The end of Danny Graham ......

[champs95]

And while I will talk about what is good, I will also mention what I think is wrong. Which if you look at our league position tells you so. 4 wins 4 losses and 2 draws. That alone tells you it's a mixed bag. Some good, some bad.
You seem to acknowledge Brereton, but have no idea why it's not working. Sticking with the distinctly wishy washy .....ah well done things don't work out. He may come good? What have you seen that tells you he will come good? His one goal? Or his unconfident displays while stuck out on a wing?
I prefer to look at why he hasn't worked. Why he doesn't even look like a footballer. And I'm looking at Gallgher and seeing the same thing happen. Which concerns me.
Trying out NEW formations up front you said btw? What Dack & Graham??? Is that new? Did it work?

[champs95]

It's not about what I want Aucks. I. Just a fan. What did we sign Gallagher for? Please answer this as I feel this is where you are misunderstanding me, big time.
Did we sign Gallagher to play right wing or as a striker? I'm pretty sure I know the answer. As opposed to where he has ended up being dumped.
Your asking me where I want to play him? I'm not the manager. I didn't decide to pay £5m on him. I didn't suggest blowing our entire budget on one player, who I didn't know how to use. 12 months after making the same mistake with Brereton. I didn't do any of that, I just watched it happen, and remembered it.
Every single good thing last season, I acknowledged. And discussed at length. And the season before. Where I was almost a lone voice at times. Insisting we would go to, while others doubted it. No *******s Aucks, I'm taking umbridge your saying I'm just making all this up. And I'm just negative. I'm not.

To answer your question- SG is not a right winger. So for starters, playing him there is just radiculous. Like it was with Brereton. Which simply didn't work.
SG did look ok a month ago. But didn't score. And now, he looks even less likely (looking at his performance up front on Sat. Forget a month ago, look at what's happening bow) to get a goal.
He isn't missing chances. He isn't getting a kick. Your asking me where he plays? He was bought as a striker? Play him in the position that made you pay £5m. It's not rocket science. You keep telling me DG should be playing. I think you are taking garbage. He's been woeful all season. And I've said that since his first woeful performance.
What I would add, is SG won't perform in this system. Asking him to be Danny Graham and giving him that service, will produce no goals. And guess wgats happened? He's been given the same ****e service, by the likes of Bennett, so he doesn't even get a chance. Never mind score. The lad has no chance.
I want SG to play in the best position for him. So he develops. That position isn't right wing. That's actually a joke. As we saw with Brereton. It won't work. It doesn't work.
I'd play SG up front. He is a striker. But that would mean coaching. Playing a variation on our system. Getting the best out of younger players, with different skill sets to DG. Who is finished.
That's what I'd so. Stick with the lad we paid our entire budget on. Spend the summer working in a new system, that gets the best out of Brereton, Samuel, Gallagher, Armstrong, Dack Rothwell.
This current system and sticking with it, when it's not working effectively, not getting the best out of the majority of our players is lazy and poor.
I hoped we'd push on a bit. We may still do that. But we are relying on one system that suits 2 forward players only, and nobody else. Dack & Graham. Most others suffer, and end up being dumped out on the wing. Which is lazy and a cop out

[AucklandRover]

I'm not demanding Graham be played. (I have tentatively suggested Samuel for the QPR game). I'm simply saying it is premature to write DG off.
You say in one breath that Gallagher has to be CF, and the next that he doesn't look like scoring in that position.
I'm just saying let's give it time, and wait and see.
We are in a comfortable position, and we have lots of potential. In many of our games, we have dominated possession, but not converted that into goals. That may come.
Yes, I do feel you are being unnecessarily negative. You make it sound as if everything is falling apart, and that is simply not the case.
Downing, Holtby, Walton, Tosin and Cunningham have been good signings. Johnson has gone off the boil at the moment, but showed good form in the first half-dozen games.
Dack is ony playing in snatches at present, which inevitably hurts us, but we have seen before how he can suddenly spark into life.
We have been poor in two games (Charlton and Luton), but even in those, we had a lot of the ball. In all the other matches - even the defeats - there was a lot to like.
With so many new players, did you really think we were going to zoom into the top four? We look similar in standard to lots of our competitors, which is much as I expected.
To be honest, the GENERAL reaction to the Forest game (not just yours) has been a surprise to me . I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[champs95]

I'm simply saying it is premature to write DG off.
I am though. He has been woeful, all season.

You say in one breath that Gallagher has to be CF, and the next that he doesn't look like scoring in that position.
I'm just saying let's give it time, and wait and see.


Massive contradiction with your first sentance. How can you give a striker time when Danny Graham is being brought in to do nothing. Or sticking the striker out on the wing. I can tell you now with 100% confidence that Gallagher, Brereton or Samuel will NOT score goals out on the wing. It simply doesn't work, and is a complete waste of talent. And I take issue with the time thing. Its Sept and he has already taken Gallagher away from being the striker and putting him on the wing. Thats not giving him time, that's taking him out of his position he came here for, and destroying him as a player (like he did with Brereton) and playing RW.
For the 10th time, I don't think paying Gallagher or Brereton or Samuel upfront and giving them the same service that DG gets and expecting the same result is crazy. The system would need to be changed to accomodate these other players, we have in abundance. Nor do I think playing any of these lads as wingers will work.
Drop Graham altogether, he is poor, he is past it, he is adding nothing, he wont play past the end of the season. He isnt the future. the style of play we use when he plays is not working. It needs freshening up. And give the likes of Gallagher time. Play to his strengths. Or Breretons, or Samuel's. He played to Grahams strengths, and Dacks. Now that is proving to be not working, lets try something different. Or why did we spend £5m on a winger, who isnt a winger?

