Post by andyl on Nov 18, 2015 11:01:38 GMT
After such a dreadful week of world news and coincidentally the ongoing takeover or not of cash strapped Bolton it seems difficult to turn thoughts to the forthcoming game at Reading.
I for one was very pleased that the Van Parra deal fell through. If Neil thought adding another 'airy fairy' winger to the mix and this time a championship reserve when we have already seen the side struggle to accommodate simulataneous appearances by Silva and Feeney then I profoundly disagree- and this acknowledging that we are desperately short of creativity and pace.
Of course Neil is a football manager, sees players every day in training and I ( we?) are just amateur fans. And there is no doubt that he is very well liked within the club , by prominent ex players, in the football world at large including the media and for the most part by Bolton fans. And indeed by me even though I have been regularly raising alerts since early in his tenure I noted he was repeating and indeed magnifying some of the faults Dougie had been criticised for, albeit without attracting criticism and that he was also appearing to be quite Coyle-like in his emotional and seemingly unscientific approach to certain situations .
I hope that Neil watched the England v France game last night. Despite its context we were treated to one of the best friendly games in ages and for relevance to this forum I would argue that England carried out everything which, at reduced skill , would have a great chance of relative success at our level. For if our players lack the skill and fitness to do certain things so too do the majority of the oppositions we will encounter.
So what were and might be the ingredients? Firstly Roy H selected a team with no airy fairy wingers, one man upfront ( admittedly the excellent Kane) and five men including Rooney whose job it was, in front of a back four to make it desperately difficult for the opposition to pass through them or round them when in possession. The back four played fairly conventionally, dealing easily with limited aerial attacks and played the ball out of defence on the floor and kept it religiously. Stones is an exceptional player in terms of looking to receive the ball and then accelerating forward but his technique is simple and he doesn't have to launch the ball forward and give it away as we do.
I like the capacity of our defence and midfield to circle the wagons and be fairly good at last ditch defending. There are few better than Wheater in the Championship at this art if they are protected. But Casado and and Moxey, Prince and Osede are also pretty good at this and Dervite on occasion can get away with it. But I also really like it when Mark Davies plays deeply and fetches the ball from defenders and passes it in midfield. I know that over his time with us his few flashes of non-injured brilliance have been in an advanced position but he simply cannot sustain it. Here none of our defenders are really comfortable on the ball or to be relied on if they have to dribble or turn . Currently only Casado looks to receive it from Amos and he has been ignoring him. None of the defenders available except maybe Vela and Casado or Moxey , slowly, are happy to advance with the ball so the obvious thing if we want to play from the back is to involve Mark D as one of the five across midfield but with a brief to contribute by being the principal ball gatherer and distributor. It is a waste of time to keep giving the ball away. Amos must be told to use Casado and anyone else but never to hoof the ball to them unless under extreme pressure. If we give a goal away by a missed pass in defence, so be it- the alternative empties stadia and increases the time available for oppositions to have a stroke of luck.
We cannot use the defence to press forward. All are too slow and we are highly vulnerable to counter attacks. Neil's capricious use of Prince and Osede at full back just made this worse. Airy fairy wingers or reluctant forwards losing possession, sudden attacks from wingers against slow moving and. in Dervite's case, soft defenders who were easily outpaced if too far forward. Had Neil wished to construct a losing recipe he could have imaged little more likely to achieve it. Maybe at one or two places he would have got away with it if Madine could shoot or head consistently, if Feeney could shoot or cross, if Dervite in attack could head a ball if Silva could cross or pass a ball, if midfielders were fit enough to support the attack from deep and so on. And especially if Silva Madine and Feeney had so regularly not lost possession or failed to win it and been reduced to the part of spectators watching breakaways which outnumbered the few midfielders on station who in recent times have included a half fit Pratley
Of course this requires a centre forward who can hold a ball played to feet to allow midfielders to catch up from deep lying positions. We have not got a Kane still less an Alli! Or McAteer! But Madine and Ameobi are actually quite good at ball retention when receiving it to feet.
