brady1993

When Knight was switched to midfield 2nd half v Leicester we were suddenly controlling the game & scored. Just sayin’ ?‍♂️

The other thing that he risks a little is that clubs essentially forget about him. He's not a player with that big a profile and for most of his career his football has been split between league 1 and the bottom end of the championship. The longer this draws out, the longer he hasn't trained and the more likely anyone who would be interested has moved on largely because he's not an irreplaceable target. 
I mean look at someone like Wisdom who is still without a club and he conducted himself far better and had a higher profile.

Maybe. The role at Right back he's being asked to do does suit him though and sometimes in getting the best team out there someone plays in an unconventional position.
With that said with that 11 I'd put Smith at RB personally.

Fairly expected line up. 
Don't mind Knight at RB for today but from what I've seen of the two so far I think I'd rather Knight in midfield than Smith and  maybe  put Smith at right back.
Cashin in is probably forced but I think I prefer it.

Even then we do have a right back and a few people who've played there before. We do have a fit striker, one to come back from fitness and a couple young strikers to fill in. That feels like nothing compared to some of the stuff we've had to deal with squad wise.

Clearly the only solution is to nominate a brave soul from the forum to document it all for us. 
How else will we be able to talk about anything ?

I actually think its got more to do with how we want to set up tactically on the ball more than anything. 
Roberts, Bird and Knight having been making a line of 3 when we have the ball for the most part. With Knight and Roberts tucking in. And they a primarily responsible with starting the play. 
Roberts seems very good and comfortable at doing this. Where as frankly Fozzy wouldn't be.
So when Fozzy has played we've tended to do something a bit different and basically pushed him high,  wide and frankly out of the way. Typically another midfielder comes and plays that role then, with the left winger also tucking in field (as opposed to staying very wide). It's why I think Fozzy and Sibley have often been tried as a pair on the left. 
Either way I think that's firmly a plan B (especially as it hasn't particularly looked functional so far) and has been devised mostly with the recognition that are squad has players that don't quite fit plan A past the first team.

I actually think its got more to do with how we want to set up tactically on the ball more than anything. 
Roberts, Bird and Knight having been making a line of 3 when we have the ball for the most part. With Knight and Roberts tucking in. And they a primarily responsible with starting the play. 
Roberts seems very good and comfortable at doing this. Where as frankly Fozzy wouldn't be.
So when Fozzy has played we've tended to do something a bit different and basically pushed him high,  wide and frankly out of the way. Typically another midfielder comes and plays that role then, with the left winger also tucking in field (as opposed to staying very wide). It's why I think Fozzy and Sibley have often been tried as a pair on the left. 
Either way I think that's firmly a plan B (especially as it hasn't particularly looked functional so far) and has been devised mostly with the recognition that are squad has players that don't quite fit plan A past the first team.

Tactically and style wise it's more of an evolution than a complete change. We still intend on building out from the back, getting on the ball and looking to have a good share of possession. Style wise it will more or less stay the same with some tactical shifts. 
Last season we primarily played a 4231 where both full backs pushed up high and wide, the 2 DMs mostly sat and acted as a double pivot and the attacking 3 came narrow infield. This was mostly to get the best out of Lawrence and perhaps Morrison in my opinion. 
This season the overarching plan seems to be no matter the starting formation or our defensive shape we want to shape up as 2-3-2-3 on the ball. With the lines being; centre backs, deep midfield, attacking midfield, forwards (with the two wide players here very split). 
So far we've had varying degrees of success which has mostly be down to personal available. (I'll focus mostly on the first halves of games).
Hertha Berlin was the game it inarguably was the most effective. More or less looking like 
       Chester Davies 
  Knight    Bird    Roberts
    Hourihane McGoldrick 
NML         Collins         Barkhuizen 
This illustrates the plan well. The plan is for that 3 of Knight, Bird and Roberts being the start of play really getting it out of the centre backs as quick as we can. They can either play forwards into the half spaces to McGoldrick or Hourihane or wide to the wingers hugging the touchline or straight into Collins. Bird is critical here because of his ability to keep possession under pressure and break the lines.
McGoldrick (so far) has been the second key. It's really important that those more advanced midfielders actively look to find space and get on the ball, which he is excellent at it in a way that's perhaps missing a little in the squad on the whole.
When it hasn't worked its been entirely down to the balance of the deep and attacking midfield not working. The best example being against Stevenage where we more looked something like (it's a little fuzzier)
        Davies Cashin 
Oduruh Hourihane Thompson
          Knight     Sibley 
NML           Collins       Forsyth
See the issue here is there is a lot more shifting from start position mostly to accommodate that left side as well as people not being suited to playing in certain places. Hourihane looked uncomfortable that deep, Thompson looked crowded on the left and couldn't use his knack for getting into space for little pop passes. Neither Knight or Sibley are particularly great at linking play. And an aging Fozzy has to move from left back to a very advanced position to provide width and get him out of the way of the build up play. 
The positives are I think if we have the 11 that played Berlin available it will be really effective but we really need to think about what we do without McGoldrick. And weirdly if Bird gets injured (and bielik isn't fit) I think it's going to be severely hampered as a system. 
So going into Oxford what do we do ?
Here is what we can probably guess
     Chester*  Davies 
    ?          Bird     Roberts 
   Hourihane/?   ?/Hourihane 
  NML      Collins   Barkhuizen
So the question is who comes into one of those "advanced" positions. Personally I'd be picking between Thompson and Knight I think. Both are energetic which I think is needed; Thompson is excellent at getting into space and is the better of the two at linking things together whereas Knight probably carries more goal threat, can carry the ball and has that knack of getting free kicks. Either way I'd do it with a base formation of a 433. Then Knight at RB if not in midfield or else Oduruh/Smith.
*Personally would swap for Cashin to have a left footer and I think Cashin might be better on the ball.

