Squad and tactics

[Florida Pie]

Agree with original post, Husin or Vaughan, also think if Nolan wants 2 strikers, both new wingers will have be dropped, with Alessandra and Hawkridge, coming in, don't rate either of them much as forwards, but both know how to be aware defensively. At least until we stop conceding, 10 goals in 3 games is scary.

[tarquinbeech]

Superb thread and quality posts.....my only point to add is that we are quite simply a team in transition.....last season it was simple tactics, keep it tight at the back and wack it as far and high as we could, let Shola or Stead win the knockdowns and Yates and Hewey scrap for the leftovers....Grant sweeps in from the left....Bob's your uncle......

.....then we got found out, Yates went offski, our ageing twosome ran out of legs and Grant went into a coma for 3 months....only discovering Forte hiding on the bench gave us a sniff of the play-offs

This season, BigAl has spunked 400k on an attacking line-up and now our midfield-defense is like the titanic shipping in half the north atlantic....sooooooo....let's get back to basics

Solid back 4.....Tootle, Hall, someone else, Jones.......now before everyone starts screaming about Jones, the guy knows how to defend BUT he spends half the game trying to attack....get an ex-army sniper, armed with a pellet gun and shoot Jones up the arse every time he crosses the halfway line....trust me, he will learn......totally agree with Jackal, Hewey is never an all-out defender in a million years...you might as well play BigAl's son back there, same result....get him back in midfield and find a Yates-like animal to put in some bone-crunching tackles to replace Vaughan.

Don't get me wrong, I like Vaughan and he has quality BUT at the moment we just need to stop shipping goals.

The attack will sort itself out, chop and change the wingers (we have enough of them now).

Defence and midfield need to get back to defending as a priority.

I've calmed down a bit now....looking forward to Tuesday....it cannot get any worse....hopefully

[roweyp]

Whilst we do need a a ball winner in midfield it doesn't hide the fact that we have a back four that can't defend. The two full backs don't tackle, the centre backs at slow, don't mark and dive in all the time. Also disagree about the keeper, he appears glued to his line and doesn't communicate at all with his defence. We need at least a keeper and another central defender alongside Hall, Kellet and tootle can play as full backs.

[slack_pie]

I agree with the OP's points. We simply don't have the players to play 442. Starting with Husin and Vaughan was nuts, especially considering we had two proper wingers playing. It seems Nolan set us up to steam roller them a la Moniz, but it just isn't that simple.

It'll be very hard to turn this round now. I know it's early days, but the pressure is already mounting.

My concern is that Nolan simply doesn't have the nous to make this work. It's not just a case of buying the best players; if the team isn't balanced, we'll get found out. And the team was so unbalanced yesterday that it's hard to work out how the management team came up with it.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

I agree with the OP's points. We simply don't have the players to play 442. Starting with Husin and Vaughan was nuts, especially considering we had two proper wingers playing. It seems Nolan set us up to steam roller them a la Moniz, but it just isn't that simple.

It'll be very hard to turn this round now. I know it's early days, but the pressure is already mounting.

My concern is that Nolan simply doesn't have the nous to make this work. It's not just a case of buying the best players; if the team isn't balanced, we'll get found out. And the team was so unbalanced yesterday that it's hard to work out how the management team came up with it.

Have we got a balanced squad? We have no ball winning midfielders and a lengthy injury list already. If hardy wants to rescue something, he needs to use the He money sharpish

[slack_pie]

Have we got a balanced squad? We have no ball winning midfielders and a lengthy injury list already. If hardy wants to rescue something, he needs to use the He money sharpish

No, clearly we haven't. Again, how the management team have thought it's OK to start a season with an abundance of 'nice' midfielders and not a single defensive beast is open to question. Especially considering the manager seems hell bent on playing 442.

[Pieeyedandlegless]

Whilst we do need a a ball winner in midfield it doesn't hide the fact that we have a back four that can't defend. The two full backs don't tackle, the centre backs at slow, don't mark and dive in all the time. Also disagree about the keeper, he appears glued to his line and doesn't communicate at all with his defence. We need at least a keeper and another central defender alongside Hall, Kellet and tootle can play as full backs.

o

You are missing the point made by jackal - think of it as house, a plaster ceiling is fine if you have a strong tiled roof above it, but if the roof is weak and leaking then the plaster ceiling wil just crumble - much like our defence - the midfield is our roof which is too fragile

[jackal2]

Again, how the management team have thought it's OK to start a season with an abundance of 'nice' midfielders and not a single defensive beast is open to question. Especially considering the manager seems hell bent on playing 442.

I'd just heard the team news when I bumped into a mate of mine on the way to the ground last night, and my first comment was that I couldn't believe we were playing 4-4-2, especially with that flimsy midfield. I genuinely thought Nolan had sussed the problem after the Cambridge game and that was why he experimented with a different system at Middlesbrough, but to go back to 'plan A' when it's obvious you haven't got the right type of player is naïve to put it mildly. Having said that, he is still a young manager and he will make mistakes, it's how you learn from them that matters. 0-4 at home was a pretty severe and obvious lesson and now he needs to look again at his tactics. The more I think about it, the more 4-3-3 would seem to me to be the best option with the players we currently have. It means you can't fit Hemmings and Dennis into the team together, but it is what it is.

[SaltySeaDog]

Great thread Jackal

This was the one thing I was most concerned about coming into this season.

I totally agree that central midfield is, and has been our weak spot ever since Yates left. We held it together (only just!) last year by playing hoofball, and keeping it tight throughout the team. But all those qualities Nolan brought to the team last year in making us hard to beat, and a horrible team to play against seem to have gone out the window in our quest to play attractive football. Our central midfield is way too lightweight, and as a defensive unit will just continue to get smashed in most games.

Was thinking about our new signings on the way home last night, and came to the conclusion that we'd probably be doing better if we'd kept some of our team from last year - Dicko, Milsom, Forte, and just added a strong, no nonsense central defender, a tough tackling, energetic central midfielder, and a striker (Dennis). Balance of the team would have been similar to last year, but with slight tweaks to improve us steadily. Not to mention it would have saved big Al a lot of dough. Would have been a lot less pressure on Nolan too

[karl wheatly]

If by some miracle Nolan brings in the midfield destroyer / beast that we've been desperately lacking since Yates left, another centre back to go with Hall, (when fit!), and a keeper that has played above Conference South level e.g. Henderson at F*rest, just maybe we could salvage something out of this plane crash start to the season.

I have my doubts though. If the Notts players are as demorlaised as the Notts fans are after this thrashing, it will probably take more than that to put us back on track.

P.S. Good thread Jackal !