v PNE (h) - 4/12/21

[yankfan]

9 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

For me the hugely improved defence is a few things ;

1) Committing to 343 which is the most defensively robust tactical setup imo

2) Pickering and Wharton making the left very secure when it's always being weak. Both have been excellent.

3) Travis now being fully fit, and Rothwells work rate much improved giving a solid midfield shield

4) Paying a much deeper counter attacking rather than possession game, so we are much less vulnerable on the break.

5) Having 4 good players who can play CB on the floor and in the air so if someone's out with suspension/injury another one can slot in. (I suspect Carter would do okay too).

Not having Downing playing in back with Bell certainly helps 

[windymiller7]

2 hours ago, rigger said:

Can I be Freddie.

I'm telling you now, that will be lost on a lot of the younger board members.

(Like what I did there? 😉)

[rigger]

1 hour ago, windymiller7 said:

I'm telling you now, that will be lost on a lot of the younger board members.

(Like what I did there? 😉)

You were made for me.

[G Somerset Rover]

10 hours ago, JoeH said:

100 of his friends, family & people from his town are travelling via ferry from Holland 🇳🇱 to Hull on Boxing Day to watch him play!

To Hull and back. Let’s hope it’s not Uncle Albert sailing them across.

[Admiral Nelsen]

11 hours ago, JoeH said:

100 of his friends, family & people from his town are travelling via ferry from Holland 🇳🇱 to Hull on Boxing Day to watch him play!

Genuinely love this. Just hope they're in the away end!

 

Not sure if either him or Khadra are going to get their chance in the Prem with Brighton, but both look like very decent prospects. If either are made available, I hope they'll be in the sort of price range where we could realistically be in for them. 

[47er]

9 hours ago, Darrenbot said:

If we get up can we not just sign him on a 1 year rolling contract,he only seems to have got off his arse and looked like a proper manager since he entered the last year of his contract.

I just cannot see him as a manager in the Premier League. It would be hard to stay up anyway but TM as manager is a handicap too far for me. I'm way ahead of myself of course!

Coincidence or not, the last year of his contract does seem to have got him moving.

Not a good omen for a new contract, rolling one may well be the answer.

 

[roversfan99]

If Mowbray pulled off the unlikely feat of promotion which would be a mightily impressive overachievement, there is no way that he should be replaced.

[Admiral Nelsen]

9 minutes ago, 47er said:

I just cannot see him as a manager in the Premier League. It would be hard to stay up anyway but TM as manager is a handicap too far for me. I'm way ahead of myself of course!

Coincidence or not, the last year of his contract does seem to have got him moving.

Not a good omen for a new contract, rolling one may well be the answer.

 

 

Remember thinking that Southampton were unbelievably harsh when they sacked Adkins to bring in Pochettino. What a decision it turned out to be though, arguably still paying dividends to this day and you can make the case for it making the club hundreds of millions in revenue. 

 

Promoted teams usually suffer through making too many changes rather than not enough in my view, so in the still highly unlikely event that we go up I'd still be ultra cautious about doing anything beyond adding a fairly small number of players to the squad. Not exactly going full Norwich City, but using an unexpected promotion to get the club as a whole in a healthier state. For me that would need to include giving the manager (who, in this still very hypothetical scenario, would have worked wonders) a fair crack of the whip, but I accept this could be seen as being too squeamish to pull the trigger if we have someone lined up who could take us to the next level. 

[Lancs Rover]

10 hours ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

Promoted teams usually suffer through making too many changes rather than not enough in my view, so in the still highly unlikely event that we go up I'd still be ultra cautious about doing anything beyond adding a fairly small number of players to the squad. Not exactly going full Norwich City, but using an unexpected promotion to get the club as a whole in a healthier state. For me that would need to include giving the manager (who, in this still very hypothetical scenario, would have worked wonders) a fair crack of the whip, but I accept this could be seen as being too squeamish to pull the trigger if we have someone lined up who could take us to the next level. 

Sky TV bosses might hate us for TM if we get promoted.

They are obsessed with hyperbole and exaggeration of managers to a condescending extent.

Tuchel, Conte, Klopp and all those other performing clowns on the touchline next to our static, brooding Tony.

I'd actually love him for that.

[USABlue]

On 05/12/2021 at 02:23, dingles staying down 4ever said:

For those singing that Mowbray is the mosiah have short memories. We've been here before, on a run and fans begin to think there is a chance. Then the wheels come off.

But this season feels different, since the Fulham game momentum and confidence seems to be building. Three clean sheets on the run is something new.

Previous seasons we would have been bullied and lost yesterday. Memories of the 2nd half against Luton. I will give Mowbray credit, yesterday Browne and Whiteman were getting on top and he brought Johnson on. It allowed Travis to nulify Browne and Johnson took Whiteman out of the game.

Like when we came out of the third level, Mowbray has come across a formation that works by hook or crook. 

 

But we have not been here before, 4th place, ir in the playoffs for more than a couple of hours.  I will back off wanting Mowbary gone for now but it is firmly in the back of my mind he can upset things in a minute.

