15 seconds later we had somehow managed to fuck about with it conceding a dangerous throw in to them ( when their player went down the tunnel for the run up)

3. Untold times where James/ Hamer/ OHARE were bearing down on the defence looking for the killer ball and Max and his complete lack of strikers instinct making a shit run meant they had no one to pass too and ended up in a blind alley conceding possession

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For the first goal, it was a mistake from Dabo but it'd be good if we didn't just punt the ball out to him hoping for him to take a defender on. We look much better when we get a combination of players linking up around the wing backs, we just don't do it enough.

Saddlebrains said:

We constantly fuck ourselves over


Last night we had 3 different occasions where we were in control and it led to a Luton attack

1. Their first goal. Shit play from Dabo on the wing when he could have taken on his man not stop and wait for the inside pass where Kelly was marked. Then of course McCallums shit tracking back and poor keeping from Wilson

2. We had a throw in in Luton's half. 15 seconds later we had somehow managed to fuck about with it conceding a dangerous throw in to them ( when their player went down the tunnel for the run up)

3. Untold times where James/ Hamer/ OHARE were bearing down on the defence looking for the killer ball and Max and his complete lack of strikers instinct making a shit run meant they had no one to pass too and ended up in a blind alley conceding possession

Click to expand...

There was one occasion last night where Dacosta made a good run down the flank. He went to put a cross in and there was just Biamou in the box. Biamou and 5 Luton defenders.

Never going to score in that scenario, not in a month of Sundays.

I like Biamou.

Sorry, wrong thread.

torchomatic said:

I like Biamou.

Sorry, wrong thread.

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Fuck off Luton Town goalkeeper!

torchomatic said:

I like Biamou.

Sorry, wrong thread.

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But does he like you?

Now, I'm not advocating for a sacking by any means but I do have some concern as to whether Robins is quite at the level tactically. Of course there have been games like Brentford and Reading where we've got the tactics spot on and that's to be commended but there have also been far too many games like last night where we're severely lacking. It never really feels that, aside from the obvious ones like the aforementioned Brentford game, that we make changes to our system to exploit the opponents weaknesses. It's very much the case of 'same team every week until we lose or someone gets injured' which works when you're one of the better teams in the league but when you're not you need to be more adaptable to what the opposition offer. Management of injured players and substitutions is a whole other matter which just seems utterly bizarre from the outside in.

SeaSeeEffCee said:

. It's very much the case of 'same team every week until we lose or someone gets injured' which works when you're one of the better teams in the league but when you're not you need to be more adaptable to what the opposition offer.

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I do get what you're saying, but I also have a theory that lower league players are lower league, partly because they're not so adaptable, so just getting them to play one or two systems is as much as some could cope with.

Deleted member 5849 said:

I do get what you're saying, but I also have a theory that lower league players are lower league, partly because they're not so adaptable, so just getting them to play one or two systems is as much as some could cope with.

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Yeah, that’s a fair point, I just feel as if we get the personal wrong a lot. Biamou wasn’t the right striker last night given how susceptible they looked to players running at them and stuff like playing 3 DMs isn’t the right move for every game either but it feels as if we always just play the same until we lose and then we’ll change it as a response. Always reactive instead of proactive.

SeaSeeEffCee said:

Yeah, that’s a fair point, I just feel as if we get the personal wrong a lot. Biamou wasn’t the right striker last night given how susceptible they looked to players running at them and stuff like playing 3 DMs isn’t the right move for every game either but it feels as if we always just play the same until we lose and then we’ll change it as a response. Always reactive instead of proactive.

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Remember an interview with Viveash where he said getting Robins to adapt his tactics from 4-4-2 was a struggle? I suspect it's in his nature to be a conservative manager.

Probably why he's not managing Man Utd as well, mind..

It's a tough one for a manager. Biamou had a stormer the previous game, and what message does it send out to the other players if he was dropped? I appreciate that's an old school view, and in the modern game (especially at the top level) it doesn't always work like that, but Mark Robins is a more traditional manager than someone like Guardiola or Klopp. Add into the mix that Walker and Godden aren't fit, and what else could he do up top? We all seem in agreement that Victor and Baka aren't the answer, so that leaves us having to play one up top. And the rest of the team then pretty much picks itself - who else could have come into midfield? Robins stated that Luton are a physical team, so you can't put Allen in because he's so lightweight, Sheaf is seemingly out of favour, and Shipley is having the worst season of his career, so we're stuck with what we have. The back 3 pick themselves too. DaCosta isn't fit, so Dabo has to be picked, and we only have one left back so that's sorted too. That leaves the keeper, and Wilson hasn't been great but also not horrific until last night. Picking the team is easy in hindsight, but whatever changes we could have made to the starting XI would probably have made us weaker.

