Back to Basics

[dandannieldanok]

Surely clean sheets shouldnt be our target! It has to be goals! U cant win games with just clean sheets!! Id love Nigel to come out and say goals are the target! Clearly ex defenders who become managers are always going to be defensive minded but id love to have the belief that we can go on and score 3 - 4 goals in a game!! I just can never picture Leicester doing what Forest and Cardiff did last night at the moment!

I agree, apart from a mad few minutes at Cardiff, our defence has hardly been taken to the cleaners. Pearson is right that we need a clean sheet to try and springboard us to a result, but I'd rather the focus down the training ground is to look at our attack. The main thing that bugs me about Pearson's attitude in this case is that talking about clean sheets is a clear focus on how to combat the opposition, rather than a clear focus on trying to cause the opposition some problems of their own.

Having said that, I doubt these pre-match comments are said with complete clarity, I'm sure down in practice at the training ground they are working on attack too.

[Ozwin]

Midfield is still the problem, with pace down the wings and some creativity a team can batter anyone. Forest for example are scoring loads this season and it's because there' so much pace in their team.

[Thracian]

That's usually against people who express themselves like... "Pearsons shit looool... max Gradel would have won us the game looool.... sack pearson and get billy davis init".

It's ironic that Norfolkfox expresses much my own sentiments (apart from the "fantastic job" bit) and you start sounding like you're riding both animals in a two-horse race.

I can't ever remember you being an enthusiastic advocate of attacking football or, indeed, of any viewpoint which was critical of a manager - at least not until that manager was beyond defence.

There's a case for saying Pearson did a "fantastic job" until the end of last season and even results-wise up until Christmas.

But the storm clouds started forming months ago when we signed so-called strikers who had no "previous" as prolific scorers, when we signed glaringly vulnerable full-backs, when we adopted such cautious tactics, when we sidelined so many of our quiickest players and when we, far from attending to basics, failed to truly perform the basics at all.

Oh yes, we closed teams down and did much to stop them playing. But we constantly wasted possession from the back, wasted our set-pieces, failed to integrate as a passing unit, narrowed the play in such a way as to stifle our own attacking options, played numerous and often unproven indivduals out of position and failed with perhaps a dozen other things I'd consider "basics".

We started falling off the pace in terms of goals and points almost from day one and when early signs of problems became so recognisable they were beyond denial even by yourself we still failed to deal with them or even show signs that we were trying to do so.

That's not a "fantastic job" in my eyes. It's a big disappointment.

Not necessarily because we're gradually falling down the table. But because our style of play and approach to the game hasn't evolved one bit and because we're making far too many changes to the side instead of improving each area in turn.

Tactically we're still operating as footballing apologists who are apparently unable to grasp that you have to score goals to win matches and therefore need to pick a team which is geared towards that end.

To do that requires four things. The right personnel in the right places, the right philosophy, an inspiring, instinctively supportive manager with genuine self-belief and charisma plus the right pre-match preparation with painstaking attention to detail.

Sadly we're well short of that little lot.

[Thracian]

I agree, apart from a mad few minutes at Cardiff, our defence has hardly been taken to the cleaners. Pearson is right that we need a clean sheet to try and springboard us to a result, but I'd rather the focus down the training ground is to look at our attack. The main thing that bugs me about Pearson's attitude in this case is that talking about clean sheets is a clear focus on how to combat the opposition, rather than a clear focus on trying to cause the opposition some problems of their own.

Having said that, I doubt these pre-match comments are said with complete clarity, I'm sure down in practice at the training ground they are working on attack too.

Our clean sheets are eked out at the expense of our attacking options and fluidity. And there's not so many of them nowadays.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

I'm sorry but a lot of you are being mindless idiots at this point - panic has set in and we're all talking of endless doom.

Why do you not realise that this league has got about 14-18 teams that can beat each other on any given day, teams are all much of a muchness therefore there is little to chose from each.

To be a confident attacking force we would need major personel changes and a different manager - that is not going to happen with the budget we have or without major upheaval which would result could result in more poor results.

The best teams in every season tend to start off by getting a solid defence - and whenever a manager comes into a relegation threatened club the first thing they look at is sorting out the defence to make the team hard to beat.