So let's see how Neil could perhaps set his team up to thwart Reading and catch them on the break with counter attacks and set pieces
Amos
Vela, Wheater, Prince, Casado
Pratley Davies, Spearing, Osede ( in the Dier role) Clayton Twardzik ( Any five out of these six with all six to play at least 30 mins and in due course Clough in the mix working from deep0)
Ameobi
In this team Pratley would have a brief to break forward and get up in support of Ameobi and would be covered to allow him his hands on knees recovery time until fitter- we would try to get Twardzik and Casado to play measured crosses from the left or Clayton to link up run channels etc. Late in the game or at half time as v Bristol we could be at bit bolder and ask one of the five to go to a two man attack or put Madine on and even withdraw a defender or more defensive midfielder. Later still we could perhaps take more risks certainly at home (we would settle for draws away) and even put Feeney on with strict instructions to run down his wing and cross and the team told never to pass to his feet; some longer balls could be tried then?
This might initially be duller. It could mean some draws or narrow defeats or set piece reliant attacking ( we could be really innovative here and practise a few set pieces?) but I think the previous model of trying to get on the front foot wih punted balls from defence and Feeney wandering untethered has been a failure, indeed a dismal failure away from home. Worse still has been the attempt to bring the defence forward and to expose Dervite repeatedly. I do not see Dervite, Danns and Feeney as being capable of anything other than late cameos or gap fills. And yet worse has been the strategy of letting ourselves be outnumbered in midfield and exposing our flanks to counter attack
Let's see what Neil does. I like Neil and he does give the team an emotional charge but it seems to me we need, starting with Reading, to set out a consistent team in a consistent model and to try to stick to it for the rest of the season. All the ad hoc changes and experiments have to stop . We need a fixed approach and consistency of selection of the best players. The dead wood must be excised now and Neil has to ignite some hope before Christmas? If he does it will be important that he stays in post. If he doesn't why should he anymore than Coyle, Freedman and Little Sammy Lee? He cannot blame the current context or the failure to secure van Parra for a month. Most of the players and selections who have got us to 23rd have been his choice and targets.
I for one was very pleased that the Van Parra deal fell through. If Neil thought adding another 'airy fairy' winger to the mix and this time a championship reserve when we have already seen the side struggle to accommodate simulataneous appearances by Silva and Feeney then I profoundly disagree- and this acknowledging that we are desperately short of creativity and pace.
Of course Neil is a football manager, sees players every day in training and I ( we?) are just amateur fans. And there is no doubt that he is very well liked within the club , by prominent ex players, in the football world at large including the media and for the most part by Bolton fans. And indeed by me even though I have been regularly raising alerts since early in his tenure I noted he was repeating and indeed magnifying some of the faults Dougie had been criticised for, albeit without attracting criticism and that he was also appearing to be quite Coyle-like in his emotional and seemingly unscientific approach to certain situations .
I hope that Neil watched the England v France game last night. Despite its context we were treated to one of the best friendly games in ages and for relevance to this forum I would argue that England carried out everything which, at reduced skill , would have a great chance of relative success at our level. For if our players lack the skill and fitness to do certain things so too do the majority of the oppositions we will encounter.
So what were and might be the ingredients? Firstly Roy H selected a team with no airy fairy wingers, one man upfront ( admittedly the excellent Kane) and five men including Rooney whose job it was, in front of a back four to make it desperately difficult for the opposition to pass through them or round them when in possession. The back four played fairly conventionally, dealing easily with limited aerial attacks and played the ball out of defence on the floor and kept it religiously. Stones is an exceptional player in terms of looking to receive the ball and then accelerating forward but his technique is simple and he doesn't have to launch the ball forward and give it away as we do.
