Tilly the Tactician

[Richard_Cadette]

Right, so in recent season, actually, since Tilly took charge, he has labelled against him his ability to employ the right tactics during a game, and has often been described as reactive as opposed to proactive.

Well, I'd just like to maybe redress the balance a little bit here - Now the dust has settled from the antics of Bailey and Co on Friday night, I personally think his decision making in that game was almost 100% spot on. Yes, OK, we lost - it's difficult to then come out and defend the tactics - but I was hugely impressed with what he decided to do.

The temptation to go into our shell when we went down to 10 men against a decent side must have been huge, but he was bold - kept two up top, and it paid dividends as we scored.

In the second half, it was then obvious we were beginning to get overun in the centre of the park, and again, he dealt with that - I understand Pattaerson was injured, but it was still the right thing to do at that moment to withdraw a fton man, replace him with Moussa to shore up the midfield, and still havr the outlet of Scannell and Watt on each flank to counter with.

As the game moved on, we clearly had tired legs, and again, to bring on Malone on the left hand side in place of Watt was again clear thinking from Tilly in the face of what was going on.

In the end, it was not enough, and let's be honest, Charlton deserve credit for the way they kept going at us, and we lost to a pretty decent side, but for me, it showed how much Tilly has progressed as a manager, and how he was pre-empting situations and thinking about the game as a whole. I was hugely impressed with that, and for once, I think he deserves a whole heap of credit for his tactical awareness and boldness.

Keep the faith in Tilly - He will get things right if we sort out our off field issues.

 

[SUFCStu]

He has made a couple of tatical errors this season but so does everyone else.

But sounded like it was the correct gameplan when we went down to 10 so well done tilson :clap:

 

[palexander]

Yep - I've been (highly!) critical of Tilson in the past, but I was very impressed with the subs - both in tactics and the times that he made them.

 

[TrueBlue]

Yep - I've been (highly!) critical of Tilson in the past, but I was very impressed with the subs - both in tactics and the times that he made them.

Same here credit where credit is due

 

[Mick]

Yep - I've been (highly!) critical of Tilson in the past, but I was very impressed with the subs - both in tactics and the times that he made them.

Thought the subs illustrated the main difference between us and Charlton. Their first two came on and won the game; our first two didn't contribute.

At Norwich, he might have broken up the 4 minutes of stoppage time pressure with a substitution.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Tilson did very well in keeping 2 up top, and it certainly worked for us.

The annoying thing is as soon as Paterson came off and we effectively went 4-4-1, we let one in straight away.

 

[steveo]

Tilson did very well in keeping 2 up top, and it certainly worked for us.

But we lost.

 

[BoyWonder2]

But we lost.

If you look though, as soon as we went back to 4-4-1, we let in the first. So keeping two up top was working very well for us.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

If you look though, as soon as we went back to 4-4-1, we let in the first. So keeping two up top was working very well for us.

I think it worked very well for us in the first half, and we scored. Once we got our noses in front, I think he had little option other than to try and shore up the midfield. Different mind sets, we were clearly agreived at the sending off, and by keeping 2 up top, it allowed us to get it out of our system in a positive way, and score - it was a mad few minutes.

Once the dust had settled, we were starting to get over run in the second half with 3 in midfield - moreover, only one recognised central midfielder, and I think Tilly was totally correct to change it to 4-4-1 - it would bolster the midfield, and it would also allow us to counter with 2 wide men supporting Vernon is the chance arose.

It was incredibly unfortunate that we conceded at that moment - More to dow ith M'Voto winning a header and ending up on the floor, hence being out of position when the ball came in from Reid.

 

[bluesjourno]

You play the hand you're dealt though...a "4-3-3" formation with two wide players and one striker would probably look a lot more impressive with, for example, Gower-Eastwood-Campbell Ryce? I think given the resources available this season, Tilson's tactics have been O.K. People complained when he went 4-5-1 at Leyton Orient, but we won the game. Yes we lost to Charlton, but I echo what some have said here and applaud him for taking the game to Charlton in the first half. That's logic - Charlton were always going to take over the longer the game went on, so attack earlier to try and get ahead. He might not exactly be Sir Alex Ferguson, but he knows what he's doing a hell of a lot more than us!! :)

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

I think Tilly does a pretty good job tactically, far better than is appreciated by most on this board. He also did a pretty good job at Norwich by all accounts in trying to match up their diamond formation, but when they changed to 4-4-2, Tilly was quick to do likewise.

 

[OAJS]

Not knocking Tilly, normally his tactical play is sound, however I would have made one different change, as Scannell was puffing and blowing over on the right leaving Francis open to be attacked by two players, which is the side that both their goals came from. I would've taken him off earlier and left Watt on.
Overall though pleased we didn't go a negative 4-4-1 straight out. Well done Tilson :clap:

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Not knocking Tilly, normally his tactical play is sound, however I would have made one different change, as Scannell was puffing and blowing over on the right leaving Francis open to be attacked by two players, which is the side that both their goals came from. I would've taken him off earlier and left Watt on.
Overall though pleased we didn't go a negative 4-4-1 straight out. Well done Tilson :clap:

The 2 goals both came after Scanell had gone off. Funnily enough, just before the 1st goal went in, we were commenting that we would attack down our right as laurent wouldn't track back as dilligently as Scannell had been doing...