Its a game of two halves (1 Viewer)

Grendel · Dec 20, 2014

And how convenient dear old Stuart Linnell and Pressley forgot the first half.

A formation of one up front at home against a defensively strong and attacking weak team was yet another stroke of tactical genius.

The first half was as dire as it gets. Tactical ineptitude again points dropped again.

Nonleagueherewecome · Dec 20, 2014

Should have been 3-0 down by half-time, Fleetwood carved through our back-line at will. Fleck and Barton were too lightweight for a CM combination and kept giving it away and playing people into trouble in our own half, usually just outside our area. O'Brien was playing in some kind of non-position somewhere between RM and CM and the half passed him by, but at least he pressed.

dongonzalos · Dec 20, 2014

Grendel said:
And how convenient dear old Stuart Linnell and Pressley forgot the first half.

A formation of one up front at home against a defensively strong and attacking weak team was yet another stroke of tactical genius.

The first half was as dire as it gets. Tactical ineptitude again points dropped again.

Got to be two up front at home against a renown defensive minded team

stupot07 · Dec 20, 2014

Bang on G, nonleague and Don.

That's why I still feel so annoyed.

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Nonleagueherewecome · Dec 20, 2014

dongonzalos said:
Got to be two up front at home against a renown defensive minded team

Absolutely-or just in general as default at home in this division. McQ got a couple of shots off 1st half to be fair to him but they weren't great chances and he generally looks lost out wide. It looked so much better when first Maddison and then Jackson came on in terms of shape and threat. It was summed up perfectly by the goal. Before then Barton had played balls like that to Madine and he had two men on him and lost it. Jackson occupied defenders simply by the positions he took up and with Maddison wandering from wide, we were a totally different proposition for a defence to deal with.

Jackson looked like his turn of pace might be coming back-maybe it was just that he's trying now that he has a point to prove? Most under-achieving player in our squad in terms of what we should be getting out of him, but he hasn't played with Madine yet, has he? That might be the partnership that clicks, classic little-and-large combo.

Sutty · Dec 20, 2014

One up front doesn't mean negative.

Real Madrid? One up front. Chelsea? One up front. Bayern? One up front. Those sides are far from negative. Even at our level, MK Dons played one up front today and scored 7.

Our problem was that the midfield didn't get close enough to Madine. McQuoid should have been able to provide that support but his positional sense was fucking shambolic. The situation improved once Maddison came on and played just behind him, and improved again once Jackson came on.

So yes, we needed more support for Madine, but it doesn't necessarily need another striker, it just needed more ambition/awareness from Swanson, O'Brien and McQuoid. It's too simplistic to just say more strikers = less negative, it's all about the mindset of the players and how they interpret their positions.

Nonleagueherewecome · Dec 20, 2014

Sutty said:
One up front doesn't mean negative.

Real Madrid? One up front. Chelsea? One up front. Bayern? One up front. Those sides are far from negative. Even at our level, MK Dons played one up front today and scored 7.

Our problem was that the midfield didn't get close enough to Madine. McQuoid should have been able to provide that support but his positional sense was fucking shambolic. The situation improved once Maddison came on and played just behind him, and improved again once Jackson came on.

So yes, we needed more support for Madine, but it doesn't necessarily need another striker, it just needed more ambition/awareness from Swanson, O'Brien and McQuoid. It's too simplistic to just say more strikers = less negative, it's all about the mindset of the players and how they interpret their positions.

In this division, with our players and our style, 1 up front doesn't work IMO.

stupot07 · Dec 20, 2014

Agreed. Sutty. One up front is fine but your widemen and midfielders need to get up and support.

And if anything we improved in the last 15 minutes by going more direct and hitting the direct ball earlier not 5 minutes after the midfield had dallied in it.

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Nick · Dec 20, 2014

Nonleagueherewecome said:
Absolutely-or just in general as default at home in this division. McQ got a couple of shots off 1st half to be fair to him but they weren't great chances and he generally looks lost out wide. It looked so much better when first Maddison and then Jackson came on in terms of shape and threat. It was summed up perfectly by the goal. Before then Barton had played balls like that to Madine and he had two men on him and lost it. Jackson occupied defenders simply by the positions he took up and with Maddison wandering from wide, we were a totally different proposition for a defence to deal with.

Jackson looked like his turn of pace might be coming back-maybe it was just that he's trying now that he has a point to prove? Most under-achieving player in our squad in terms of what we should be getting out of him, but he hasn't played with Madine yet, has he? That might be the partnership that clicks, classic little-and-large combo.

As soon as he came on he stood by Madine and was telling everybody to put the ball onto Madine so he could play off him. In the first half like you say he was winning the ball with nobody near him or their defenders just brushing it out.

stupot07 · Dec 20, 2014

Nonleagueherewecome said:
In this division, with our players and our style, 1 up front doesn't work IMO.