Sod the attacking football - I just want a committed performance from my team. I appreciate the Leicester is never going to have god's gifts to footballing talent (regardless of how close we were to signing Edgar) so we will have to play the odd or quite often constant long ball. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact when done in the right way it can be very effective and somewhat entertaining as you attack with a degree of pace.

Last season Birmingham went up by being hard to beat - they scored 54 goals compared to conceeding 37 - thats in 46 games so they were by no means a major attacking force. Norwich scored more than Birmingham - 57 in that season, but due to conceeding 70 went down - thats the difference between 2nd and 22nd.

Newcastle is another classic example, because they couldn't defend for toffee they end up paying for it with the Premiership status - luckily they've kept most of their better players so now they can play attacking football and keep clean sheets because they have a better standard of player than most.

And of course, if we were to achive what would have to be considered the miracle of promotion this season, what would we need to do in order to survive in the Premiership - be hard to beat, have a solid defence, because we wouldn't be considered a massive attacking force.

Back our bloddy manager, appreciate our chairman is keeping our club running evening if he's not pumping in millions, because the grass in not always greener on the otherside. If these guys aren't here we couldn't guarantee we'd get anyone better and the same with the playing staff (I don't see any major signings of note by any club during the window - it doesn't happen any more, business is done in the summer - if we get anything it will be a loan or two).

I know most are venting, but your attracting more to this view and will only result in fans at the ground being less supportive overall and any 12th man advantage we had will be gone.

[jimmer]

I'm sorry but a lot of you are being mindless idiots at this point - panic has set in and we're all talking of endless doom.

Why do you not realise that this league has got about 14-18 teams that can beat each other on any given day, teams are all much of a muchness therefore there is little to chose from each.

To be a confident attacking force we would need major personel changes and a different manager - that is not going to happen with the budget we have or without major upheaval which would result could result in more poor results.

The best teams in every season tend to start off by getting a solid defence - and whenever a manager comes into a relegation threatened club the first thing they look at is sorting out the defence to make the team hard to beat.

Sod the attacking football - I just want a committed performance from my team. I appreciate the Leicester is never going to have god's gifts to footballing talent (regardless of how close we were to signing Edgar) so we will have to play the odd or quite often constant long ball. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact when done in the right way it can be very effective and somewhat entertaining as you attack with a degree of pace.

Last season Birmingham went up by being hard to beat - they scored 54 goals compared to conceeding 37 - thats in 46 games so they were by no means a major attacking force. Norwich scored more than Birmingham - 57 in that season, but due to conceeding 70 went down - thats the difference between 2nd and 22nd.

Newcastle is another classic example, because they couldn't defend for toffee they end up paying for it with the Premiership status - luckily they've kept most of their better players so now they can play attacking football and keep clean sheets because they have a better standard of player than most.

And of course, if we were to achive what would have to be considered the miracle of promotion this season, what would we need to do in order to survive in the Premiership - be hard to beat, have a solid defence, because we wouldn't be considered a massive attacking force.

Back our bloddy manager, appreciate our chairman is keeping our club running evening if he's not pumping in millions, because the grass in not always greener on the otherside. If these guys aren't here we couldn't guarantee we'd get anyone better and the same with the playing staff (I don't see any major signings of note by any club during the window - it doesn't happen any more, business is done in the summer - if we get anything it will be a loan or two).

I know most are venting, but your attracting more to this view and will only result in fans at the ground being less supportive overall and any 12th man advantage we had will be gone.

Superb post, my hat off to you sir

My dads right on the doom and gloom wagon, its driving me insane!

[Legend_in_blue]

Didn't Megson mention clean sheets and being 'hard to beat' when he arrived?

Look where that took us.

I'm with Thracian, the success of last year should have seen us rejuvenated, entertaining and with attacking intent. Instead of that with each and every game, we become more and more like our former selves before we went down.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Didn't Megson mention clean sheets and being 'hard to beat' when he arrived?

Look where that took us.

Well it took him to the Premiership quick time - and when did he get the sack - when Bolton started shipping goals.

