Clarke enjoyed having Elliott up front (3 Viewers)
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Sky Blues
Active Member
Having the flexibility to roll out different formations is great because it makes it more difficult for the opposition to counter. If we always role out a 4-4-1-1 it would quickly become as predictable as Thorn and his diamond. By having options in our locker it will give the opposition a dilemma. Do they spend all their time preparing well for what they expect, or do they prepare for a bit of everything, but have less time to get any of the counter moves perfected. Robin's decision to deploy Elliott in a 4-4-2 may have thrown Sheffield Utd and helped contribute to a good first half that United were only able to get to grips with once they got the players in at half time to focus on what they were facing. I like that we have a variety of options and a manager who seems to understand how to use them. Vive la difference!
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Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
You can't stick rigidly to 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 sbt. What I have liked is that robins knows you can't just hope sonething will work and you have to spend time coaching players to work with different aspects of the team and the individual players. So after 3 weeks of Clarke and Elliott is does not surprise me to see robins try them together and for it to work, all be it seemingly for 45 minutes.
dongonzalos
Well-Known Member
Correct and he is not scared to mix it up.
One up front two up front.
Passing game, huff ball.
He tries to Taylor it to them.
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
I don't have football manager anymore.
We've won most our games playing 4-4-1-1.
Move with the times!
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
No, that is preference, I prefer Clarke over the other strikers... :facepalm:
Glad I got your stupid definition of 'anti'
the problem with clark as a lone striker is that he is not strong enough to win challenges against the opposition cbs...all night he was beaten to balls when we played it long to him If we want to play direct and pump the ball up the field to a striker he is not really cut out for that. Keeping the ball on the ground and passing it forward he can do really well
CJparker
New Member
Did anyone else completely forget that we have Callum Ball?? When ROD left, I thought "oh now, we now have only 2 strikers, Elliot and Clarke, with 2 more on loan - Cody and Jeffers".
I like 2 up-front, the fat that we played within one up for most of the season at home probably explains our poor home record.
I like 2 up-front, the fat that we played within one up for most of the season at home probably explains our poor home record.
stupot07
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately I hadn't forgot tent about callum ball......
Mary_Mungo_Midge
Well-Known Member
A magnanimous admission. Can you have a word with your brother-in-arms Grenduffy, as he still considers him 'substandard' and 'not fit for purpose'?!?
After reading this whole thread, it seems to me that everyone agrees except for sbt. Kinda makes his opinion pointless as he obviously sees things differently to every other fan. Are u studying law sbt? My friend is and he also likes to argue points no-one else agrees with, he says its good practice.
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
I wonder how many people actually arguing actually went? Dong didn't for starters. CCFC? MMM?
We definitely hoofed it more and created less chances than usual, even in the 1st half.
It's down to my 'football ideology', 4-4-2 is out of date, and we should modernise, which we do when we play 4-4-1-1.
I think people are getting a bit over excited over 1 win playing 4-4-2, but then switching to 4-4-1-1, where we actually scored and should've got another 2.
Looks like I'm certainly on my own.
Mary_Mungo_Midge
Well-Known Member
Who's arguing? I simply stated that your Siamese-twin of ideology doesn't see the reason you do.
And don't try that ' I went and you didn't line'. I suspect if you do, there are many on here who would use that to discredit everything you say every time they're in that same position
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
Whoops, big mistake.
Losses @ home playing 4-4-2: Scunthorpe, Stevenage, Notts County, Scunthorpe (after this match, we changed back to 4-4-1-1) and Shrewsbury (we conceded after going to 4-4-2 and playing wank after that).
Losses @ home not playing 4-4-2: Carlisle but most people will put that down to lack of confidence because of the ancient regime.
:facepalm:
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
The fat that we played within? Didn't realise Cody had already been recalled.
Mary_Mungo_Midge
Well-Known Member
I too didn't understand the Yoda talk; but what's this Brighton?
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Insinuating that McDonald had been recalled and we had to play within the confines of his fat.
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
I'm not an ideological 'Siamese-twin' with Grendel on the pitch, similar off it, but he thinks we should play 4-4-2, and that players need to to 6"7 18stone, built like brick shit houses, strong as steel, fast as Usain Bolt and can run a marathon in a game...
Then we see how play football.
Excuse the extreme hyperboles, but you can see my point.
Dong and CCFC (well 4-4-2 as a back up, which is tolerable) are saying we should play 4-4-2 and we played better etc. etc. I asked the question, who actually went to have this argument with me?
By the sounds of it, you didn't either.
SkyBlue_Bear83
Well-Known Member
I didn't go but I still know enough to know you are stubborn Arsene Wenger style
We also conceded after changing the formation yesterday
No point arguing though as you just stuff your fingers in your ears and yell 'lalala, I'm not listening 442 is bad' like a child
Tbf I have no problem you prefer 1 up top over 2. I just find it funny that you are using 10 minutes at the end of a game when Sheffield were throwing men forward for a goal compared to a whole 45 minutes playing well to support your argument screams desperation
I guess you think Robins got his tactics wrong first half despite him saying we did everything right?
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
I've gotta go, so I'll make this quick point.
I said chance creation was down? We had about 5 shots in the 1st, our last game, we had about 17 shots (in the whole game).
We got dominated in possession, and shots were down.
I know the strengths and weakness of both formations, and, 4-4-2 has more weaknesses and less strengths.
