brady1993

2 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

If funds allow I'd keep hold of CKR as he's big and muscular and not easily intimidated and would be useful being on the bench, Stretton and Cybulski are both young talents but league 1 is a very physical place if you let it be.

Adebayo Akinfenwa did an excellent job for WW not someone you'd want to mix it with

If we sign Collins I just don't see what CKR really gives you as an option when you've got Collins and McGoldrick. We are only likely to play 1 up top Collins and McGoldrick both can lead the line. Stretton and Cybulski competing for the 3rd spot leaves us in a decent position.

37 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Hourihane spent most of last season playing 343 and 352 the season before.

When Villa where in the Championship, he would often play as the deepest CM in their 433

I could be misremembering but wasn't he playing as part of a deeper 2 alongside Mcginn with Grealish in front of them in a 4231? 

For us though I think there is in incentive to play him slightly further forward to take advantage of his ability to get into the box and score. Especially given that we have both Bird and/or Bielik who can play deeper (assuming at least one stays).

I'd assume how we best utilise him though is as one of the 8s in a 433.

I think we are very clearly recruiting to a 433 or 4231. It doubly makes sense because all of our best players are some version of a central midfielder to the extent that that if someone like Knight is still here they likely get played slightly out of position just to get them in the team.

4 minutes ago, YouRams said:

As he said anybody with any links to media outlets should be doing all they can to put pressure on the EFL before it’s too late and we no longer have a team. 

I guess that's one thing we've got going for us right now, if Rooney speaks out against people will listen.

Whether it will be enough we shall see.

11 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

Agree though on point one, I don’t think we have a single reliable goal scorer. CKR has struck lucky with errors but struggles to get into scoring positions.

Knight for me should be our new Bryson but he lacks the confidence to tear into the box and demand the pass. 

I don’t care if he misses a few but he has the engine to make things happen and like you I’d always start him.

Jozwiak can’t run five yards without falling over.

 

Yeah I get that with Knight. I think there will come a point where it clicks for him in front of goal and it's possibly from a midfield role as opposed to out wide. He scored 6 in his first season off 20 appearances and you'd back that eventually he's going to find a similar vein in front of goal over a more protracted period of time.

7 minutes ago, rammieib said:

To counter this:

1) You literally only have two players in the team who score any goals. 

2) The midfield trio would pass it between themselves for 5 minutes before it goes back to our GK who pumps it long and we lose it.

3) I get fans not liking Forsyth but the outlet ball he offers from our GK on a long kick is huge. What do you do with this team if we are forced to go long?

4) The sheer defensive work rate of Knight is immense. He also makes countless runs and he’s always in the opposite box. Plus the amount of free kicks he wins buys time and energy conversation. He has to be the first man in the team hands down.

1) I could be facetious and say that there are 4 goal scorers in that team given that 4 of them have scored this season. But you are right in that it's somewhat reliant on Lawrence and Plange finishing things off but isn't that mostly the case anyway ? It's perhaps a further argument to start Knight (which I'll get to).

2) This I disagree with. Generally when the pattern of play happens that you are talking about is when are less technically gifted players are involved so they either slow the move down, don't have the confidence to turn or don't have the awareness to move into space so they get forced back. It's something that's increasingly happened less since we've involved more technical players. Look at how many times Bird aggressively played it between the lines to a forward in space against Reading, a lot of that comes from with Thompson aside him they can work the opposition out of shape more easily and set up that moment. Bielik will only add more of this as he's excellent at aggressively playing through the lines as well as driving with the ball. What this means is Bird can go and take space higher up in order to play through the likes of Plange and Thompson can use his intelligent movement to drag teams around more. 

I think with that midfield set up, yes we'd have a lot of the ball playing around in the midfield but I think you'd see it going back far far less because they can more readily keep it between them looking for the moment to play someone in.

3) Buchanan does that role as well if not better than Fozzy does. He's close to Fozzy in the air and his pace gives a different option to play long onto. Ebosele on the right means a long option to that wing is more feasible as well. 

4) Like I alluded to I was very close to writing Knight down there for the reasons you mentioned plus he linked excellently with Tommo and Ebosele against Bournemouth. To be honest the more I think about it the more I think it should be Knight. I was thinking Jozwiak initially just because I think his linkup play is better which would be important for how we would be set up here.

Honestly though? Who knows, form ebbs and flows. There a couple elements to the team I'm confident about and there are some I'm less so and some I'm not sure are solvable problems with what we have available. For now I'd stay with team that started the last two games with the idea of bringing the same three subs because it's working really really well, producing the two best performances of the season and I would be hesitant to tinker with it.

