Thoughts for Coventry

[baggieal]

Central midfield is a problem and has been for years Al. There's no denying that. I believe Price was recruited to solve the problem by linking midfield with attack as an eight but he's always picked to play anywhere but. That will in part be due to him being careless in possession but also because the balance in the middle wouldn't be right.

If you play Price let him run onto the ball from space to exploit holes as he does for NI. Don't play him in the pockets looking for intricate flicks and layoffs because his decision making isn't the best. That said he's often been put upon to play roles he's not best suited to due to injuries elsewhere and a squad with little in the way of balance.

A younger Mowatt, a left footed Diakite or Molumby would probably help but each has their own limitations. Our central midfield is indicative of just how poor the recruitment has been. Rather than sourcing and buying players with all the essentials such as a Louza at Watford or a Hackney at Borough we've been going with players with a bit of this and a bit of that.

There's been so little joined up thinking I could be excused for thinking there hasn't actually been any. It's almost as though we've been building squads on the cheap even when we have had money to spend. And we did spend in the summer due to the release out of contract players and due to PSR related sales. It just wasn't spent wisely.

As for Field he started well but faded as the game wore on. I always liked Field. But for P@rdw@nk and a succession of injuries during his development I think he would have done very well for us over the years. In fact I wouldn't have been averse to him coming back during the last window. Left footed, well balanced, versatile and can tackle and pick a pass. Sounds just like what we should have been looking for.

Good reasoning about everything Dan and agree with all of what you say. Field picking a pass is what?s missing from the middle with clever runs!

[Omegstrat6]

Morning. From what little I've seen of him I like the look of Jamma. I think he's further down the road in his development than Bostock. He definitely looks stronger too. I'd like to see him play more centrally though. Bostock in turn should have had more game time this season. A lot more, even if only from the bench. Criminally underused.

Wouldn't mind starting them both. If we went 4231 for example play Johnston on the right with Jamma behind Heggebo and Bostock on the left. Pace, movement, technique. If Johnston doesn't make it I'd go with Mustapha on the right of that three. I do like the look of him and think those three could bring the best out of each other and Heggebo.

That notwithstanding we'd need to get within at least thirty to forty yards of an opponents goal for them to best showcase themselves. They could still work as a more defensive 451 or 4411 but I wouldn't fancy inviting teams onto us for 90+ minutes. We would still need to give opponents something to think about going forwards in open play.

Agree with a lot of that 68.

I too would place Jamal ahead of Bostock. He hasn't played too much first team football before coming to us and he isn't the finished article yet but he does have potential. Similar could be said of Bostock of course but Jimoh-Aloba, as you say, is further down the road than him in terms of development and has more experience and looks stronger. That said, I certainly believe we need to start giving Bostock more game time. I do like your formation to allow both to play but worry that at this stage they may not have the combined experience, maybe we rotate them as we might currently Mickey and Wallace?

Not been able to watch Mustapha, but he sounded like there was a player in there judging from the commentary. Seems like we do have a few players with potential that just need game time to bring that out in them-let's hope that there is enough time left for that to happen!

Don't think many would disagree with either yourself or Al regarding midfield as we have lacked a creative midfielder for some time now. Bany was likely to have been the answer to that problem but long term injury seems to have put an end to that. In the meantime, Mowatt and Molumby have at least proven themselves key to stopping other teams run through our midfield and Diakite can contribute too.

I hear what you say about Price but whilst he seems to have raised his game in terms of running and commitment lately I still think him mostly underwhelming. I really don't know which is his best position or how to unlock his potential but, as I said on a previous thread, I watched him play in a few internationals and he had those moments of brilliance but was also largely quiet for long periods in those games too.

Your last paragraph in the above is maybe the most pertinent though-and one I think we all agree on-we must start games on the front foot and cannot sit back and allow teams to come at us as we did in the first half against Norwich on Saturday. That way disaster lies.

Speaking of Norwich, I was back at work last night and had to endure some ribbing but from those that went to the match the comments were all pretty much the same-first half it was recognised that we played too many of our second string players, were pretty dreadful and they should have been 4-0 up. Second half, we made changes and took control for most of that period and most were worried that we could actually go on and win the game. All commented that based on the second half display, they thought we were "too good to go down" and expressed surprise that we are in the position we are.

We certainly don't have a great squad but difficult not to agree with the last sentiment.

[Albionic68]

Interesting Omeg. Other than for a fift een to twenty minute spell during the second half I thought we looked quite disjointed and lacked direction as many scratch Cup teams do, albeit with more regulars on the pitch during our better spell. As for us looking like we should be ok I'd love to know how they arrived at that conclusion given we finished the game with a right footed centre back come right back at left back, a veteran left back partnering a primarily defensive midfielder at centre back and an inexperienced attacking right wing back playing in a defensive right back role. Hardly surprising the third goal was so comically bad really. Takes all sorts I suppose. As an aside you might like to ask your colleagues how they feel about the ?39,600,000 losses they've apparently just posted in their accounts for last season .

[Omegstrat6]

Interesting Omeg. Other than for a fift een to twenty minute spell during the second half I thought we looked quite disjointed and lacked direction as many scratch Cup teams do, albeit with more regulars on the pitch during our better spell. As for us looking like we should be ok I'd love to know how they arrived at that conclusion given we finished the game with a right footed centre back come right back at left back, a veteran left back partnering a primarily defensive midfielder at centre back and an inexperienced attacking right wing back playing in a defensive right back role. Hardly surprising the third goal was so comically bad really. Takes all sorts I suppose. As an aside you might like to ask your colleagues how they feel about the ?39,600,000 losses they've apparently just posted in their accounts for last season .

I was only able to listen to the game on Albion radio and my impression was that we did have better spells in the second half and prevented Norwich from creating much but that this faded towards the end of the period where it all became, as you say, a bit disjointed. Even so, it did seem for a brief period, that we may have snatched a win but maybe in our effort to pursue this we left ourselves too open and Norwich capitalised on that?

Anyhow, thanks for the last bit of info 68, I may well ask that question of them when I'm in work later 😁

[kettering_baggie]

I have a sneaky feeling that we’ll win this!

[Leicesterbaggie]

I have a sneaky feeling that we’ll win this!

Sorry Ketts, but I don’t. Hope you are correct though!

[Johnny on the spot 1]

My thoughts is how many we going to get Dicked by

[stargazer_1962]

I'm off to the game today so can someone else post team news etc.