Col city fan Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 All season I've been bleating on about having three in the central midfield area. Today's game, I think, indicates why. In the first half, most of the football we played was quite dreadful really (let's have it right..It was). It was nearly all long ball. And I KNOW that the route one led to Nugent's goal, but mostly, it was ineffective against the big lumps in the centre of Brom's defence. Added to that, for about 30 mins or so, their central players were running through our midfield pretty much at will. It was no surprise when Gardner popped up, completely unmarked, to pick his spot. For me, the whole outlook of the game changed when we took off Ulloa and James, both had been pretty much bystanders IMO. We took control. Replacing a striker for another player in the central area freed up Cambiasso to play in Schlupp time and time again down the left. And King started to do what he does best..just the simple stuff to keep us ticking along, offensively. I would love to see us start that way against Swansea. A central midfield of Cambiasso, King and possibly Drinkwater I suggest would provide that central control and enable us to feed the wide men quickly or to slip balls through to Nugent and Vardy. For me, Pearson today made the right changes at the right times but I'd start us that way personally. Opinions please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strokes Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 It depends who we are against but in principle I agree. Football is a living thing though col, there's no magic formula that will work week in week out. You have to mix it up a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 James isn't good enough/doesn't bring anything. King was far better when he came on today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFox Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 Definitely give James a break and start King. As for 3 in CM, I'm not sure. Maybe just have Kramaric in for Ulloa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 In fairness it depends a lot on the opposition and how they set up and today, for example, Pearson made a change to free up Schlupp on the left and use his pace to alleviate some pressure on James and Cambiasso. First half admittedly it did often look like we were being overrun in midfield. Until the game kicks off though you never fully know how the opposition will play and all you can hope is that, where it's clear you're weak in an area, you have a manager who reacts and makes changes. One of my big criticisms of Pearson historically has been how he's been so rigid in his "same team until 60 minutes" approach, but today his changes worked. On the other hand I think our forward play suits more of a 4-4-2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderbyFox Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 I think we definitely need to play 3 central players against Swansea. They play Ki, Shelvey and Cork with Sigurdsson just infront, if we stick with Cambiasso & James then they're going to be easily outnumbered imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry - LCFC Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 People have been going on about how much better four at the back is but I'm still not convinced. Away from home we've shown how we can be a real threat playing with wing-backs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxUK Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 Ulloa's contribution wasn't good enough other than his odd flick on - Vardy/Nugent were apt at creating and taking chances with their own flick on / control when Ulloa was taken off, so in the grand scheme of things; we could do without his fouls, moaning, and falling over - with a more footwork attack minded player dropping back a little. The 3-4-1-2 variant definitely worked going forward in the second half, and it wasn't defensively exploited too much either which is a great incentive to try it out again. Perhaps wouldn't go with Mahrez/Kramaric in the hole though, i'd rather see someone like Andy King in a position freeing up manoeuvre room for Cambiasso (who again showed his class,) and as a driving player going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez of Mahrez Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 I thought we bossed it from the start of the second half and Mahrez had little impact. It was actually WBA retreating and us being able to spread play wide to the wing backs that turned the game in our favour. If Kramaric had come on instead of Mahrez, we still would have won the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaspa Posted 11 April 2015 Share Posted 11 April 2015 I agree with most of Benji's post, you set up against the opposition in the way you think is right. Some teams are set up to play 3-5-2 against, some 4-4-2 and some 4-3-2-1, the management look into this and make the professional decisions on the matter. Seemingly this has gone wrong more often than not, although my own opinion of it is of our confidence and quality not being up to par, we've looked second best in play and mentality and not taken our chances in most games. Today, to pick out the first half being down to the midfield is unfair. First goal was a corner and the second a cross that didnt get dealt with in the box and deflected in, our attacking play was a mix of chase and pester, run into space , catch them over the top(goal) and occasional pressure. We couldve done with some more in the middle of the park but we weren't over-run and we were still competitive. We seem to have our systems down now and hopefully a ruthlessness will develop from the confidence we should be getting from these wins, theres fights left for us and no matter what now; we dont give up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suffolk fox Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Taking off Matt James on Saturday was rhe master stroke for me and something Pearson did right. James was woeful on Saturday against West Brom I have said he is the weak link in our midfield why he plays week in week out I dont know? I am sick and tired of his corners not beating the first man too. Well done pearson for having the guts to take him off turned into one of the reasons why we won on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narboroughblue Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 I'm a massive Matty James fan but he hasn't been at his best the past couple of games and taking him off was the correct call on Saturday. Agree with Col that 3 in midfield this season should have been the starting point and against a good passing side we will need extra bodies to close down the spaces. Still need the quick guys around whoever we pick though as this has and will continue to be our hope of the miracle escape coming off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 All season I've been bleating on about having three in the central midfield area. Today's game, I think, indicates why. In the first half, most of the football we played was quite dreadful really (let's have it right..It was). It was nearly all long ball. And I KNOW that the route one led to Nugent's goal, but mostly, it was ineffective against the big lumps in