[Babylon]

It's ironic that Norfolkfox expresses much my own sentiments (apart from the "fantastic job" bit) and you start sounding like you're riding both animals in a two-horse race.

I can't ever remember you being an enthusiastic advocate of attacking football or, indeed, of any viewpoint which was critical of a manager - at least not until that manager was beyond defence.

Once again, Thracian and his selective memory springs into action. I have critisised plenty of what Pearson has done. The difference between myself and you though, is that I make my point and move on. Where as you go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and... well you get the point.

I've been through this with you about 5 or 6 times when I end up listing everything critical I've said against the manager. I'm not doing it again though because it's obviously a complete waste of my time when you'll have forgotten it tomorrow and replaced it with your usual "blind faith" bull shit.

I said Norfolk fox has a valid point of view, I have also said in other threads that yourself and Marbella Dave have valid points of view (I single you both out as you manage to put your views across well). Much of what you both say is constructive critisism. I might not agree with what you are saying, and I will offer a differing point of view... it doesn't means I don't think your view isn't worthy of being heard.

Some of the morons on here he can only slate players and managers, without offering any reasoning or realistic ideas for change are the ones who will get slated.

[Lillehamring]

To be a confident attacking force we would need major personel changes and a different manager - that is not going to happen with the budget we have or without major upheaval which would result could result in more poor results.

Sod the attacking football - I just want a committed performance from my team. I appreciate the Leicester is never going to have god's gifts to footballing talent (regardless of how close we were to signing Edgar) so we will have to play the odd or quite often constant long ball. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact when done in the right way it can be very effective and somewhat entertaining as you attack with a degree of pace.

i have to disagree...

with regard to the first point, whilst what you say is true, it wouldn't hurt us to try playing to our existing strengths first - everyone knows how absurd the wingers situation is... and it's hard not to be frustrated when you've waited years for just one winger, then all of a sudden you end up with 3 or 4 and at best 1 of them plays.

we had an ok run of games when howard came back and we managed to have a fairly settled side, and then pearson seemed to panic and dropped his two strikers, his on form midfielder (king), took morrison out of the middle 2 and we've lost three in a row - not because the players aren't good enough but because you can't just make sweeping changes like that and expect things to fall into place. one of the strengths of last season was changing as little as possible, i mean we hardly ever saw substitutions, now we get them after 20 minutes, or 3 players at a time...

regarding the 2nd point, during the 3 games that we lost, the only decent football we played was the middle part of the cardiff game, where we started passing the ball about... proving not only that we can do it, but that we are a half decent team when we do. the trouble with the long ball is that if that's what you do most of the time it gets very easy to defend, play the ball around and teams will have to think and that's when they make mistakes and that's when you score - you only have to look at brown to see that!

and, at the risk of adding something else to the debate, i think half of the problems we have are as a result of the foolish scrapping of the reserve team... meaning that with all this chopping and changing, players are not forming the right relationships on the field and not coming into the team as sharp as they should.

things like this are the reasons why people are now running out of patience and moaning, because it seems like we could be better, much better than we are

[Geo V]

NP was a defender, a big tough organized player who lacked footballing ability who knew that the main thing was to keep clean sheets and hope the more attacking players in the side can score some goals. I reckon his philosophy isnt far from that as a manager although albeit a bit more adventurous.

The guy doesnt like playing out and out wingers and players central mids wide and tries to narrow the pitch. He`d be delighted with a season of 1-0s and Id guess isnt a huge fan of 4-3s. Dont get me wrong, Im not suggesting his way is wrong but if you look at some of his signings (Nielsen solid i unspectaular rightback, Brown no nonsense centreback, McGivern paceless but quite solid LB etc etc) there is a trend in what type of player he thinks is suitable to get out of this division or maybe even consolidate.

NP knows what he is doing and we should be bowing to the man night and day for his initial work. Just look down at Leeds and see how difficult things are in D3 and remember the last few seasons of shite we had to endure when last in the Championship folks!

[Thracian]

The difference between myself and you though, is that I make my point and move on. Where as you go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and... well you get the point.

I've re-emphasised certain things about our club's need to attack and how to do it over many seasons for the simple reason that they never seem to learn and continue to make the same fear-filled and totally needless mistakes.