If everyone was 100% fit I'd be tempted to go with something like:

• Could flip a coin with Roos or Allsop. Think Roos is marginally better but it's a toss up.
• 2 CBs mostly pick themselves at this point with perhaps an outside argument of trying Bielik there.
• Buchanan's pace on the left and being better on the ball get's him the nod over Fozzy
• I've thought for a while that I want to see Ebosele over Byrne. Ebosele is raw but Byrne has racked up a fair few goal costing mistakes this season, gets bullied really easily and is wasteful in the final 3rd a bit too often. It's close with but with this midfield setup I would be tempted to go with Ebosele there.
• The 3 midfielders are our best midfielders and honestly would be the strongest area of the team. Placing Bielik between Bird and Thompson allows those two to play higher where there passing, link up play and positional awareness can hurt teams more.
• Lawrence is quietly having his best season in a Ram's shirt, noticeably recently his linkup play has been better and he's making better decisions in the final 3rd, often looking to play others through than take everyone on.
• I think it's close between Jozwiak and Knight here. I'd go with Jozwiak for his link up play, dribbling and passing but this was the one I was least sure on because Knight gives more energy and probably a bigger goal threat (and his habit of consistently winning several free kicks a game.
• Plange I think is the best option we have up front to start a game. His energy helps us press aggressively, his movement off the ball is excellent and really keeps teams honest, he clearly has an eye for goal and there has been flashes of good dribbling ability when he's had his confidence up.

11 minutes ago, Chris_Martin said:

no shinnie?

This might be controversial but in the last few games we've looked better without him and not at all looked like we've missed him. Thompson brings the same energy whilst being a substantially better footballer technically, he's making for a much better partner for Bird and has solved a fair issues we were having playing through midfield earlier in the season because of Shinnie.

It's less about but who I'd let go and more who I'd actively fight to keep. 

The battle I'd pick is trying to aggressively hold onto anyone who's come through the academy. If we can hold onto as much of them as we can they will give us a platform to build on top of next season that's cheap to maintain and will provide more much value down the road. We'd get an absolute fraction of what is possible to fetch in a stable state 6-12 months down the road. Money that could be propel us out of league 1 and eventually the championship.

Financially it just makes more sense to keep hold of that group provided two conditions; we are not completely forced by finances and someone isn't actively pushing to go.

26 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

Colin KR, Ebosele and Morrison have all made vital contributions coming off the bench in recent games. Each brings something different at a crucial stage in matches when they're won and lost, whether it be Colin KR's presence and goal scoring, Ebosele's pace and drive, or Morrison's guile and ball retention.

The question is, should some or all of these three be starting? Lawrence blows hot and cold, Knight and Jozwiak are hard workers but don't seem to offer much in the way of attacking threat right now.

In the last two games the combination of movement, pressing and ball retention from Lawrence, Knight and Jozwiak are a major part of why we've firmly taken control over the games at hand. With CKR, Ebosele and Morrison all coming on when the opposition has already been run ragged to battle against tiring player where their physicality (in the first two cases) and having more time  on the ball in Morrison's case can make a more telling contribution.

They wouldn't have been as effective from the start and if they started we'd have probably not got as firm a foothold on the games in question.

26 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

Maybe he doesn’t.

By the time he is fully fit, suitors will be queuing to sign him. Having a big star in this type of set-up might not be ideal. If he was a centre half or a centre forward, yes, but he’s another midfielder in a cramped department.

Do we drop a promising youngster who will stay with us in League One to accommodate him for a few months?

I’m not so sure.

I think there is some truth to what you are saying here. To an extent I think we need to have one eye firmly on the goal of retaining as many of the players who have come through the academy as we possibly can. 

8 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Where will Bielik fit in ???

It's a good thing to think about isn't it ?

But I'd wager the best thing to do would be to Bielik between Bird and Tommo and play a 433. 

This felt like the opposite of the West Brom game in that it felt like a game were things just weren't going our way. Outplayed them for most of the game but just couldn't quite get that final ball completely right, lost count of the times a ball flashed across the box narrowly not finding a Derby player. 

But as I'm sure others have noted it would have been easy at 2-0 to meekly give in and say it wasn't our day so to force a point out of it is truly excellent. 

12 minutes ago, jono said:

I’m killing myself .. thought it was an evening kick off. All ready to watch .. argggghhhh what a drongo I am 

Phew .. sounds like it was a great game. Kaz does it once more and I presume Mrs Davies is going to be pregnant again soon ! 
 

It sounds like Tommo was on it again too ? 
 

Unbeaten in 4. Ten points from a possible 12. Fighting to the end. I love this team. 