the centre of Brom's defence. Added to that, for about 30 mins or so, their central players were running through our midfield pretty much at will. It was no surprise when Gardner popped up, completely unmarked, to pick his spot. For me, the whole outlook of the game changed when we took off Ulloa and James, both had been pretty much bystanders IMO. We took control. Replacing a striker for another player in the central area freed up Cambiasso to play in Schlupp time and time again down the left. And King started to do what he does best..just the simple stuff to keep us ticking along, offensively. I would love to see us start that way against Swansea. A central midfield of Cambiasso, King and possibly Drinkwater I suggest would provide that central control and enable us to feed the wide men quickly or to slip balls through to Nugent and Vardy. For me, Pearson today made the right changes at the right times but I'd start us that way personally. Opinions please. We bossed it from the start of the second half, the stats showed how much of the ball we were having. It was going three at the back that changed it and not taking a striker off for Mahrez, who frankly did nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosbehFox Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Did we play three in midfield? To me it was virtually 3-4-3 with one of the strikers/Mahrez in the hole but no defensive duty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie93 Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 In fairness it depends a lot on the opposition and how they set up and today, for example, Pearson made a change to free up Schlupp on the left and use his pace to alleviate some pressure on James and Cambiasso. First half admittedly it did often look like we were being overrun in midfield. Until the game kicks off though you never fully know how the opposition will play and all you can hope is that, where it's clear you're weak in an area, you have a manager who reacts and makes changes. One of my big criticisms of Pearson historically has been how he's been so rigid in his "same team until 60 minutes" approach, but today his changes worked. On the other hand I think our forward play suits more of a 4-4-2. IMO we were a lot better going forward when playing 3-5-2 on saturday, we were getting 4-5 men in the box on every attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manwell Pablo Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Did we play three in midfield? To me it was virtually 3-4-3 with one of the strikers/Mahrez in the hole but no defensive duty. No I don't think we played three in the centre either, Vardy pushed on more once Mahrez was introduced. We looked good because we committed men forward as we know we need to win games. We could quite easily have been caught on the break if West Brom had countered better, the ball that should of been played into Gardner with Schulpp half the pitch out of position being the prime example. And yes I agree we most we took control of the game well before the subs were made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st albans fox Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Having too many up top doesn't nec work as defenders drop deep to mark and there isnt space to break into at pace. Better to control the ball in the middle in our half and build an attack slowly or have the option to play it over the top early to use our pace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arriba Los Zorros Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 James for me first name on team sheet, he just has to do the lion's share of work in midfield, more than anyone else in the team, and gets tired!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie93 Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Having too many up top doesn't nec work as defenders drop deep to mark and there isnt space to break into at pace. Better to control the ball in the middle in our half and build an attack slowly or have the option to play it over the top early to use our pace Agree to extent but earlier in the season we were putting crosses in and there was 1 man in there vs 4 opposition defenders. Against WBA we had 4-5 in there matching their 4-5 defenders. Again depends who you're playing though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox Ulike Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 I think the point is that Pearson once again decided to start with a 442, and with Vardy on the wing. We lost that half 2-1, and by all accounts were awful. A 3-4-3 allows one of your central defenders to push up a bit, and one of your front 3 to drop back a bit – so basically gives us more bodies in the midfield area, where they are needed. It’s a great win but I can’t help thinking that it’s only been achieved once Pearson’s naïve 442 formation has been replaced by a formation that gives us a chance of dominating the middle area, rather than bypassing in via the wings and long balls. We’d be a lot better off if Pearson just gave up his bizarre love of 442 and realised the importance of dominating the middle of the pitch in Prem games. Vardy's late goal was exciting and I was buzzin' when it went in. (Reminded me of Knocky's winner at Forest). But why can't we just play the right way from the start and win 2-0!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col city fan Posted 13 April 2015 Author Share Posted 13 April 2015 Having too many up top doesn't nec work as defenders drop deep to mark and there isnt space to break into at pace. Better to control the ball in the middle in our half and build an attack slowly or have the option to play it over the top early to use our pace This is exactly what I mean. You simply put it better than me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cc_star Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Cambiasso had a very influential game James pretty ineffective and very wasteful in possession King steady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 Cambiasso had a very influential game James pretty ineffective and very wasteful in possession King steady I don't think we need a camera in the dressing room to see what our pre-match tactics have been recently: "If you have the ball and you are not Cambiasso, why do you have it? Pass to Cambiasso now!" (In fairness James was subbed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 James for me first name on team sheet, he just has to do the lion's share of work in midfield, more than anyone else in the team, and gets tired!! Cambiasso does more. He tidies up so well. King was far more better than James when he came on as a sub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cc_star Posted 13 April 2015 Share Posted 13 April 2015 I don't think we need a camera in the dressing room to see what our pre-match tactics have been recently: "If you have the ball and you are not Cambiasso, why do you have it? Pass to Cambiasso now!" (In fairness James was subbed). It is certainly that way at the moment Cambiasso does more. He tidies up so well. King was far more better than James when he came on as a sub. He's having a great spell of form and at the right time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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