Tactically and style wise it's more of an evolution than a complete change. We still intend on building out from the back, getting on the ball and looking to have a good share of possession. Style wise it will more or less stay the same with some tactical shifts. 
Last season we primarily played a 4231 where both full backs pushed up high and wide, the 2 DMs mostly sat and acted as a double pivot and the attacking 3 came narrow infield. This was mostly to get the best out of Lawrence and perhaps Morrison in my opinion. 
This season the overarching plan seems to be no matter the starting formation or our defensive shape we want to shape up as 2-3-2-3 on the ball. With the lines being; centre backs, deep midfield, attacking midfield, forwards (with the two wide players here very split). 
So far we've had varying degrees of success which has mostly be down to personal available. (I'll focus mostly on the first halves of games).
Hertha Berlin was the game it inarguably was the most effective. More or less looking like 
       Chester Davies 
  Knight    Bird    Roberts
    Hourihane McGoldrick 
NML         Collins         Barkhuizen 
This illustrates the plan well. The plan is for that 3 of Knight, Bird and Roberts being the start of play really getting it out of the centre backs as quick as we can. They can either play forwards into the half spaces to McGoldrick or Hourihane or wide to the wingers hugging the touchline or straight into Collins. Bird is critical here because of his ability to keep possession under pressure and break the lines.
McGoldrick (so far) has been the second key. It's really important that those more advanced midfielders actively look to find space and get on the ball, which he is excellent at it in a way that's perhaps missing a little in the squad on the whole.
When it hasn't worked its been entirely down to the balance of the deep and attacking midfield not working. The best example being against Stevenage where we more looked something like (it's a little fuzzier)
        Davies Cashin 
Oduruh Hourihane Thompson
          Knight     Sibley 
NML           Collins       Forsyth
See the issue here is there is a lot more shifting from start position mostly to accommodate that left side as well as people not being suited to playing in certain places. Hourihane looked uncomfortable that deep, Thompson looked crowded on the left and couldn't use his knack for getting into space for little pop passes. Neither Knight or Sibley are particularly great at linking play. And an aging Fozzy has to move from left back to a very advanced position to provide width and get him out of the way of the build up play. 
The positives are I think if we have the 11 that played Berlin available it will be really effective but we really need to think about what we do without McGoldrick. And weirdly if Bird gets injured (and bielik isn't fit) I think it's going to be severely hampered as a system. 
So going into Oxford what do we do ?
Here is what we can probably guess
     Chester*  Davies 
    ?          Bird     Roberts 
   Hourihane/?   ?/Hourihane 
  NML      Collins   Barkhuizen
So the question is who comes into one of those "advanced" positions. Personally I'd be picking between Thompson and Knight I think. Both are energetic which I think is needed; Thompson is excellent at getting into space and is the better of the two at linking things together whereas Knight probably carries more goal threat, can carry the ball and has that knack of getting free kicks. Either way I'd do it with a base formation of a 433. Then Knight at RB if not in midfield or else Oduruh/Smith.
*Personally would swap for Cashin to have a left footer and I think Cashin might be better on the ball.

