WooJung

I think for the time being we should stick to a very basic 4-4-2, with Albrighton and Bacuna on the wings and Gabby and Kozak/Benteke up front. Whip the crosses in, some goals should come.

But if we keep hoofing it up front we won't see many crosses, I fear.

He's also 2 years younger than Clark, and let's not forget what the general opinion we had about Clark just 6 months ago.

CB is a very hard position to play, he's got lots to learn, but time's on his side. I'm confident he will become a good solid CB.

With Delph and Vlaar, the only player to come out of this season with any credit.

I would also add Clark in that very short list.

I heard that Westwood was meant to be the player that gives it to the No. 1

I removed the 0, I think it's more accurate this way.

Not really bashing Westwood, the same goes for pretty much the whole team.

He is our only player who has managed to score more than 2 goals from open play this season in the league, stop giving him stick.

Yes, he is limited, but at least he produces something, unlike most players we have.

We are just not playing football. No tactics, no coordinated movements off the ball, we just pass it backwards for Guzan to hoof it up.

Well done, Paul.

Why are our players so static when we have a throw in?

We ALWAYS lose the ball when we have one in our "favour".

We scored and were happy to park the bus. Small club mentality

We had a good go at them, we scored and then we got scared. Used to be like this under McLeish.

Terrible attitude.

Our front 2 have 2 goals between them... Depressing...

Kozak for Weimann and Albrighton for Tonev would probably be our best lineup with our current players.

Shame, because Weimann and Tonev are really shit players (that said, I hope they will prove me wrong today).

Most of it has already been said. Another aspect which shouldn't be overlooked is: Do the players look like they want to give their all and everything for him?

By the end of last season it looked like they did. Tactics have never been great under Lambert, but from february you could see the players running around, WANTING the ball.

Our short term goal should be to get a manager who can motivate our players, who can give them the desire.

On the long term, I don't really know, but let's just focus on staying up.

A new manager could bring enthusiasm to the team (and the fans).

Lambert needs to be put out of his (and our) misery.

The only really good thing about him is the runs into the box he makes. He doesn't really complement that with anything. Decent passer of the ball. but hardly creative. Doesn't win the bal back enough either.

Physically, he is neither strong, nor speedy.

I'm still willing to give the lad some time. I doubt he will be a top class CB, but he has qualities, He just needs to become aware of his limitations and find a way around them.

He has shown promise last season, he just isn't performing to that standard (which can also be said for Weimann, Westwood, Lowton, Sylla, Benteke... Could there be a link?)

22 is still a very young age for a CB. It's also had less than a year as a regular starter. Give him time.

 

He didn't mess it up. You don't need 5 CBs.

 

I agree you don't need 5 centre backs. What you need is at least 2 good centre backs and another two that can come in and provide adequate cover. For me we don't have that now and didn't have it in the summer.

 

You also need strikers who can score goals on a regular basis, midfielders who can create chances for the strikers and/or win the ball back, fullbacks who can defend and also put a good cross in from time to time.

Basically, you need money.

How about this:

 

We have no idea how to construct attacks because our midfield is not creative. Only way to create is to get an extra-man forward for an overlap i.e. a full-back run.

 

At the start of the game it is 0-0 and we attack and try to do this. We get defensively out of shape. They counter-attack and score.

This would explain why a team concedes goals, not why they keep conceding them so early in the game.

How could Luna handle Welbeck and Valencia all  on his own? 

 

Why didn't Gabby get back to support, and why wasn't Baker covering effectively?

 

Cannot judge Luna on today's performance. He was hung out to dry with an impossible job, for which he got absolutely no help.

I never hesitate to be harsh on Gabby (I like him, but I think he is slightly overappreciated), but he was playing up front with Benteke, as a striker. Scylla was in the position to help Luna, but he was playing in the wrong position, he is to slow to help a fullback on the flank, he shold play in the middle of the pitch.

I'm impressed, to be honest I almost forgot he was in the squad at the start of the season. I hope he can keep these performances up. His crosses will reach Kozak's head eventually.

I'm staring to wonder if he is any better than Bennett. He's pretty awful at defending (so is Bennett), he gets forward but unlike Bennett doesn't contribute to anything. At least Bennet has a good cross on him.

Here is Grealish's goal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avQzRhw-jMo

Not good enough on the Ball to play in MF. We are already lacking quality as it is.

It's probably just my impression, but to me it looked like none of our players were actually looking for him, almost as if they didn't rate him, as if they felt it would be useless to pass it to him. That would probably explain why he had something like 5 touches throughout the whole game. His movement of the ball was also terrible.

Also, The fact that Bacuna almost never went forward didn't help.

Or maybe he's not fit enough.

How fit does he has to be to be better than Weimann?

He must have upset Lambert on a personal level, I can't see any other explanation...

What infuriates me is how long it takes him to make substitutions. Didn't the fool realize that things WERE NOT working?

I'm really starting to get frustrated with his total lack of tactical awareness.

I didn't see the Soto game, granted, but we really look pathetic, especially against weaker teams.

4-3-3 is NOT the answer. Wake up, Paul.