How often in the last six seasons have we lacked a dead ball specialist?

How often have we failed to use a winger at all or gone with a non specialist?

How often have we utilised slow defenders who cannot pass?

How often have we looked up to see an embarrassing lack of movement when we have the ball?

How often have we put up with defenders who, instead of playing a simple pass when they win the ball, simply lump it hopefully in the air to the opposition?

How often have we got ahead or remained level until 15 minutes from time then shown no further ambition but to defend that lead, often failing and frustrating everyone watching? S****horpe and Barnsley spring to mind straight away even from our recent history.

How often have our goalkeepers persisted in punting the ball downfield - donating possession to the opposition - instead of throwing the ball to a players feet at every reasonable opportunity? Every defender should be aware enough to make himself available for a throw and comfortable enough on the ball to take control quickly and continue the move. If not get rid.

How often have we failed to get sufficient players driving forward to support attacks?

How often have we signed people who are clearly either not good enough or not fit enough to wear the shirt?

The above and many other things are virtual constants. There are many more. Do you really wonder that some of us get frustrated?

Pearson, like Kelly before him, talks about basics. What I've mentioned ARE basics and we just constantly fall short on them.

In fact the only things we do reasonably well as a profesional team are closing people down quickly and in numbers and, yes, we mostly defend with courage and conviction.

[Thracian]

The day this side goes chasing goals is the day it starts shipping 3 or 4 per game. Surely any halfwit can see that.....can't they?

Which means it isn't the sort of side we need to be successful. Our defenders aren't good enough, quick enough to or clever enough to return with endless 0-0's and scrapped 1-0 wins.

[marbelladave]

I fail to see why it is that some posters seem to think that the way out of our current mess (performance wise) is to play 4-4-2 and continue with the direct, long ball game.

This is just hopeless, there are many reasons why this is getting us nowhere but I shall content myself with the two most obvious, stated simply for the hard of thinking.

The system needs 2 effective wide midfield players who can defend and help out in midfield and get forward and get the ball into the box quickly. The best we have is Dyer, and he is far from ideal, no-one else comes close. You also need dynamic central midfielders who can get forward quickly and support when the ball is played into the box. We do not have any !

The direct approach, virtually by definition gives the ball back to the opposition in the shortest possible time. This puts our defense and midfield under constant pressure and, eventually, it will tell, as it is now.

[Daggers]

You also need dynamic central midfielders who can get forward quickly and support when the ball is played into the box.

Wellens and King were doing it last season.

[marbelladave]

Wellens and King were doing it last season.

Can't comment on Wellens but it was for another team and is hardly relevant.

Disagree about King though, he is a more thoughtful passing player who got forward enough to get his goals (in Diivision 1) but is neither quick enough nor powerful enough to really do the job.

The only player who did fully meet the criteria, was Mark Davies and then only very briefly.

[l444ry]

Which means it isn't the sort of side we need to be successful. Our defenders aren't good enough, quick enough to or clever enough to return with endless 0-0's and scrapped 1-0 wins.

Quite right!!!! But asking players to play a "passing" game when they can't "pass" must be lunacy. Are you really that convinced our defenders can play the flowing football you desire?

[Donut]

http://www.lcfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10274~1945825,00.html

Right im not one to start moaning for saying Person out or any of that shizz! I think hes done a fantastic job since hes been here! But this story has annoyed me slightly!!!!

Surely clean sheets shouldnt be our target! It has to be goals! U cant win games with just clean sheets!! Id love Nigel to come out and say goals are the target! Clearly ex defenders who become managers are always going to be defensive minded but id love to have the belief that we can go on and score 3 - 4 goals in a game!! I just can never picture Leicester doing what Forest and Cardiff did last night at the moment!

On another note have we ever won a game where Kermogant has started!?!! and why is he not playing Dyer and Fryatt who i personally thought were playing well in form oveer the christmas period!!

Right im ready for some backlash x

No Backlash here, i think your spot on

The lack of goals is so apparent, especially when you look at the firepower of all the promotion chasing teams

Im no statto, but to my mind we have managed more than 2 goals in a game only twice all season? (Watford and Sheffield Wednesday)?