That was a longer post than I intended.

You say Biamou was the wrong choice, but Godden wasn’t fit and Walker isn’t a lone striker. One thing Biamou gives you is a chance of winning the ball from lumps up field (which we need because our midfield is poor).

The real problem is the midfield, we don’t have the right mix of mindsets in there and our better quality players technically mostly want to play in the same space. We’ve got four CMs who arguably have half decent ball retention and all of them want to play in front of the back line. A back line pulled back because their keeper is dodgy and they’ve got no pace.

It all comes back to personnel available. No options going forward, poor at the back and too similar in midfield. Now whether that’s Robins not using the budget appropriately or the budget not being appropriate is another question. I’d argue we wasted our two loan slots in Jan, and would’ve been better getting two forwards in from Prem academies and hoping they add a bit of spark and pace and attacking mindset.

Deleted member 5849 said:

But does he like you?

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Doubtful.

Why, oh why, does the manager pick that twat, Dabo?

shmmeee said:

You say Biamou was the wrong choice, but Godden wasn’t fit and Walker isn’t a lone striker. One thing Biamou gives you is a chance of winning the ball from lumps up field (which we need because our midfield is poor).

The real problem is the midfield, we don’t have the right mix of mindsets in there and our better quality players technically mostly want to play in the same space. We’ve got four CMs who arguably have half decent ball retention and all of them want to play in front of the back line. A back line pulled back because their keeper is dodgy and they’ve got no pace.

It all comes back to personnel available. No options going forward, poor at the back and too similar in midfield. Now whether that’s Robins not using the budget appropriately or the budget not being appropriate is another question. I’d argue we wasted our two loan slots in Jan, and would’ve been better getting two forwards in from Prem academies and hoping they add a bit of spark and pace and attacking mindset.

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We really needed somebody to sub in for O'Hare, because however well he's doing, the end product isn't there this season, so he maybe needs / needed a rest here and there, which he isn't able to get as it stands. Allen's clearly out of favour atm, so there's nobody else while Shipley's struggling.

Of course, it'd also allow the option of playing somebody *with* O'Hare, to take the pressure off him in that part of the pitch, too!

I'm happy to accept that Gyokeres is maybe right type of player, wrong player, so that's as much a risk that hasn't paid off (his goal could still save us!) but they all still need some kind of service / support. Doesn't matter how well Biamou holds the ball up when he can't finish, and nobody bar O'Hare is really supporting him.

We need some speed in the team, not the drug although that may help, we cant play a high line from the back because we would be done too easily so the midfield are sort of in between the devil and the deep blue sea which isolates any striker we have too much and with Max's first touch being like a shot it don't give us any time to catch up and support him

shmmeee said:

You say Biamou was the wrong choice, but Godden wasn’t fit and Walker isn’t a lone striker. One thing Biamou gives you is a chance of winning the ball from lumps up field (which we need because our midfield is poor).

The real problem is the midfield, we don’t have the right mix of mindsets in there and our better quality players technically mostly want to play in the same space. We’ve got four CMs who arguably have half decent ball retention and all of them want to play in front of the back line. A back line pulled back because their keeper is dodgy and they’ve got no pace.

It all comes back to personnel available. No options going forward, poor at the back and too similar in midfield. Now whether that’s Robins not using the budget appropriately or the budget not being appropriate is another question. I’d argue we wasted our two loan slots in Jan, and would’ve been better getting two forwards in from Prem academies and hoping they add a bit of spark and pace and attacking mindset.

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I don’t understand what the point of Hamer is at the moment. He’s either being told not to get forward and support O’Hare or he’s not following instructions. Having him sit back when James and Kelly are both playing is utterly pointless.

SeaSeeEffCee said:

I don’t understand what the point of Hamer is at the moment. He’s either being told not to get forward and support O’Hare or he’s not following instructions. Having him sit back when James and Kelly are both playing is utterly pointless.

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He’s not a forward minded player. He wants to arrive late after the attack not offer options up the field. He’s also not playing O’Hares role like a box. We’re setting up as a diamond so he’s deeper like James.

The whole midfield shape is set up to pull us deep and hit and hope to a big man with O’Hare buzzing around.