Quote Originally Posted by jacobncfc View Post
I think we keep getting outnumbered and overrun in midfield. We’re an absolute nightmare for teams when we’ve got it and are attacking, but we are very easy to get at when we lose it. The defence and midfield has a tough job on at the best of times, the switch to 4-2-3-1 last night made that even more obvious IMO.

I’m not sure Palmer and Francis are physically imposing enough to play as what is basically a straight midfield two (when Roberts or Rodrigues are nominally playing there, they don’t do a lot without the ball). I wonder whether our best system might be three from Palmer, Francis, O’Brien and Vincent, with three from Wootton, Roberts, Rodrigues and Mitchell ahead of them.
None of our midfield players are physically imposing Jacob. Putting another one in there won’t make any difference in that regard. I see your point about what certain players are like when we don’t have the ball.
The players are having to adapt to a system that I can’t imagine any have played before. We are the complete opposite to Ardley who would prefer to adopt a more defensive strategy. This squad is being asked to almost be gung-ho. Which obviously causes issues defensively. And the players are all being asked to play football and not hoof it. That I suspect is why we have the midfielders we do and not cloggers like Ravenhill or Harding. Both IMO good players but wouldn’t suit Burch-ball.
As a young squad they will put in inconsistent performances and as fans we have to accept the games we have seen.
These players will improve and we need to hope that this happens quickly. It was only 6 months ago Ruben was average and now look. Some don’t see him being with us long term.