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Which means it isn't the sort of side we need to be successful. Our defenders aren't good enough, quick enough to or clever enough to return with endless 0-0's and scrapped 1-0 wins.

Ok then lets see shall we - Taken from the official website (slightly useful for something)

Tue 28 July 19:45 A Chesterfield 1 0 click here One here

Sun 2 Aug 15:00 H Real Valladolid 1 0 click here Two

View results and reports from another season:

Date KO V Opponent Competition Result Att Table MR

August

Sat 8 15:00 H Swansea City FLC W 2-1 26,171 League Table Match Report One goal win eaked out

Wed 12 19:45 A Macclesfield LGCP W 2-0 2,197 Match Report clean sheet

Sat 15 15:00 A Ipswich Town FLC D 0-0 22,454 League Table Match Report clean sheet

Tue 18 19:45 A Sheffield Utd FLC D 1-1 26,069 League Table Match Report do i count this one? I think I will

Sat 22 15:00 H Barnsley FLC W 1-0 21,799 League Table Match Report third one nil

Tue 25 19:45 A Preston LGCP L 1-2 6,977 Match Report close defeats here

Mon 31 19:45 A Newcastle FLC L 0-1 38,813 League Table Match Report

September

Sat 12 15:00 H Blackpool FLC W 2-1 22,827 League Table Match Report another one goal win

Tue 15 19:45 H Peterborough FLC D 1-1 21,485 League Table Match Report eaked out draw - disapointing at home

Sat 19 15:00 A Watford FLC D 3-3 14,647 League Table Match Report

Sat 26 15:00 H Preston FLC L 1-2 20,623 League Table Match Report

Tue 29 20:00 A Middlesbrough FLC W 1-0 18,577 League Table Match Report fourth one nil of the season

October

Sat 3 12:30 A Coventry City FLC D 1-1 22,209 League Table Match Report

Sat 17 15:00 H Derby County FLC D 0-0 28,875 League Table Match Report

Tue 20 19:45 H Crystal Palace FLC W 2-0 22,220 League Table Match Report

Mon 26 20:00 A Reading FLC W 1-0 16,192 League Table Match Report three clean sheets in a row - fifth one nil

Fri 30 19:45 A QPR FLC W 2-1 17,082 League Table Match Report

Novembe

Sat 7 15:00 H WBA FLC L 1-2 28,748 League Table Match Report

Sat 21 15:00 H Plymouth FLC W 1-0 27,174 League Table Match Report sixth

Sat 28 15:00 A S****horpe FLC D 1-1 6,884 League Table Match Report

December

Sat 5 13:00 A Nottm Forest FLC L 1-5 28,626 League Table Match Report

Tue 8 19:45 H Bristol City FLC L 1-3 19,349 League Table Match Report

Sat 12 15:00 H Sheffield Wed FLC W 3-0 22,236 League Table Match Report goals - but Sheffield Wednesday were crap

Sat 26 18:00 H Sheffield Utd FLC W 2-1 23,999 League Table Match Report I went to this game - we played well

January

Sat 2 15:00 H Swansea City FACP W 2-1 12,307 Match Report

Sun 10 15:00 H Ipswich Town FLC D 1-1 20,758 League Table Match Report

Sat 16 15:00 A Swansea City FLC L 0-1 15,037 League Table Match Report

Sat 23 15:00 A Cardiff City FACP L 2-4 10,961 Match Report

Tue 26 19:45 A Barnsley FLC L 0-1 12,065 League Table Match Report The matches of woe

So thats 6 1-0's and 10 clean sheets out of 31 games (ok I've included 2 of the handy pre-season fridenlies to tip the balance a little) amd plenty of 'scrapped by one goal' wins or tight games - so our defenders are good for that.

So going back to basics and a settled side is whats required - a clean sheet will bread confidence throughout the team as if it's tight at the back you know you're always able to nick one at the other end and gain the three points.

We're not entirely broke, so we don't need to make major changes to fix it. Lets face it, under other management a lot of these 1-0 win's would have been turned into draw's or even worse defeats and then you would have reason to whing.