No chance IMO but there's no shame in that, it's why we had so many hopes attached to, and struggled so much to replace, George Thorne.
We had a system where the CBs could focus almost entirely on their forward play because the DM was so, so good at his job. Eustace wasn't the complete player of course but he was surrounded by a lot of quality.
We tried other players there for years but none could fully fulfill the responsibilities of the role until Bielik came along.
Bird is a fine, fine player but even he can't replicate the full range of abilities provided by past inhabitants so we can't really expect it from anyone else at this level.

With Thompson I actually suspect he'd be better a bit more advanced. I think he's more a linking 8 in a 3 man midfield than he's a deep lying player like Hughes was. His energy would come to the fore more and it better utilises his ability to find pockets, play little quick 1-2s and wall passes in order to progress possession quickly. His physicality would be less exposed because he has more freedom to move in those positions as opposed to as 1 of 2 dms and is likely to get crowded into a tight area especially after one of the centre backs fluffs a pass. 
With that said I can definitely see how Knight could be the right choice. I actually think it was notable that the midfield against Leicester looked pretty good in the time between Smith going off and Forsyth/Sibley coming on. And I think this is because Knight did a lot more to get on the ball, move into space, make little runs and try to turn or play the ball progressively than Smith or even Hourihane in a lot of respects. For example an understated part of our goal is that at the very start Knight drops short and wide into space to give another option for Oduruh which in turn drags a midfielder leaving space for Bird to move into. That just wasn't really happening before.
Smith I'm wary about making comments on right now. I've not seen him play a deal before joining. In terms of what I saw though he seemed to lack awareness of where space was going to be and those around him. He just didn't seem to picking up little pockets, his positioning wasn't great and he was often suspect of just playing the way he was facing when there were better options. Now that obviously could just be rustiness but I'd lean towards that he wouldn't be able to play Bird's role right now.

Tactically and style wise it's more of an evolution than a complete change. We still intend on building out from the back, getting on the ball and looking to have a good share of possession. Style wise it will more or less stay the same with some tactical shifts. 
Last season we primarily played a 4231 where both full backs pushed up high and wide, the 2 DMs mostly sat and acted as a double pivot and the attacking 3 came narrow infield. This was mostly to get the best out of Lawrence and perhaps Morrison in my opinion. 
This season the overarching plan seems to be no matter the starting formation or our defensive shape we want to shape up as 2-3-2-3 on the ball. With the lines being; centre backs, deep midfield, attacking midfield, forwards (with the two wide players here very split). 
So far we've had varying degrees of success which has mostly be down to personal available. (I'll focus mostly on the first halves of games).
Hertha Berlin was the game it inarguably was the most effective. More or less looking like 
       Chester Davies 
  Knight    Bird    Roberts
    Hourihane McGoldrick 
NML         Collins         Barkhuizen 
This illustrates the plan well. The plan is for that 3 of Knight, Bird and Roberts being the start of play really getting it out of the centre backs as quick as we can. They can either play forwards into the half spaces to McGoldrick or Hourihane or wide to the wingers hugging the touchline or straight into Collins. Bird is critical here because of his ability to keep possession under pressure and break the lines.
McGoldrick (so far) has been the second key. It's really important that those more advanced midfielders actively look to find space and get on the ball, which he is excellent at it in a way that's perhaps missing a little in the squad on the whole.
When it hasn't worked its been entirely down to the balance of the deep and attacking midfield not working. The best example being against Stevenage where we more looked something like (it's a little fuzzier)
        Davies Cashin 
Oduruh Hourihane Thompson
          Knight     Sibley 
NML           Collins       Forsyth
See the issue here is there is a lot more shifting from start position mostly to accommodate that left side as well as people not being suited to playing in certain places. Hourihane looked uncomfortable that deep, Thompson looked crowded on the left and couldn't use his knack for getting into space for little pop passes. Neither Knight or Sibley are particularly great at linking play. And an aging Fozzy has to move from left back to a very advanced position to provide width and get him out of the way of the build up play. 
The positives are I think if we have the 11 that played Berlin available it will be really effective but we really need to think about what we do without McGoldrick. And weirdly if Bird gets injured (and bielik isn't fit) I think it's going to be severely hampered as a system. 
So going into Oxford what do we do ?
Here is what we can probably guess
     Chester*  Davies 
    ?          Bird     Roberts 
   Hourihane/?   ?/Hourihane 
  NML      Collins   Barkhuizen
So the question is who comes into one of those "advanced" positions. Personally I'd be picking between Thompson and Knight I think. Both are energetic which I think is needed; Thompson is excellent at getting into space and is the better of the two at linking things together whereas Knight probably carries more goal threat, can carry the ball and has that knack of getting free kicks. Either way I'd do it with a base formation of a 433. Then Knight at RB if not in midfield or else Oduruh/Smith.
*Personally would swap for Cashin to have a left footer and I think Cashin might be better on the ball.