When isn't he ? 

I'm quietly come to the belief that I think he might be the best we have coming through. The way he's seamlessly slotted into the midfield with how high is average performance is It's phenomenal at his age.

Our midfield with him and Bird look so much more fluid than it did earlier in the season and with the 3 in front of we are keeping the ball better and pressing more intelligently.

10 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

After that performance can see why you say that. But he might just contribute more as a 60th minute wonder. 

I think he came on at the point where he could contribute the most. Rooney was correct to start Jozwiak based on how he played and he was correct to bring Ebosele for him when he did.

1 minute ago, DavesaRam said:

And a brilliant substitution by Rooney when he took Tom Lawrence off. The equaliser had got to his head so he wasn’t going to do anything more. Great move, Wayne!

I don't think it was so much that and more he was just gassed. He'd been leggy for about 10 minutes.

Best win of the season. 

Tactically spot on today both the initial line up and then the subs made the needed impact. Pressed with real aggression and used the ball well with purpose. This is the best we've looked so far this season and gives us that glimmer of hope.

Best performance for a while.

Thompson has been excellent, Plange has carried a real threat, the midfield is looking really sharp on and off the ball and we've looked mostly solid at the back.

Just need to build on this now and perhaps calm things a touch.

7 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Roos

Jagielka   Davies

Festy   Tommo   Bird   Shinnie   Williams

Knight      Lawrence

Kazim

 

Subs: Allsop, Byrne, Stearman, Forsyth, Ravel, Jozwiak, Sibley

Saved me a post with that line up. I'd probably find a way to put Watson on the bench over one of the defenders though. 

I think the QPR game highlighted some faults with certain personnel in the system and some of the problem areas. Namely (and not for the first time) play just breaks down too readily on our left hand side especially with Fozzy playing and he just hasn't got the pace anymore to recover from those very high positions. Williams will help massively by just being someone who can retain possession as well as giving us more pace down that side. On the right side Byrne had an ok game but Festy is far better suited for the role in the tactics we deploy, he's faster, he's better on the ball and he carries the genuine threat we need from the wing/fullbacks in this system; especially with Knight in front of him. I think I agree about Kazim up front too, part of me would be tempted to play Lawrence up there but I think we need that option of someone who the ball is going to stick to and I think we need that option to go long right now. If it's going long is far better going long centrally right now so the likes of Shinnie, Thompson, Knight and Lawrence can all attempt to get on that second ball. 

Just now, Jimbo Ram said:

How do you think we could have won that? We were holding on from the moment they equalised, a draw would have been a great result….we looked tired and leggy, one game too many…

I think you've misinterpreted what I meant by that a little. To be clear QPR deserved to win. But we got our noses in front and looked initially like we could hold them at bay with them looking a bit toothless in the first half.

The issue was through a combination of being content to give up the ball and go long, try and force things down the left and a player in Morrison who just wasn't in the game we ended up playing too much without the ball. This caused us to tire out by the second half and it's why they started really opening us up. 

Shift things tactically to keep the ball better and keep their back 3/5 a bit more honest and we stand a better chance at coming away with a positive result.

13 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I think a healthy dose of realism is needed for some ? QPR is a top side with some great strikers, any result would have been brilliant but unexpected. Always surprises me how quick people are to flip on Rooney and just forget about the embargo, lack of players and depth, and sheer difficult of scenario Rooney has had to put up with. 

You make valid points and some are massively overreacting. But this does feel like a night where Rooney got it wrong initially and didnt react fast enough to how the game was unfolding. It frustrates because it feels like a game we could have won despite their form and all our troubles.

Well I think we probably deserved that. 

I think to an extent what happened was we were so content to go long and play without possesion in the first half we just knackered ourselves out. 

Tactically it feels like we got it all wrong today and we just didn't react fast enough in order to change the game. The play just broke down far too often for us especially on our left side which we persisted playing to. We sorely missed the ability to stretch the game in order to keep their back 3/5 a bit more honest.

Morrison was a passenger and needed to be brought off earlier. Don't know why Festy didn't start but his late cameo underlined that he should have been on from the start. 

On the bright side Thompson was excellent for the third game in a row. 

Really should be encouraging Jozwiak to cheat a little bit here. Just be him to sit high and wide in the pocket behind Adomah

Morrison really should have come off 10 minutes ago

1 minute ago, TheresOnlyWanChope said:

Think he was worried about a runner coming in and Davies going to mark but he probably should have stayed with his man and not assumed.

There were Derby players coming back to deal with that. Defensively part of his job is to cover the left back when they are stranded up field and so he needs to mark the man at the back post.