[Thracian]

Ok then lets see shall we - Taken from the official website (slightly useful for something)

Tue 28 July 19:45 A Chesterfield 1 0 click here One here

Sun 2 Aug 15:00 H Real Valladolid 1 0 click here Two

View results and reports from another season:

Date KO V Opponent Competition Result Att Table MR

August

Sat 8 15:00 H Swansea City FLC W 2-1 26,171 League Table Match Report One goal win eaked out

Wed 12 19:45 A Macclesfield LGCP W 2-0 2,197 Match Report clean sheet

Sat 15 15:00 A Ipswich Town FLC D 0-0 22,454 League Table Match Report clean sheet

Tue 18 19:45 A Sheffield Utd FLC D 1-1 26,069 League Table Match Report do i count this one? I think I will

Sat 22 15:00 H Barnsley FLC W 1-0 21,799 League Table Match Report third one nil

Tue 25 19:45 A Preston LGCP L 1-2 6,977 Match Report close defeats here

Mon 31 19:45 A Newcastle FLC L 0-1 38,813 League Table Match Report

September

Sat 12 15:00 H Blackpool FLC W 2-1 22,827 League Table Match Report another one goal win

Tue 15 19:45 H Peterborough FLC D 1-1 21,485 League Table Match Report eaked out draw - disapointing at home

Sat 19 15:00 A Watford FLC D 3-3 14,647 League Table Match Report

Sat 26 15:00 H Preston FLC L 1-2 20,623 League Table Match Report

Tue 29 20:00 A Middlesbrough FLC W 1-0 18,577 League Table Match Report fourth one nil of the season

October

Sat 3 12:30 A Coventry City FLC D 1-1 22,209 League Table Match Report

Sat 17 15:00 H Derby County FLC D 0-0 28,875 League Table Match Report

Tue 20 19:45 H Crystal Palace FLC W 2-0 22,220 League Table Match Report

Mon 26 20:00 A Reading FLC W 1-0 16,192 League Table Match Report three clean sheets in a row - fifth one nil

Fri 30 19:45 A QPR FLC W 2-1 17,082 League Table Match Report

Novembe

Sat 7 15:00 H WBA FLC L 1-2 28,748 League Table Match Report

Sat 21 15:00 H Plymouth FLC W 1-0 27,174 League Table Match Report sixth

Sat 28 15:00 A S****horpe FLC D 1-1 6,884 League Table Match Report

December

Sat 5 13:00 A Nottm Forest FLC L 1-5 28,626 League Table Match Report

Tue 8 19:45 H Bristol City FLC L 1-3 19,349 League Table Match Report

Sat 12 15:00 H Sheffield Wed FLC W 3-0 22,236 League Table Match Report goals - but Sheffield Wednesday were crap

Sat 26 18:00 H Sheffield Utd FLC W 2-1 23,999 League Table Match Report I went to this game - we played well

January

Sat 2 15:00 H Swansea City FACP W 2-1 12,307 Match Report

Sun 10 15:00 H Ipswich Town FLC D 1-1 20,758 League Table Match Report

Sat 16 15:00 A Swansea City FLC L 0-1 15,037 League Table Match Report

Sat 23 15:00 A Cardiff City FACP L 2-4 10,961 Match Report

Tue 26 19:45 A Barnsley FLC L 0-1 12,065 League Table Match Report The matches of woe

So thats 6 1-0's and 10 clean sheets out of 31 games (ok I've included 2 of the handy pre-season fridenlies to tip the balance a little) amd plenty of 'scrapped by one goal' wins or tight games - so our defenders are good for that.

So going back to basics and a settled side is whats required - a clean sheet will bread confidence throughout the team as if it's tight at the back you know you're always able to nick one at the other end and gain the three points.

We're not entirely broke, so we don't need to make major changes to fix it. Lets face it, under other management a lot of these 1-0 win's would have been turned into draw's or even worse defeats and then you would have reason to whing.

Some worthy homework there and I appreciate the effort as well as your argument.

Unfortunately I think you are missing my point.

I refered to "endless" 0-0's and scraped 1-0 wins.

And they've ended with a bump this month as you've ably demonstrated.