Watching it back i think we did mostly ok here. 
Main takeaway for me is that the balance of the midfield "3" didnt look right. Hourihane and Smith werent finding space as much as you would want them to do nor were they linking as well as you'd like. Hard to say how much of that is personal and how much is getting used to things tactically. 
The other takeaway we'd often break down play on the left hand side. This is related to the above and Hourihane perhaps not showing for the ball enough. But I think it could be helped by having a left footed cb there just so the ball shifts on faster out of the back.
Little disappointed by Chester on the ball because I thought he'd be a bit better than he's showed so far in that regard.

Excellent thought-provoking post as usual. 
Thompson as an advanced midfielder is an interesting option as I've only regarded him as deep lying. He was very effective recycling possession from Davies/Stearman last season & guess in theory he could apply those skills further up the park, just concerned with his physicality in more congested areas of the park. Knight protects the ball better, wins plenty of free kics plus provides a goal threat if he can get closer to Collins, also looked good as a more advanced midfielder v Bradford.
Could you see Korey Smith playing the Max Bird role in the event of an injury? Believe he played as a pivot at Swansea & seems highly mobile, comfortable on the ball & technically adept from the little I've seen of him.
Agree re Cashin for Sat, Chester looked off the pace on Sat (admittedly against very strong opposition). Cash is quicker & better on the ball in any case..selection going forward may depend on how bruising the opposition CFs are.

Tactically and style wise it's more of an evolution than a complete change. We still intend on building out from the back, getting on the ball and looking to have a good share of possession. Style wise it will more or less stay the same with some tactical shifts. 
Last season we primarily played a 4231 where both full backs pushed up high and wide, the 2 DMs mostly sat and acted as a double pivot and the attacking 3 came narrow infield. This was mostly to get the best out of Lawrence and perhaps Morrison in my opinion. 
This season the overarching plan seems to be no matter the starting formation or our defensive shape we want to shape up as 2-3-2-3 on the ball. With the lines being; centre backs, deep midfield, attacking midfield, forwards (with the two wide players here very split). 
So far we've had varying degrees of success which has mostly be down to personal available. (I'll focus mostly on the first halves of games).
Hertha Berlin was the game it inarguably was the most effective. More or less looking like 
       Chester Davies 
  Knight    Bird    Roberts
    Hourihane McGoldrick 
NML         Collins         Barkhuizen 
This illustrates the plan well. The plan is for that 3 of Knight, Bird and Roberts being the start of play really getting it out of the centre backs as quick as we can. They can either play forwards into the half spaces to McGoldrick or Hourihane or wide to the wingers hugging the touchline or straight into Collins. Bird is critical here because of his ability to keep possession under pressure and break the lines.
McGoldrick (so far) has been the second key. It's really important that those more advanced midfielders actively look to find space and get on the ball, which he is excellent at it in a way that's perhaps missing a little in the squad on the whole.
When it hasn't worked its been entirely down to the balance of the deep and attacking midfield not working. The best example being against Stevenage where we more looked something like (it's a little fuzzier)
        Davies Cashin 
Oduruh Hourihane Thompson
          Knight     Sibley 
NML           Collins       Forsyth
See the issue here is there is a lot more shifting from start position mostly to accommodate that left side as well as people not being suited to playing in certain places. Hourihane looked uncomfortable that deep, Thompson looked crowded on the left and couldn't use his knack for getting into space for little pop passes. Neither Knight or Sibley are particularly great at linking play. And an aging Fozzy has to move from left back to a very advanced position to provide width and get him out of the way of the build up play. 
The positives are I think if we have the 11 that played Berlin available it will be really effective but we really need to think about what we do without McGoldrick. And weirdly if Bird gets injured (and bielik isn't fit) I think it's going to be severely hampered as a system. 
So going into Oxford what do we do ?
Here is what we can probably guess
     Chester*  Davies 
    ?          Bird     Roberts 
   Hourihane/?   ?/Hourihane 
  NML      Collins   Barkhuizen
So the question is who comes into one of those "advanced" positions. Personally I'd be picking between Thompson and Knight I think. Both are energetic which I think is needed; Thompson is excellent at getting into space and is the better of the two at linking things together whereas Knight probably carries more goal threat, can carry the ball and has that knack of getting free kicks. Either way I'd do it with a base formation of a 433. Then Knight at RB if not in midfield or else Oduruh/Smith.
*Personally would swap for Cashin to have a left footer and I think Cashin might be better on the ball.

