And that’s down to Rooney. They could defend mostly well until he came in, 2nd in the championship for goals conceded or whatever it was, I bet we’re near the bottom for goals conceded since then.
It’s fine if we had the players to actually be able to keep the ball for long periods of time. Unfortunately we play 2 or 3 passes at the back, the wing backs get forward, the ball goes into midfield and we lose it.
There is a lack of calmness when in possession. Not just the players either, you hear the groans from the crowd if we play a few passes around the back. It all needs to change.
Romelle Donovan has to start after tonight.
I liked what Tyler Roberts did tonight but it might be too early in his recovery to be starting.
Given the defensive issues it’s a fine balancing act between hung ho and protecting a weak defence. I’m leaning towards a 4-2-3-1 of
Ruddy (last chance saloon)
Bacuna
Aiwu
Sanderson
Longelo
Gardner
Sunjic
Donovan
James ( cross between and 8 and 10)
Dembele
Stansfield
TheHeathRomelle Donovan has to start after tonight.
I liked what Tyler Roberts did tonight but it might be too early in his recovery to be starting.
Given the defensive issues it’s a fine balancing act between hung ho and protecting a weak defence. I’m leaning towards a 4-2-3-1 of
Ruddy (last chance saloon)
Bacuna
Aiwu
Sanderson
Longelo
Gardner
Sunjic
Donovan
James ( cross between and 8 and 10)
Dembele
Stansfield
That looks about right to me with the emphasis on caution; with the full backs much deeper. Plenty on here will scoff at the idea of Gardner starting, but him and Sunjic as a pairing could be as effective as any other option in protecting that weakened back four.
That midfield, James inclugeg, are going to have to run their socks off v Bristol. Home and Dixon on the bench for fresh legs later on.
BluubaldersPRBlueSpot on, and the same with Longelo on the other side which cost us the 3rd, and almost cost us (on both sides) on a number of other occasionsDo you think Aiwu spent the great majority of the first half in the right wing position because he decided that was the best thing to do or because he was instructed to do so?
People keep blaming the players, but if you continually play with basically 2 at the back don’t be surprised if you get to torn to shreds at will by any half decent professional team.
Don’t be surprised if you concede goals galore
I don’t believe they are playing that far up because they have decided to.
Even if they have anyone with a clue how to set up a football team would put a stop to it
The problem with this conclusion is this. Tottenham play like this every week. I know they have better players than us but so do the opposition they play.
I’ve been watching spurs a lot lately and they’ve got away with it lots of times but only by luck. In this game like in life you make your own luck.
Mister MutleyWe could have five defenders out injured that’s difficult for any manager. It’s to easy to blame Rooney.
It's very easy when the stats show he's done a poor job. And we're 13 games in now, you'd expect some kind of consistency. 9 pts out of 39, dropped from 5th to 19th, fewest points won in the championship since his appointment, 27 goals conceded in 13 games. It is easy to blame Rooney.
ClaptonBluubaldersPRBlueSpot on, and the same with Longelo on the other side which cost us the 3rd, and almost cost us (on both sides) on a number of other occasionsDo you think Aiwu spent the great majority of the first half in the right wing position because he decided that was the best thing to do or because he was instructed to do so?
People keep blaming the players, but if you continually play with basically 2 at the back don’t be surprised if you get to torn to shreds at will by any half decent professional team.
Don’t be surprised if you concede goals galore
I don’t believe they are playing that far up because they have decided to.
Even if they have anyone with a clue how to set up a football team would put a stop to it
The problem with this conclusion is this. Tottenham play like this every week. I know they have better players than us but so do the opposition they play.
I’ve been watching spurs a lot lately and they’ve got away with it lots of times but only by luck. In this game like in life you make your own luck.
Bingo. They've got a world cup winner at the heart of their defence and they've got a very strong attack. They've also got a manager with years of experience who knows what he's doing.
bluer than bluesClaptonBluubaldersPRBlueSpot on, and the same with Longelo on the other side which cost us the 3rd, and almost cost us (on both sides) on a number of other occasionsDo you think Aiwu spent the great majority of the first half in the right wing position because he decided that was the best thing to do or because he was instructed to do so?
People keep blaming the players, but if you continually play with basically 2 at the back don’t be surprised if you get to torn to shreds at will by any half decent professional team.
Don’t be surprised if you concede goals galore
I don’t believe they are playing that far up because they have decided to.
Even if they have anyone with a clue how to set up a football team would put a stop to it
The problem with this conclusion is this. Tottenham play like this every week. I know they have better players than us but so do the opposition they play.
I’ve been watching spurs a lot lately and they’ve got away with it lots of times but only by luck. In this game like in life you make your own luck.
Bingo. They've got a world cup winner at the heart of their defence and they've got a very strong attack. They've also got a manager with years of experience who knows what he's doing.
The manager you refer to wouldn’t have been good enough for blues fans before he managed Celtic. Try telling me different. 😂😂
Brian Sutherland'In fairness any manager would struggle with the injuries we have at the back.
Aiwu is always out of position, Longelo is a lot of the time as well. Throw in Dion making appalling individual errors in the last two games and Roberts today looking like he's been on the sesh on Xmas day it's a tall order.
As they out of position? Or are they doing exactly what they are being asked to do?
What we saw tonight is exactly what we saw earlier under Rooney.
They only change is, our best 3 full backs are injured and we have a makeshift defence in and Bielik was out