I like the capacity of our defence and midfield to circle the wagons and be fairly good at last ditch defending. There are few better than Wheater in the Championship at this art if they are protected. But Casado and and Moxey, Prince and Osede are also pretty good at this and Dervite on occasion can get away with it. But I also really like it when Mark Davies plays deeply and fetches the ball from defenders and passes it in midfield. I know that over his time with us his few flashes of non-injured brilliance have been in an advanced position but he simply cannot sustain it. Here none of our defenders are really comfortable on the ball or to be relied on if they have to dribble or turn . Currently only Casado looks to receive it from Amos and he has been ignoring him. None of the defenders available except maybe Vela and Casado or Moxey , slowly, are happy to advance with the ball so the obvious thing if we want to play from the back is to involve Mark D as one of the five across midfield but with a brief to contribute by being the principal ball gatherer and distributor. It is a waste of time to keep giving the ball away. Amos must be told to use Casado and anyone else but never to hoof the ball to them unless under extreme pressure. If we give a goal away by a missed pass in defence, so be it- the alternative empties stadia and increases the time available for oppositions to have a stroke of luck.
We cannot use the defence to press forward. All are too slow and we are highly vulnerable to counter attacks. Neil's capricious use of Prince and Osede at full back just made this worse. Airy fairy wingers or reluctant forwards losing possession, sudden attacks from wingers against slow moving and. in Dervite's case, soft defenders who were easily outpaced if too far forward. Had Neil wished to construct a losing recipe he could have imaged little more likely to achieve it. Maybe at one or two places he would have got away with it if Madine could shoot or head consistently, if Feeney could shoot or cross, if Dervite in attack could head a ball if Silva could cross or pass a ball, if midfielders were fit enough to support the attack from deep and so on. And especially if Silva Madine and Feeney had so regularly not lost possession or failed to win it and been reduced to the part of spectators watching breakaways which outnumbered the few midfielders on station who in recent times have included a half fit Pratley
Of course this requires a centre forward who can hold a ball played to feet to allow midfielders to catch up from deep lying positions. We have not got a Kane still less an Alli! Or McAteer! But Madine and Ameobi are actually quite good at ball retention when receiving it to feet.
So let's see how Neil could perhaps set his team up to thwart Reading and catch them on the break with counter attacks and set pieces
Amos
Vela, Wheater, Prince, Casado
Pratley Davies, Spearing, Osede ( in the Dier role) Clayton Twardzik ( Any five out of these six with all six to play at least 30 mins and in due course Clough in the mix working from deep0)
Ameobi
In this team Pratley would have a brief to break forward and get up in support of Ameobi and would be covered to allow him his hands on knees recovery time until fitter- we would try to get Twardzik and Casado to play measured crosses from the left or Clayton to link up run channels etc. Late in the game or at half time as v Bristol we could be at bit bolder and ask one of the five to go to a two man attack or put Madine on and even withdraw a defender or more defensive midfielder. Later still we could perhaps take more risks certainly at home (we would settle for draws away) and even put Feeney on with strict instructions to run down his wing and cross and the team told never to pass to his feet; some longer balls could be tried then?
This might initially be duller. It could mean some draws or narrow defeats or set piece reliant attacking ( we could be really innovative here and practise a few set pieces?) but I think the previous model of trying to get on the front foot wih punted balls from defence and Feeney wandering untethered has been a failure, indeed a dismal failure away from home. Worse still has been the attempt to bring the defence forward and to expose Dervite repeatedly. I do not see Dervite, Danns and Feeney as being capable of anything other than late cameos or gap fills. And yet worse has been the strategy of letting ourselves be outnumbered in midfield and exposing our flanks to counter attack
Let's see what Neil does. I like Neil and he does give the team an emotional charge but it seems to me we need, starting with Reading, to set out a consistent team in a consistent model and to try to stick to it for the rest of the season. All the ad hoc changes and experiments have to stop . We need a fixed approach and consistency of selection of the best players. The dead wood must be excised now and Neil has to ignite some hope before Christmas? If he does it will be important that he stays in post. If he doesn't why should he anymore than Coyle, Freedman and Little Sammy Lee? He cannot blame the current context or the failure to secure van Parra for a month. Most of the players and selections who have got us to 23rd have been his choice and targets.
