Seriously! We have lads calling for Hallgrimssons head already. I think there's an expectation with some that if we don't win every game 5 nil we are crapOriginally Posted by Olé Olé
Its really not that complicated!!!
Genuinely though, with Knight out we basically had 4 available midfielders in the squad:
Cullen
Molumby
Azaz
-
Moran
Probably best with 3 midfielders, so let’s assume you start the first three. Now Coventry and Moran are on the bench. Coventry flies from London to Dublin on Friday night, trains Saturday morning with the squad, flies to London for the game this evening and they play tomorrow.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have him there from the start? Training during the week, getting tactical prep etc, rather than being shoehorned in at the last second and maybe expected to perform.
Say what you want about Kenny but that was never an issue - always had enough bodies to handle injuries and suspensions. The fact that Doherty wasn’t in the squad and then ends up starting and Manning is used as a sub when you only called up one left back, well it strikes me as being bad early selection and squad management. It’s stuff at the margins and it doesn’t make a seismic difference but it seems easier to get right than get wrong.
Like Jim Crawford was allowed to call up 24 and 25 man squads when he was allowed to use 20 and we’ve been unable to fill our bench for about half of HH games.
I find that really strange too. Is it something the FAI has asked for recently due to cost-cutting I wonder? If it's just Hallgrimsson saying he only ever wants 23 in a squad it's a bad call in my view.
Definitely some vested interests at play there, there is a small but visible minority that is clearly desperate for him to fail, and I'm guessing the reason has nothing to do with Hallgrimsson personally.
I’d be surprised since Jim called up 24 this window for the 21s, players are still rooming together as well AFAIK, so literally the only cost for a 24th player is a flight to Dublin and back to England. Plus the FAI have a commercial arrangement with both their hotels and airline meaning the overall costs are a lot less than you’d think
Are senior players not paid when they're called up? Always thought they received a (relatively small) payment. Or is it just if they get playing minutes?
If nothing else, the struggle to even get a manager should suggest we can't be sacking him after one campaign where he's surely exceeded expectations in terms of points (albeit we weren't great in either game against Finland)
Lesson from Finland: Don't play two in midfield ever, ever again. At least not until Lawal and Akachukwu develop into the Irish Vieira and Makelele (it's the only glimmer of hope I have).
Unfortunately, despite Heimir's 4-4-2 proclivities, our squad is made for 3-5-2, as much as I dislike the formation and how we played it under O'Shea.
Our priority has to be to find a way to play Szmodics and Ferguson as a front two, so 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 are out. We have a glut of centre backs, and wing-backs like Doherty, Ebosele, Manning and O’Dowda don’t have the defensive nous to play as orthodox full-backs in a four. We need three in midfield - two is a nightmare waiting to happen with our lack of quality in there.
However, none of our centre backs play that system consistently at club level. And if we went with 3-5-2 as a rule, we'd have no place for the likes of Johnston or Ogbene in their best positions as wide forwards in a three, and they've been among our best performers in the last few years. So you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I can see sense in a hybrid 4-4-2 that changes to 3-5-2 when required with O’Shea at RB moving in one, Ebosele dropping back, the LB pushing on, and a central midfielder starting out wide (Moran/Azaz) and moving in. And I think that’s what Heimir is possibly aiming for. But it would take time to bed in, and for our players to be tactically intelligent and competent enough to adapt as the game develops. Which is very optimistic, I'm afraid.
I'd go with this for tomorrow if I was Heimir:
Kelleher
Ebosele – DOS – Collins – Scales – Manning/COD
Molumby – Cullen – Azaz
Ferguson - Szmodics
Is there a subtle tweak to be made whereby Szmodics doesn't press from the front and he plays behind Ferguson? The allowed and disallowed goal prove that they might be better as a two with the opportunities to go beyond and beside one another.
I don't expect Molumby to exhibit more discipline than Knight this evening.
If we set up the same way Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane will absolutely crucify Cullen in that space between Cullen and Collins/Scales.
To me coll8ns and Scales have been much better since we went 4 at back. They have taken responsibility for those central zones. When we play 3 at the back unfortunately nine of our 3 centre halves have consistently shown the level of football intelligence to step into midfield to overload midfield to our advantage in possession and worse still the 3 at the back seems to have led to those 3 expecting one of the other centre halves to do the basics of defending their zone leaving us vulnerable centrally in our box and outside our box where we have given up a crazy amount of long-range goals.
Poyet on an interview with newstalk said he felt that he knew how Kenny would play because he would shoehorn perceived best players into his team even if the system.wasnt appropriate. So we ended up with 3 centre halves because we happened to have alot of centre halves. In reality coll8ns really is our only top class centre half. Scales is important because he is left footed which makes you more valuable as a centre half even if your general centre half abilities are not top class. o shea is decent but limited at a Gary breed type of level . Omobamidele just hasn't pushed on and may actually not be good enough at basic defending to be premier league level despite his technical and athletic ability. Mcguinness makes Duffy look like a technical footballer. Basically we are not leaving an o leary or a lawerence out by playing 2 centre halves.
Only jhaving 2 centre halves allows us commit 3 to central midfield which we absolutely have to do and definitely will do today.
Fully agree, and we get a third centre half on the pitch anyway when O'Shea (who I would say is our second best centre half) plays at right back. We don't need any more centre backs on the pitch than that.
Agree. Ebosele for me is who we need to develop as a right full back in a 4 to give us pace and athleticism in defence and attack. Festy is far better coming on to the ball than taking it in tight forward areas.
Problem for o shea is that while I agree he is a better defender than Scales been left footed means Scales is more valuable in that left sided centre back role.
McGuinness in for his debut as a third centre-back in place of Johnston. Molumby and O'Shea for Knight and Doherty as well; Doherty is on the bench but Knight is of course suspended. Festy passed fit despite coming off on Thursday.
Heck of a match for your debut!
Some talk it might be 4-1-4-1 with Collins as the DM.
Oh that'd be interesting, given all the talk about whether Collins could play in that role (since his goal against Ukraine I think?)
Seems irresponsible to pick festy. He was doubtful after last weekend and came off injured on Thursday night. Why risk serious injury for a friendly
So we have 4 centre halves on the pitch and I don't see any of them being wing backs.
That means we are doing one of the following I think:
- Same formation as the other night but flat back 4 and O'Dowda left wing;
- Same formation as the other night but O'Dowda still full back and one of the 4 centre halves in midfield;
- 3-5-2 with O'Dowda and Festy wing backs and one of the centre halves in midfield.
May well be the first option but O'Dowda is doing a reverse Brady i.e. he's starting left wing but tucking in left back for a back 5 - similar to what Ogbene was doing in Finland away.
England's wingers are much more threatening than their full backs so having the bodies out wide and deeper is safer for us?
Wonder though if it's gonna be in possession you'll have O'Shea, McGuinness, and Scales as a three with Collins sitting in front of them and out of possession it's gonna be 4-4-2 with the four CBs across the backline.
Edit:
See Gavin Cooney saying that we're warming up in a back five of O'Shea, McGuinness, Collins, Scales, and O'Dowda.
Last edited by ~YTM~; 17/11/2024 at 3:47 PM.
What's the carry on with 94 on the back of all the tracksuits?
England getting a big fine straight from the off. Almost like booing national anthems is what they consider culture
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