Selection lucky dip

[Seth's left foot]

27 minutes ago, Mr Tibbs said:

Bar Butterfield I think the changes were alright. The big negative for me was that despite having runners and despite having a left back who gets up and down we still looked too deep and slow for the majority of the game.

Clement is trying to play Spanish football in the Championship when he should've just tweaked what was already a good side. 

On the plus side Clement has finally realised we need midfield runners around Martin.

On the negative side: How many of the other top half sides are chopping and changing their sides?! He should have a plan and stick to it with odd changes dictated by poor form,not massive changes which alter our style of play.

Unfortunately I think Clement is on the ropes and Mel could act if we fail to beat MK Dons,will the players step up?

[Chris Mills]

25 minutes ago, ValeRam said:

The captain "makes no difference whatsoever". What a bizarre and strange thing to say. 

Tony Adams, Graham Souness, Dave Mackay, Bryan Robson, Bobby Moore, Steve Gerrard, Roy Macfarland, Kevin Ratcliffe, Billy Bremner, Stuart Pearce, Roy Keane, John Terry, 

All captains who made "no difference whatsoever" ? Hmmmm.

Think they would have been just as successful without a little armband around their bicep. 

Natural leaders that would have done the same with or without it. 

[ValeRam]

2 minutes ago, Chris Mills said:

Think they would have been just as successful without a little armband around their bicep. 

Natural leaders that would have done the same with or without it. 

Isn't being captain more about their effect on their fellow team mates or have I got that wrong too ?

[roboto]

There were signs of life today that haven't been there for a few weeks. Our goal came from some positive, yet patient, passing play. The 4-3-3 that everyone was crying out for earlier in the season when other early formations PC tried is suited to some of our players, mainly the players that have been here for a while.

I think PC would actually like to have the players to play the "Italian 4-4-2" system (click this link to read more about what that is) that Ranieri is playing at Leicester at the moment but we haven't quite got the right mix of players in a couple of key positions. It's a solid defensive setup that rely's on a quick counter attack and Atletico Madrid used it to great effect against Ancelotti's Real team when they won La Liga.

We have the solid keeper, the dynamic full backs (Christie and Olsson) and two strong centre backs for this level. We have the wide midfield playmaker (Ince) who can dribble and take on players.

We have a fantastic ball-winning midfielder in Thorne, and really Johnson should be good enough to be another ball-winning midfielder, but his form and distribution have been terrible lately. Bryson might be able to fill this role once his fitness levels are back up to where they were.

We don't really have a wide midfielder to play on the left and cut in on his right side though as we've got so many left footed players. Russell is probably our best option on the left at the moment, I'd like to see what Camara can do too. Weimann showed today that he couldn't really play that role.

Up front, Martin could hopefully play the assisting striker role, but I'm not sure how much chasing down he'd like to do and it's a key role to the formation. Then we come to the fast striker. Blackman is no slouch, neither is Weimann nor Bent, they might thrive in a formation like this.

Just my thoughts. I'm sure it'll work on Football Manager if it doesn't in real life.

[Rampage]

Team selection has become a bit farcical maybe. nobody knows if they are going to get a game. I switched Radio Derby off for the last 20 minutes today as it has turned into a bit of 'not worth the emotional energy' type situation. Fed up of the moaning commentary and lack lustre performances. Final straw was when Rammage or someone said that all the energy had gone out of midfield which had just had 'win the game for me' substitutes made.

[RamNut]

12 hours ago, ValeRam said:

The captain "makes no difference whatsoever". What a bizarre and strange thing to say. 

Tony Adams, Graham Souness, Dave Mackay, Bryan Robson, Bobby Moore, Steve Gerrard, Roy Macfarland, Kevin Ratcliffe, Billy Bremner, Stuart Pearce, Roy Keane, John Terry, 

All captains who made "no difference whatsoever" ? Hmmmm.

PC said something similar about the role not being as important as people think.

i think its fair to assume that motivation and man management isn't his strength.

and i guess he never saw dave mackay.

my god ....what a captain he was.

[TomG26]

I think the main selection problems are due to the number of players we've got. He's trying to keep the new signing's happy, as well as the old squad who had us on the brink of promotion twice! Too many signings have upset the apple cart this season!