Yes, I do feel you are being unnecessarily negative. You make it sound as if everything is falling apart, and that is simply not the case.
I disagree, I am not saying one thing that isn't true. What we do well, has been discussed. I feel we are a better defensive unit. I feel we have gone massively backwards in creativity. Its not that we are missing loads of chances, we aren't creating them. You said we had 22 shots the other night? Yet our striker didn't have one. Or complete a pass, or win a header, or play in a teammate.

No I did not expect us to zoom into the top 4. And I dislike comparing us to other clubs. But while you keep mentioning Forest, I feel it is worth mentioning this. They finished where we did pretty much. Sacked the manager over summer, brought in a new one with no pre-season. Signed lost of new players, and are 3rd.
You are saying we matched them, which I agree. I dint think they looked any better. Haven't spent a fortune. Just have a new manager. Yet they have managed to zoom into the top 4? Weird is that. How come a more stable club haven't managed to do that? With a much more settled group of players. No managerial change, no upheaval. What is our excuse again?

For the record I enjoyed the match the other night. I thought we did well in some parts, and I was unbelievably frustrated with other things. Bennett's distribution was back to normal. I wanted Dack off at HT. I though his lack of effort appalling. But he can do one thing, the pass for the goal, and his pathetic 90 mins performance can be forgiven almost. Because he is (other than Holtby) in the entire squad who possess a bit of class. I thought they looked pretty poor. Came for a draw, got one without ever really breaking sweat. And finally my last prediction, they wont be 3rd by the end of the season. Or this is one of the poorest leagues I have seen in many a year. And if they are 3rd, i would be damn well disappointed if we didn't make the play-offs. Forest may well get in them, as they are a big club, underachieving. But they won't stay 3rd unless there is something massively wrong.

[AucklandRover]

But who are the oustanding teams, then?
Leeds are bound to be hot favourites, but they have the same points-haul from their last five games as us.
We have played Fulham, WBA and Forest (5th, 2nd, 4th), and matched them for large parts of the games. The margins are tiny in this Division.
My cousin in Bristol says City have played some really exciting football at times, but the defence has been a bit shambolic.
Derby and Brentford are below us - not to mention Huddersfield and Stoke!
To be honest, I have no idea who will occupy the top six places in May. I think any club from the current top 16 could make it.
On the forwards issue, what I object to most is you saying Mowbray has "destroyed" Brereton and Gallagher.
The simple fact is, we have Graham, Gallagher, Samuel, Butterworth, Armstrong, Dack, Brereton (and perhaps Rothwell) who would ALL prefer to play at 9 or 10. It can't be done, so someone has to accept a different role, and Gallagher has actually looked good at times in that "wide forward" role - both now and last time he was with us.
I have a horrible feeling Brereton may simply turn out to have been a poor buy, full stop. However, I'm not writing him off. The same with Graham. Yes, he MAY have reached the end of the road, but I've seen premature dismissals far too many times to jump to conclusions.
I think you are forgetting the elusive factor of form. Some players are much more consistent than others, but even they have bad patches.
A classic example - Armstrong. I mean, what are we supposed to make of him? Excellent one game; invisible, the next. Claims to be a centre-forward, but doesn't play like one at all!
All of these things are part of the equation, and that's to leave out fitting in Tosin, Grayson, Hart, Davenport, Chapman, Buckley, Butterworth and Rankin-Costello!
This is why I keep saying: "Give it time".

[champs95]

Yes, I agree . It is tough to see at this stage who will pull away. I think if will be WBA who have by far the best side. And Leeds who seem to be solid. But as we can all see, they both drop points. It's this league, it really us tough to get a real run going. And if you do, you have a real chance. Like us, most sides have good & bad. Which QPR do we face tomorrow? A confident or unconfident one? I like us away. I think our system actually is more effective away when sides are more likely to come & attack us. We have the ability now to take advantage of the the gaps they leave coming forward. Not sure at all who he will play tomorrow? Especially up-front? I think he should give Samuel a go.

I'm with you on Armstrong. I just think he is a confidence player. Get him in those positions that Dack found on Tues more often & he is a very dangerous player, with good pace. But he flits inbetween looking dangerous, to completely anonymous.

I keep wondering where Holtby will play, as I do think he will start tomorrow. I'm thinking he could play right forward. Coming inside on that left foot. Not sure I see him in midfield. Or will he drop Dack & put him in that position?

[champs95]

I also keep forgetting about players!! Like you say, fitting them in is one thing. Davenport?!! If he can get fit and stay strong then that's another option. Another young lad who could come good? You never know.
Also you mentioned Brereton. Again, I do agree, and I actually think he has a good chance of making it. I saw a player at the end of last season. And potential at the start of this. Strangely he didn't quite seem to be fully part of the plans at the start of this season, when fit. But it's a case of giving him to r, as he is young. We have the potential to have s very young and accomplished side even if some of these lads don't make it.

[AucklandRover]

Hart also gets forgotten but he was impressive, pre-season, before getting injured.
Mowbray tends to opt for experience when given a choice. I don't always agree with him, but I can see it's the pragmatic "answer".
Above all, we've got to get the attacking area right. It's so hard to leave Dack out, because he is clearly our most talented player, but I think it might actually help at the moment.
I quite fancy a 3-4-2-1:
Walton
Tosin Lenihan Williams
Bennett Travis Holtby Downing
Rothwell Armstrong
Samuel.
However, I would say that is high-risk. In any case, I think I have only got one team-prediction correct in three years.
The time must be coming to give Chapman a few half-hour outings, but I can't help feeling it should be in games where we are already on top.
Thinking ahead to "next"(?) season:
Fisher
Nyambe Lenihan Grayson Thompson
Buckley Travis Mols Rankin-Costello
Butterworth Vale.
An XI of Academy graduates!