My favoured formation is 4-3-3, but I'm content with this formation.
SkyBlue_Bear83
Well-Known Member
So Robins called the first half completely wrong then when he said we done everything right. BBC got there stats wrong which showed us with 60+% poss at half time
All the other Cov fans an Sheffield fans who said we were brilliant first half also got it wrong
Or maybe it is you had your blinkers on
Grendel
Well-Known Member
The reality is your fat friend only considered him worthy of a one year deal. I've said he has done ok but the fact remains the vast majority of signings were poor.
While we are on the subject of admittance of incorrect statements care to confess that Northampton never have played a game at the Ricoh as a home fixture and never will? You'll be pleased to know that I was there last week and the supporters I know still remember your comments with, shall we say, polite amusement.
Mary_Mungo_Midge
Well-Known Member
Vast majority? Hell you should stop digging. Jennings, Edge and Fleck are all over 20 appearances this season. Elliott has sat behind an excellent McGoldrick and now Clarke, yet had netted 4 in 14 appearances, mainly from the bench - which I would consider a success. So that's 4 of the summer 9. Barton looks a decent bench player, and Ball has been injured but is now described by Robins as 'sharp'. That's 6 who are more than 'fit for purpose' which you deny. Your maths must be poor if you think 3 out of 9 is a majority.
As for Northampton, you're being jeuvenile and not worthy of response
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
A good manager can get the best out of players and have them perform above their ability. By contrast, a poor manager does the opposite. I'd argue that a manager who promised we would hit the ground running and vowed that McDonald would bag 20, looks mighty incompetent when neither came close to happening.
You also have to factor in the level we are at-to identify good players with one of the biggest wage bills going is not a difficult task.
You also have to factor in the level we are at-to identify good players with one of the biggest wage bills going is not a difficult task.
I don't really care whether we play 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1, whatever. All that matters is that we choose the right one for the opponents and the players available.
What does bother me is when people say things like '1 up front is negative' or 'you have to play 2 up front at home'. It's just not true.
What does bother me is when people say things like '1 up front is negative' or 'you have to play 2 up front at home'. It's just not true.
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
If that was the case, Chelsea, Barca, Madrid, Munich, Dortmund, Arsenal, and most of the time, Man U are negative! Hmmmm :thinking about: :facepalm:
stupot07
Well-Known Member
Man U play the system with both RVP and Rooney, not with 1 striker and 5 midfielders.
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
They don't play 2 strikers in a traditional 4-4-2 way, Rooney slots in behind, he's the middle man, Rooney also drops so deep, leaving RVP on his own.
I've heard that Fergie wants to make Rooney a CM, that will be interesting...
Even then, most of the best teams in the world do not play with 2 strikers, so they must be negative!
skybluejack10
New Member
you sure you were there? in the first half we played them off the park and played the ball around well. the ball only ever went over the top to create chances and 2nd half, we were playing against a hungry, attacking side that had nothing to lose. what else did you expect to happen!? we still showed great character to win and all in all i would say we were the better team on the night and elliot did a good job alongside clarke.
stupot07
Well-Known Member
They don't play 2 strikers in a traditional 4-4-2 way, Rooney slots in behind, he's the middle man, Rooney also drops so deep, leaving RVP on his own.
I've heard that Fergie wants to make Rooney a CM, that will be interesting...
Even then, most of the best teams in the world do not play with 2 strikers, so they must be negative!
The best teams in the world are packed with ability, pace and power. They are the best in the world because they have the best players in the world.
I'm happy with 1 up front away from home, however in the main this hasn't really worked for us at home. Our home record in the league is poor played 15 - won 5 drawn 5 lost 5. 1 up front at home is not negative but depends on the players you have at your disposal.
We get the ball wide and we often on have 1 maybe 2 men in the box max. We need to get more men forward and the easiest way to do that is play 2 strikers.
There's a big difference in mentality playing a striker in that role to playing a midfielder.
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
The best teams in the world don't play 4-4-2 because it's an out-of-date formation, which is easily exploitable and doesn't promote the passing game most teams want to play - that's why, end of discussion.
The only 'big' nations who play 4-4-2 are England, and we aren't really in the Elite anymore, last time we reach a SF was 23 years ago :facepalm: says a lot really, or shall we ignore that!?
There were times yesterday, when, we had the ball out wide, and it looked like we wanted to go back inside, but the absence of the 'middle man' we had to keep it out wide...
AGAIN, WE HAVE LOST MORE GAMES AT HOME PLAYING 4-4-feckING-2 (hilarious Mike Bassett scene!) how many times will you ignore this!? :facepalm:
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Dan Griffin
New Member
We do still hoof it quite a bit TBQH, the edge is most guilty of this
Mucca Mad Boys
Well-Known Member
Stats speak in my favour, we had 5 shots on goal in the 1st half.
We dominated possession because Sheffield U were terrible, really negative and hoofed it back to us whenever they got the ball, easy pickings for us, and we only scored 1, and created 1 more 'half chance', which Baker blazed over the bar. It looked like Sheff U were playing for the draw until he 2nd half.
Something tells me the mood would be incredibly hostile had we drew last night, because we were terrible. But because Clarke scored, it was an amazing win, funny because EVERYONE was slating Leon and as soon as he scores, the chanting of his name starts. Football fans are fickle.
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