[Bigdoggsteel]

18 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Owners unwilling to pay 2m for a new pitch due to the pandemic. I suspect we may pay for that with the pitch likely to only get worse over winter. Picture is blurry but from the May fans forum.

 

Unless we are playing one of the top 3, a bad pitch won't suit us. 

I hope the groundsmen will be able to keep on top of this, but Saturday didn't fill me with confidence 

[Bigdoggsteel]

12 hours ago, 47er said:

I just cannot see him as a manager in the Premier League. It would be hard to stay up anyway but TM as manager is a handicap too far for me. I'm way ahead of myself of course!

Coincidence or not, the last year of his contract does seem to have got him moving.

Not a good omen for a new contract, rolling one may well be the answer.

 

It would be a struggle whoever is manager I think, in a way it could favour Mowbray. When he's bigging up every team we play, at least it will be legitimate. Whoever it would be, 17th would be a win 

[Bigdoggsteel]

17 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

My view is pretty much everyone from England to Chelsea to Barnsley to us is using 343 when you want to be defensively tight. Our 433 got minced repeatably last season by teams playing 343. It's very much a standard tactic with an ever growing  % of teams using it.

Mowbray has come a bit late to the party on it tbh, I think last season the idea was to play a high intensity 433 exclusively like Liverpool and try and batter teams which started well but ran out of steam over Christmas and as other side's figured us out.

This season the philosophy changed to be more of a counter attacking 4231 with the option of a 343 when required against other 343s. Now what's happened is the 343 is performing very well so we've made that our main approach.

So I don't really think we've ended up here in a premeditated way. But to be honest planning too much when there are so many variables is not that smart, you need to be flexible and TM has and were in a good place.

That said if we'd shown similar flexibility last year I think we would have had a better season tbh. We pushed the 433 for far too long. But such is life.

 

Obviously it didn't work and was very frustrating, but I think the last seasons possession based game is standing to us now. We have it in our locker and the players look comfortable in possession, but we aren't flogging it to death. 

[Wheelton Blue]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Obviously it didn't work and was very frustrating, but I think the last seasons possession based game is standing to us now. We have it in our locker and the players look comfortable in possession, but we aren't flogging it to death. 

I'm noticing that also. We seemed fairly comfortable closing out the PNE game.....in comparison to other games at least 🙂

[only2garners]

11 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I'm noticing that also. We seemed fairly comfortable closing out the PNE game.....in comparison to other games at least 🙂

We were very comfortable closing out the Stoke game too.

What seems important to me is that we have twice now won 1-0 in very difficult weather conditions when we have not played at our best but have still been fairly comfortable. Saturday's win was hard fought in conditions that didn't suit our game at all but we found a way to win. No doubt there will be games where we play better and fail to win but the more often we don't concede the fewer those times will be.

[Admiral Nelsen]

17 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I'm noticing that also. We seemed fairly comfortable closing out the PNE game.....in comparison to other games at least 🙂

 

3 minutes ago, only2garners said:

We were very comfortable closing out the Stoke game too.

What seems important to me is that we have twice now won 1-0 in very difficult weather conditions when we have not played at our best but have still been fairly comfortable. Saturday's win was hard fought in conditions that didn't suit our game at all but we found a way to win. No doubt there will be games where we play better and fail to win but the more often we don't concede the fewer those times will be.

 

Both of those made all the more impressive given we did it without Ayala, who (probably fairly) was getting most of the plaudits for our 'proper defending' earlier in the season.

[Wheelton Blue]

My daughter goes to college in Preston.

Her dilema of the day was what shirt she should wear, the home shirt or the yellow one.

'I need to maximise bragging rights' is what she said 🙂

[ossyian]

5 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Unless we are playing one of the top 3, a bad pitch won't suit us. 

I hope the groundsmen will be able to keep on top of this, but Saturday didn't fill me with confidence 

There is nothing wrong with the pitch tbh.  Had so much rain on Saturday it was hardly a  surprise to see it sodden. Drained ok when the rain relented a bit.

[Mattyblue]

It was holding up fine before Saturday.

But looked fairly cut up around the centre circle by full time, we’ll just have to see what they can do with it prior to the Birmingham game…

[Bigdoggsteel]

2 hours ago, ossyian said:

There is nothing wrong with the pitch tbh.  Had so much rain on Saturday it was hardly a  surprise to see it sodden. Drained ok when the rain relented a bit.

Hopefully. Just last year it was very bad at one stage..I know it's not easy to maintain when you're just patching it up basically, so I'm not critisizing the staff 

[Herbie6590]

McAvoy gone

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, Herbie6590 said:

McAvoy gone

It’ll be interesting to see who they get in.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Hughton might be a good fit for them 

[Herbie6590]

18 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It’ll be interesting to see who they get in.

Callum Davidson

[simongarnerisgod]

paul cook(recently given the heave ho at ipswich) they are made for each other,****house manager for a thuggish team