Quote Originally Posted by tHeArAb View Post
Sideways or back. That game on Friday he was always looking up, trying to find a forward pass. Nine time out of ten he'd throw it wide to Robson as he was the best available option, but his passing was quick and it was slick and he moved the ball on as soon as he got it. He did give the ball away a few times on Fri as well however. 3 times in quick succession. If he has no options, he has no options and against these small teams that play 10 behind the ball there is little in the way of option other than to put the ball out wide. Remember we've struggled against these teams earlier in the season also.
I'd definitely be up for going back to Butcher & Harkes to see what difference it makes. I do agree Butcher and Powers are too similar for this league. Next season will be different altogether. You saw how good Powers was vs Hibs.
I agree with this. Just to add, to say we had a lack of width on Friday is just wrong. Pawlett and Robson had countless opportunities to put the ball in from wide bit were woeful in this.

Tactically, the way to beat teams that sit in like this is to get the ball wide and this is exactly what we were doing in Friday night. Quality from the wide area was just not good enough, that's what was wrong IMO.

Powers did little wrong and having him and Butcher in the middle makes us very hard to pay against.