The point I'm making and which I made with some emphasis erlier in the season is that in adopting safety-first, have-what--you-hold tactics you gradually lose ground, always run out of luck and inevitably find yourself short of the goals you need because you only attack in force to the extent that it gets you in front by a goal.

This season has the makings of a classic example of how misguided such a policy is. As if we shouldn't already know because we did much the same the year we got relegated.

In fact how ironic it was that the gap which got us relegated wouldn't have been there but for us playing silly buggers in trying to play out time by the corner flag against Charlton, only for them to break away and score when they hadn't previously had a look in. We had no need to do it and could actually have crossed the ball into their penalty box and perhaps scored again. But no. Inexplicably and indefensibly we went all negative and paid the price.

Either we commit to attack and to scoring some goals or we've no real chance of going up as far as I can see. At present not only is our goals per game ratio too low but our tactics are too negative, our confidence is low and our weaknesses are all-too-apparent weaknesses are becoming well known.

[Chrysalis]

The problem I see is that everytime I watch us we look poor defensively.

1 - the midfield dont do any closing down so the back 4 is left to soak up the pressure when we dont have possession.

2 - both left and right back weak, berner is the only strong player in those positions.

Attacking is the best form of defense, if you on top of your opponents then you have less defending to do as a matter of course, the most successful teams such as barcelona watch how often they win the ball back in midfield or even in the opponents 1/3rd,

We now have a few problems that has lead to this I feel.

1 - lack of confidence, NP lack of confidence in flair players such as gradel, dj and adams and the players losing confidence with every defeat. Back to relegation mentality.

2 - lack of ambition in transfer market, in top 6 start of jan and opportunity to push on, instead no ambition shown at all.

3 - conceding soft goals especially early in games.

[Thracian]

Quite right!!!! But asking players to play a "passing" game when they can't "pass" must be lunacy. Are you really that convinced our defenders can play the flowing football you desire?

It's a relevent point and exactly the reason why I'd be prepared to see if Oakley would convert to a right-back and use Dyer at left-back if Berner remains unavailable which I dearly hope is not the case.

Okay it can be argued that Oakley's passing has been as bad as anyone's of late but there is no technical or mental reason why this should be. He closes people down well enough and could offer support when we're going forward in possession giving us the 3-5-2 that might best suit our personnel.

No, I don't see either Oakley or Dyer as the ideal long term answers at full-back - we need two new full-backs as of now - but the current arrangement is clearly not working and alternatives are embarrassingly limited when it comes to giving us some cohesion going forward.

[marbelladave]

It's a relevent point and exactly the reason why I'd be prepared to see if Oakley would convert to a right-back and use Dyer at left-back if Berner remains unavailable which I dearly hope is not the case.

Okay it can be argued that Oakley's passing has been as bad as anyone's of late but there is no technical or mental reason why this should be. He closes people down well enough and could offer support when we're going forward in possession giving us the 3-5-2 that might best suit our personnel.

No, I don't see either Oakley or Dyer as the ideal long term answers at full-back - we need two new full-backs as of now - but the current arrangement is clearly not working and alternatives are embarrassingly limited when it comes to giving us some cohesion going forward.

For once I disagree.

I think several of our players are having to concentrate on playing their assigned roles to the extent that they lose the ability to play even the most basic parts of their natural game. Converting midfield players to full backs would only compound the problem, in the short term at least.

Trying to coax some pace from a defense and midfield that really does not have any is, in my few pointless, however desirable it might be.

Given our current squad I can't see us attacking from the back with any degree of pace whatever we do, so I would try something else.

A possession orientated passing game would be more suited to our current players, three in central midfield prepared to 'pass the ball to death' if required whilst searching for the opportunity to play in our quicker forwards.

Some experiment would clearly be necessary but at least it gives us a way of moving forward with the players we do have!

[Guest]

2 - lack of ambition in transfer market, in top 6 start of jan and opportunity to push on, instead no ambition shown at all.

Have you considered that it might be a lack of funds rather than ambition?

[Babylon]

Have you considered that it might be a lack of funds rather than ambition?

Unfortunately some seem to think the risk of going bust, is actually a risk worth taking.