Basics v. Quality

[Alf Bentley]

Watching today's game, the contrast - and irony - was apparent.

Last season, we had a fiercely well-organised side that was in contention in almost every game (apart from NF 1-5, BC 1-3, WBA x 2). That side had few top quality players and only occasionally played beautiful football, but played close to the maximum of its collective potential.

Forest today reminded me of LCFC a year ago, though not as good. They did the basics right. Their defence was organised, their players knew one another, they closed us down, they shot given the chance & they followed up. Not a great side. A poorer side than LCFC 12 months ago. They only won and remain in contention because we self-destructed. NF have a side that will embarrass itself if it makes the play-offs....even more so if they go up.

In contrast, our individual quality is much higher...but, short of possessing a Messi, that serves no purpose if your defenders leave gaps and fail to close down, your keeper has gaffes, you don't get many shots on goal and your strikers are impotent!

For me, the lesson is: basics + team structure + percentages gets you in contention....add quality to that and you get probably promoted. Prioritise quality individuals and you probably flop (in the Championship, at least).

[Donut]

Unless you have SIGNIFICANT individual quality all over the pitch (i.e. Newcastle, West Brom) to an extent exceeding ours, then structure will get you a long way.

Stoke and Wigan managed it, and have done well in the Premier league on the back of it as well.

[Kitchandro]

Yeh agreed.

Get the basics right, get a solid goalkeeper, a consistant back four, press the ball when we've not got it, and above all, get the team fighting for one another and the manager. Let every player know that they either fight or be dropped. This is what Pearson got us good at.

Then we add flair quality where we are short - namely up front and on the wing. We also need a holding midfielder.

[Father Ted]

I can guarantee that this will not happen under Sven.

[bobbysmith]

Loan mentality has got to be a problem. a decent investment in the summer will help us

[Guest Col city fan]

I can guarantee that this will not happen under Sven.

I tend to agree with this... 100 per cent the basics must be the foundation stone on which to build quality.. Sven thus far seems to have that arse about face.

I hope he gets it right

[sphericalfox]

Loan mentality has got to be a problem. a decent investment in the summer will help us

There is NO loan mentality. Do you understand that this was the only REAL option for Sven to bring players into the team? Buying players for extravagant fees in the Jan transfer window is both a risk and financially irresponsible. Sven worked with the options available to him. Loan players in a window with mainly youngsters only available to him.

He does this and gets berated.

I do despair. Sven will spend and loan, and obtain players on frees this summer. I would be VERY surprised if Sven starts throwing money around on players. He might do so to obtain Naughton, or possibly Mee, but will be very prudent with the small purse he's provided.

[Haydos]

There is NO loan mentality. Do you understand that this was the only REAL option for Sven to bring players into the team? Buying players for extravagant fees in the Jan transfer window is both a risk and financially irresponsible. Sven worked with the options available to him. Loan players in a window with mainly youngsters only available to him.

He does this and gets berated.

I do despair. Sven will spend and loan, and obtain players on frees this summer. I would be VERY surprised if Sven starts throwing money around on players. He might do so to obtain Naughton, or possibly Mee, but will be very prudent with the small purse he's provided.

I just don't get why some people find this so hard to understand.

[acooling08]

I just don't get why some people find this so hard to understand.

It's not as if Sven needed to form the basics because we already had them under Pearson. So many loanees has eroded it, especially defensively.

[Haydos]

It's not as if Sven needed to form the basics because we already had them under Pearson. So many loanees has eroded it, especially defensively.

Seriously? Do you not remember what happened between July and October?

[sphericalfox]

It's not as if Sven needed to form the basics because we already had them under Pearson. So many loanees has eroded it, especially defensively.

So your way of going about it was to keep the defence that was utterly failing under Sousa? Sven needed to sort that area immediately. He did. We stopped shipping goals for fun.

What didn't happen was consistency. Players who were playing were not consistent and as we've seen with Weale were error prone or could not fit the way Sven envisioned or style of play.

I can only guess that Sven changed CB to suit the type of players that we were up against. I would disagree at the speculation that he did it because 'he's doesn't know what he's doing'. The other way of looking at the Bruma situation is that indeed his fee from Chelsea would be reduced should he play more games. It's pure speculation but perahps our owners said, ' Look we've paid out a considerable amount on these loan fees and it would be good to reduce them. Play Bruma at every opportunity.'

But we can't blame the owners. Sven is to blame. Or maybe he did/does in fact believe, as he's seen on the training ground Bruma is a good option. Who knows, there's no real answer, it's the annoying posters who only see one of the 3 options above and state one it like it's a fact! None of those are facts. They are speculations.

Sven played near a whole season using a formation he does not prefer. He couldn't change formations during a game to counteract a change in the game. Be it a goal down, or do what Norwich have done, which is have several players that are almost unmarkable, as they swap positions numerous times during a game as they have that flexibility and adaptability. We have NOTHING like that. So let's hope on a basic level Sven can find a team that fits his best formation and then work from there.