David Nugent out wide

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

Another ridiculous decision by Pearson, the formation for a start is stupid because it's leaving Beckford way too isolated.

As for Nugent he's wasted out wide, he's our top scorer and most of the time our biggest threat but instead of being expected to get on the end of flick on's and crosses he's excepted to provide them. He doesn't get many chances out wide which is causing him to snatch at any chance available. Having to work back too is causing him to tire and he seems to look slow compared to a few months back.

Get him upfront and lets play 442.

[Jimmy]

its the same system that dominated Hull

[acooling08]

Nugent has had nothing since he was put out wide.

Nigel even put Schlupp wide today!

Very very disappointing tactics.

[Jimmy]

Nugent wasn't doing much the few games before we switched system, I personally was saying leave him out for a few games and start Schlupp after he & Beckford looked a good spark of a partnership against Brum and the few times they've played up top together

[cc_star]

Most people were saying the 4-4-2 isn't up to much either, don't think the manager can win, whatever he does

Nuge is one of the few in the running for player of the season, but like mentioned above he hasn't been up to his standards for a few games before the Hull game and the formation worked well against Hull, it also was solid against Forest even if we couldn't beat their team bus, there's no reason it should have worked today and looking at shots & shots on target I'd say the formation did work, just the usual poor finishing let us down

Many of Nuge's goals haven't come from him happening to be in the box, they've come from him cutting in from the left and shooting from the edge of the box, curling it around the keeper, there's no reason (other than his slump in form) as to why he can't continue to that in this formation

I've called for Schlupp to be the one playing out wide there & Nuge to be rested, still think there's more creativity & options in a 4-2-3-1 & 4-3-3 than a 442, although I appreciate the solidness of the 442 (when the players put a shift in)

It's not players in positions, it's not formations, we've tried everything now... it just that collectively we're not very good, often enough.

[Mark_w]

The reason we had to shift from 4-4-2 is the central midfield problems we've developed, Bamba is not a central midfielder and I don't think is good enough on the ball to be part of a two man central midfield. If we play Marshall CM in a two man midfield we've got no one to play RM at the moment because of Gallagher's injury. Dyer would be wasted in CM. A combination of Marshall, Drinkwater and Bamba was the best thing we could go with given the difficult circumstances. When King and Wellens are back and Danns comes back from suspension then I have no doubt Nugent will be upfront in a two man attack again, be it with Beckford or hopefully Schlupp.

[breadandcheese]

Whilst I agree, Nugent is much better upfront, playing in a front two with Beckford, if we played 4-4-2, what would our central midfield look like? Bamba and Drinkwater together? No thank you. With Danns suspended and King + Wellens not fit enough to play yet, we haven't got the players to boss a midfield. So it makes sense to strengthen the midfield area by bringing an extra body into the centre. Of course the result is we go one up top, and either Beckford or Nugent get sacrificed to play on the wing.

[Guest shearfox]

For sure Nugent out wide is just not working, you need to play both Beckford and Nugent up top. We were scoring goals that way, since the change we hasn't scored a goal...

[Babylon]

The reason we had to shift from 4-4-2 is the central midfield problems we've developed, Bamba is not a central midfielder and I don't think is good enough on the ball to be part of a two man central midfield. If we play Marshall CM in a two man midfield we've got no one to play RM at the moment because of Gallagher's injury. Dyer would be wasted in CM. A combination of Marshall, Drinkwater and Bamba was the best thing we could go with given the difficult circumstances. When King and Wellens are back and Danns comes back from suspension then I have no doubt Nugent will be upfront in a two man attack again, be it with Beckford or hopefully Schlupp.

At least I'm not the only one thinking this.

[Jimmy]

At least I'm not the only one thinking this.

King & Wellens were both on bench, could of started 1 for an hour then replaced them with the other

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

Regardless of wether it worked against Hull or Forest let's face it, leaving our top scorer wasted out wide is ridiculous.

Bamba played centre midfield against Hull & Forest were we took 4 points but I can't see people saying stick with that just because it 'worked' before.

[Babylon]

King & Wellens were both on bench, could of started 1 for an hour then replaced them with the other

That's todays game, what about after the sending off against Hull and the forest game. People are bringing those up, what were our options then?

[FoxinLeeds]

Nugent is my player of the year, but he is not an out and out centre forward, he likes to drift out to the left whenever he plays as a striker and as cc star says many of his goals this season have come from this position. His positioning on the left has been made to accommodate an attacking central role for Marshall who has been our best player over the past 3 games, and has scored a couple of goals himself and went closest for us against Forest.

Ok it hasn't worked today but I don't think you can blame Pearson for trying something different.

I think that next season we are likely to look at playing with a big centre forward and a penalty box player like Billy Sharp who Pearson tried to sign in January. Nugent does not fit either of these type of roles so trying him in another position could be Pearsons' way of seeing if he wants to keep him for next year as I don't think he is a striker who fits what Pearson wants us to do in a 4-4-2..