Recruitment

[teabee1]

Wondering what Eren Kinali has to do to get a shot at the 1st Team squad. He has been scoring regularly for the U23's this season and looked good when given the chance a couple of seasons ago in L1..

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Can't strongly disagree with any of that, my only question would be how does our current squad fit into that system.

I don't see how you can avoid dropping our best players to fit the above proposed systems and still have a good balance to the team.

As I said this is a stop gap until we get other players in where needed.

Flinty and I covered this off between us, so this is a kind of joint effort......:

Starting XI

--------------- -Arnold---------------

Howard------ Hobson - Lopata- ------Ralph

------ Agogo --------- Dunne----

-- Walsh------------------ -----Bridge
-----------------Brunt-------------


------------------Dalby--------------

The full backs provide extra width, but do not have to overlap the advance midfielders to deliver crosses into the box.

The holding midfielders do not pas the half way line and give licence for the front three midfelders to support Dolby.

Brunt is slightly advanced in the midfield three.

Sorry YB, but this is a totally different tactic from 4-5-1.

SUBS: (Switch personnel depending home/away as required)

Clifford - when fit
Demi
White
Ferguson/Phillips/Gard/Kinali
Rush
Murphy

 

[amsemp]

3-4-3 when Clifford’s fit?

Arnold
Hobson, Lopata, Ralph
Walsh, Dunne, Brunt, Clifford
Bridge, Dalby, Murphy​

 

[NZamba Legend]

As I said this is a stop gap until we get other players in where needed.

Flinty and I covered this off between us, so this is a kind of joint effort......:

Starting XI

--------------- -Arnold---------------

Howard------ Hobson - Lopata- ------Ralph

------ Agogo --------- Dunne----

-- Walsh------------------ -----Bridge
-----------------Brunt-------------


------------------Dalby--------------

The full backs provide extra width, but do not have to overlap the advance midfielders to deliver crosses into the box.

The holding midfielders do not pas the half way line and give licence for the front three midfelders to support Dolby.

Brunt is slightly advanced in the midfield three.

Sorry YB, but this is a totally different tactic from 4-5-1.

SUBS: (Switch personnel depending home/away as required)

Clifford - when fit
Demi
White
Ferguson/Phillips/Gard/Kinali
Rush
Murphy

Some interesting ideas there but Ogogo and Dunne together there sitting in front of the back four is quite some luxury. Going to give a whole new meaning to the verb 'sitting'. You need more dynamism that they can offer. Sign a new player to play next to Ferguson in those positions and that might be a way forward.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

As I said this is a stop gap until we get other players in where needed.

Flinty and I covered this off between us, so this is a kind of joint effort......:

Starting XI

--------------- -Arnold---------------

Howard------ Hobson - Lopata- ------Ralph

------ Agogo --------- Dunne----

-- Walsh------------------ -----Bridge
-----------------Brunt-------------


------------------Dalby--------------

The full backs provide extra width, but do not have to overlap the advance midfielders to deliver crosses into the box.

The holding midfielders do not pas the half way line and give licence for the front three midfelders to support Dolby.

Brunt is slightly advanced in the midfield three.

Sorry YB, but this is a totally different tactic from 4-5-1.

SUBS: (Switch personnel depending home/away as required)

Clifford - when fit
Demi
White
Ferguson/Phillips/Gard/Kinali
Rush
Murphy

You’ve literally named 4 defenders, 5 midfielders and a forward

Of course it’s a form of 4-5-1.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Some interesting ideas there but Ogogo and Dunne together there sitting in front of the back four is quite some luxury. Going to give a whole new meaning to the verb 'sitting'. You need more dynamism that they can offer. Sign a new player to play next to Ferguson in those positions and that might be a way forward.

Totally get your point, but this is a stop gap with the personnel we currently have that I would try, and obviously I am not making that decision thank Gawd, to shore us up and stop losing games, until the recruitment team did their stuff and brought us the dynamic players that I totally agree we do not have at the moment.

Then this formation would have done it's job and be redundant, switch back to 2 up front, 3 at the back by all means, but at the moment we can't do that as we have been well and truely been sussed by every team we have or will face.

Woking on Saturday were a mid table team who looked a division above us in quality.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

You’ve literally named 4 defenders, 5 midfielders and a forward

Of course it’s a form of 4-5-1.

No it's not, 'cos a 4-5-1 is a flat midfield covering across the pitch with all the midfield getting up and down the park.

This has 2 sitting midfielders who are defensive and holding only, supporting an advance 3 midfielders but offering the cover to the defence that we cannot offer at the moment if they were a flat 5 across the park, due to our total lack of pace and stamina, mainly down to age, as has been pointed out by many on here and is common knowledge within every scouting team in our division..

 

[rigsby]

The Directors' Box has had plenty of scouts in for the recent youth cup ties. We are still a source of interest, especially our young players because people know and trust the work the Academy does.

Yes I know, also happens when young players like Dru or Charlie Sayers make a debut etc.

My point was some scouts specialise in watching the opposition, if I remember correctly that was KB's job at Pompey before us.

 

[Shrimpet steve]

Certainly. We do not have the midfielders capable of playing in a central midfield two. Firstly, most teams play with three in the middle these days, so we're already at a disadvantage. Secondly, we lack players with the energy and physicality to be able to match most opponents. Playing two in the centre of a 4-4-2 would leave us horrendously exposed. Also you'd have to drop Brunt, he is an attacking midfielder and we don't have someone who could adequately cover him enough for him to be an effective force.