Problem is we haven't really got natural widemen and our central midfielders are too samey, non of our central midfielders like breaking into the box. We could do with a Darren Pratley (? Swansea fame)

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Nonleagueherewecome · Dec 20, 2014

stupot07 said:
Problem is we haven't really got natural widemen and our central midfielders are too samey.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors

I'd try Barton and Maddison in the central two, really can't see what Fleck offers in his current frame of mind, seems to be seeing his contract out. O'Brien on the right (which is his natural position, he's just not very good technically) and due to lack of options, Swanson on the left. That's still too lightweight, so buy a ball-winner in January and move Maddison to the left.

SkyBlue_Bear83 · Dec 20, 2014

I think Maddison is tailor made for how Pressley wants to play, problem is he isn't going to play every week.

Assuming we play one up front I'd go something like
---------O'Brien---Barton
New player---Maddison---Swanson
-------------Madine

And a better player in place of Swanson if budget allows, dunno if O'Brien would work there but at least he may show some sort of desire to break forward from that position.

Gazolba · Dec 20, 2014

Nonleagueherewecome said:
In this division, with our players and our style, 1 up front doesn't work IMO.

And past results have amply proved it.

spider_ricoh · Dec 20, 2014

Nonleagueherewecome said:
Should have been 3-0 down by half-time, Fleetwood carved through our back-line at will. Fleck and Barton were too lightweight for a CM combination and kept giving it away and playing people into trouble in our own half, usually just outside our area. O'Brien was playing in some kind of non-position somewhere between RM and CM and the half passed him by, but at least he pressed.

We were running out of steam before Jackson came on in the second half - SP must have sent them out with a rocket up their backsides but by 70 mins it felt like things were getting flat.

chiefdave · Dec 20, 2014

For me it's less the formation and more the lack of pressure. At home we should be putting the visitors under pressure from the start. For some reason, no matter what formation we play, we let the other side come at us and we're usually chasing the game from then on.

colin101 · Dec 20, 2014

To be fair I thought we dominated the first minute.

stupot07 · Dec 20, 2014

colin101 said:
To be fair I thought we dominated the first minute.

We certainly did, thought we'd come straight out of the blocks....just to immediately let fleetwood take the impetus.

blueflint · Dec 20, 2014

Grendel said:
And how convenient dear old Stuart Linnell and Pressley forgot the first half.

A formation of one up front at home against a defensively strong and attacking weak team was yet another stroke of tactical genius.

The first half was as dire as it gets. Tactical ineptitude again points dropped again.

for once i agree with you grendel

The Gentleman · Dec 20, 2014

Sutty said:
One up front doesn't mean negative.

Real Madrid? One up front. Chelsea? One up front. Bayern? One up front. Those sides are far from negative. Even at our level, MK Dons played one up front today and scored 7.

Our problem was that the midfield didn't get close enough to Madine. McQuoid should have been able to provide that support but his positional sense was fucking shambolic. The situation improved once Maddison came on and played just behind him, and improved again once Jackson came on.

So yes, we needed more support for Madine, but it doesn't necessarily need another striker, it just needed more ambition/awareness from Swanson, O'Brien and McQuoid. It's too simplistic to just say more strikers = less negative, it's all about the mindset of the players and how they interpret their positions.

When CCFC play one up front at home it is negative. We simply do not have the players, tactical nouse and manager to be able to play like Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea or MK Dons.

Nonleagueherewecome · Dec 20, 2014

The Gentleman said:
When CCFC play one up front at home it is negative. We simply do not have the players, tactical nouse and manager to be able to play like Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea or MK Dons.

It's not just 1 up front with us: it's 1 up front with 2 deep lying CM's, two wide men that offer precious little support to the 1 up and a slow, ponderous passing tempo with no runs behind the opposition defence and few balls quick or direct enough to penetrate.

Nick · Dec 21, 2014

Nonleagueherewecome said:
It's not just 1 up front with us: it's 1 up front with 2 deep lying CM's, two wide men that offer precious little support to the 1 up and a slow, ponderous passing tempo with no runs behind the opposition defence and few balls quick or direct enough to penetrate.

Exactly, it is more like 6 3 1

letsallsingtogether · Dec 21, 2014

We could have had 8 up front still would have struggled most don't want to shoot and we just don't have a goalscorer in this team.

rupert_bear · Dec 21, 2014

Why is Steven Pressley so negative in the first half of games especially at home, again for the umpteenth time we were diabolical in the first half but improved enough the second to have even snatched a victory. What is it ? Does he not trust his players or his own tactics, okay to play this way away from home and seems to work of late but not at home when you are trying to attract support and cash. 10000 today with a price discount I fear it will be back to 7/8000 next game and that's a holiday fixture.

Nick · Dec 21, 2014

letsallsingtogether said:
We could have had 8 up front still would have struggled most don't want to shoot and we just don't have a goalscorer in this team.

They probably get told off and get a pass percentage bonus rather than goal bonus the way pressley goes on

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