Watching it back i think we did mostly ok here. 
Main takeaway for me is that the balance of the midfield "3" didnt look right. Hourihane and Smith werent finding space as much as you would want them to do nor were they linking as well as you'd like. Hard to say how much of that is personal and how much is getting used to things tactically. 
The other takeaway we'd often break down play on the left hand side. This is related to the above and Hourihane perhaps not showing for the ball enough. But I think it could be helped by having a left footed cb there just so the ball shifts on faster out of the back.
Little disappointed by Chester on the ball because I thought he'd be a bit better than he's showed so far in that regard.

No
Also no

If McGoldrick is fit:
Wildsmith
Knight Davies Cashin Roberts
Hourihane  Bird
         NML   McGoldrick Barkhuizen
Collins
What I'd pick if he isn't: 
Wildsmith
Odoruh Davies Cashin Roberts
Bird
     Knight   Hourihane
        NML       Collins     Barkhuizen
What I think Rosenior will actually do:
Wildsmith
Knight Chester Davies Roberts
Smith     Bird
    NML    Hourihane   Barkhuizen 
Collins
With maybe a chance of Odoruh playing RB, Knight to 10, Hourihane back to DM and Smith on the bench.  
 

If McGoldrick is fit:
Wildsmith
Knight Davies Cashin Roberts
Hourihane  Bird
         NML   McGoldrick Barkhuizen
Collins
What I'd pick if he isn't: 
Wildsmith
Odoruh Davies Cashin Roberts
Bird
     Knight   Hourihane
        NML       Collins     Barkhuizen
What I think Rosenior will actually do:
Wildsmith
Knight Chester Davies Roberts
Smith     Bird
    NML    Hourihane   Barkhuizen 
Collins
With maybe a chance of Odoruh playing RB, Knight to 10, Hourihane back to DM and Smith on the bench.  
 

I agree about the front 6. That's probably what I'd do with what is available. However I'd much rather play Roberts over Fozzy with how we are setting and in principle I don't hate the idea of trying Knight at RB.

I've got zero issue with Roberts playing left back. He doesn't look out of position even a little bit and he looks really good on the ball.
Knight at RB I can see the thinking. We've not got a RB on the books aside from Odurah, we are playing our fullbacks almost like auxiliary midfielders and we are going into a division were we'd expect to dominate on the ball. Basically Knight there is "cheating" a little and making use of what we have.
Is it the best use of Knight's talents? Yes and no. He doesn't really fit tactically with we are trying to do as he's not a 10, nor a deep lying midfielder or an out and out winger. However he's very suited for that style of "cheaty" right back.
I'd agree that on the face of it it's a little too defensive but Smith needs minutes and perhaps Rosenior felt like he needed to see Hourihane play 10.

This move makes sense from a couple different angles. 
1) It's a sign to the rest of the academy players.
2) It encourages Bird to stay with us. Important because he's arguably going to be our most important player next year.
3) He's been touted as a future captain for a while 
 

This move makes sense from a couple different angles. 
1) It's a sign to the rest of the academy players.
2) It encourages Bird to stay with us. Important because he's arguably going to be our most important player next year.
3) He's been touted as a future captain for a while 
 

This move makes sense from a couple different angles. 
1) It's a sign to the rest of the academy players.
2) It encourages Bird to stay with us. Important because he's arguably going to be our most important player next year.
3) He's been touted as a future captain for a while