We could try and counter it by playing a 'tucked in' winger on one side, but in reality we don't have anyone who can play that role effectively either and it's a difficult role to play. Carl Pettefer did it with some success but we also had Mark Bentley alongside him and that obviously helped. Also a lot more teams played with two central midfielders rather than three back then.

So, we're left with essentially having to play three central midfielders just to compete. So that means either 4-5-1, or 3-5-2 if you absolutely insist on two strikers. Neither of which are acceptable to supporters because 4-4-2 is what most people grew up on and are comfortable with. However, it's being phased out of the modern game.

The issue is we don't look great in a 3-5-2 either, although it is the formation that probably suits the personnel we have best at this moment in time.

It's why the issue of a dominant central midfielder is so important. It would allow us to break free to try new systems.

We don't have anyone who can play at a professional standard full stop! Maybe the Sheffield lads but everyone else should be getting up at 8am on a Sunday morning preparing for a 9am kick off!

 

[Pak66]

We have so many quality keyboard warrior coaches which is great BUT until we ship some players out and bring better players in you can spend all day and night twiddling with formations but we still are not going to get a regular winning team.

 

[CMRandall92]

until we ship some players out and bring better players in you can spend all day and night twiddling with formations but we still are not going to get a regular winning team.

Unfortunately this is also hard to disagree with

 

[BoyWonder2]

One of Robinson's other recommendations was Kaziah Sterling. I believe he was a little embarrassed by that one!

Robinson has played a huge role in almost every loan signing we have made since his arrival, bar the Sheffield United lads…

 

[South Bank Hank]

We don't have anyone who can play at a professional standard full stop! Maybe the Sheffield lads but everyone else should be getting up at 8am on a Sunday morning preparing for a 9am kick off!

@StanleyVictorCollymore - if your head of recruitment is playing hard to get and there’s room for another talented fitness coach, we may have a serious contender here.

 

[Strykr]

Robinson has played a huge role in almost every loan signing we have made since his arrival, bar the Sheffield United lads…

I would have thought molesley bought in the bournemouth ones?

 

[BoyWonder2]

I would have thought molesley bought in the bournemouth ones?

Anton Robinson was at Bournemouth, in their recruitment department.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

Robinson has played a huge role in almost every loan signing we have made since his arrival, bar the Sheffield United lads…

Listed below (Robinson was appointed on 30th September 2020):
James Olayinka (although I remember Mark Molesley credited Ricky Duncan’s contacts with Arsenal for that one)
Reeco Hackett-Fairchild
Tyler Cordner
James Montgomery (emergency loan)
Matt Dennis
Hamzad Kargbo
Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka

 

[Strykr]

Anton Robinson was at Bournemouth, in their recruitment department.

Right gotcha.

 

[bluethroughandthrough]

The problem with 4-3-3 is that the wingers aren't expected to contribute to the defense like a lot of other formations (if they do it's really a 4-5-1 or maybe a 4-2-3-1) which means the full backs don't have any protection. That's not to mention since the wingers are so far up the pitch the full backs have to contribute to attacks, which means if possession is lost in midfield when our full backs were pushing up we could find ourselves short on men at the back.

For a team like Liverpool that's not a big deal because they'll have the lion's share of the possession (rarely losing it in midfield) and their defenders are good enough to deal with problems when they come but for us it means they'd have to deal with a lot of pressure that I'm not convinced our full backs would be able to cope with.

Totally get it. I remember blues using 433 with similar players and turning the season around under Steve Thompson. Tony Battersby was the main striker.

My angle here is that the players we have are not set for 532 and a 4231 or 433 actually better suits the players we have in a round hole round peg way. MM showed we can be stronger defensively with worse players imo. Unleash some positive attacking intent and we might still be be able to make this team tick. It simply won't happen with 532.

That said a number of these players are not good enough.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Listed below (Robinson was appointed on 30th September 2020):
James Olayinka (although I remember Mark Molesley credited Ricky Duncan’s contacts with Arsenal for that one)
Reeco Hackett-Fairchild
Tyler Cordner
James Montgomery (emergency loan)
Matt Dennis
Hamzad Kargbo
Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka

Alex Bass as well.

Presume Kyle Taylor missed the cut off by a day or two but Anton Robinson might have been involved with that as well as his appointment and other back office staff seemed to have been announced after he started

tbh other than Sterling, Kargbo and maybe Kimpioka they were all decent enough. Not necessarily great but better than the free agent business like Ranger, Holmes, Hart and Halford - but that’s why they were free agents.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

Alex Bass as well.

Presume Kyle Taylor missed the cut off by a day or two but Anton Robinson might have been involved with that as well as his appointment and other back office staff seemed to have been announced after he started

tbh other than Sterling, Kargbo and maybe Kimpioka they were all decent enough. Not necessarily great but better than the free agent business like Ranger, Holmes, Hart and Halford - but that’s why they were free agents.

Yeah, Taylor joined in the week before Robinson was announced. As, like Molesley, he’d been working at Bournemouth previously, he’s someone that would’ve been known to him (same with Cordner, of course).

Thanks for mentioning Bass as well, another emergency loan goalkeeper.