RyanioBirdio
Well-known member
- Joined
- 1 May 2018
- Messages
- 8,775
I think Browne looks at his best centrally but only when he’s drifted in from the left. It’s less congested when he gets the ball out wide and he often finds himself only needing to navigate one man to build up a head of steam, at which point it starts to cause the opposition a problem as they’re trying to stop him while simultaneously tracking runners. The main issues are that he won’t track back for the entire game (he will on occasion but not enough) and that he doesn’t have the vision or the inclination to pass the ball if anybody makes a run, so will often blindly smash the ball towards goal from 25 yards. For every one goal like the one at Charlton he will see dozens of efforts blaze hopelessly over the bar or see them blocked away before the ball has even travelled five yards.Astonishing, I feel the exact opposite. Browne has looked like a rabbit in headlights in the middle and his final ball was appalling at Port Vale especially. He's clearly uncomfortable there, he's not linking with Brannagan or Mcguane, he offers no protection or pressing in the centre of the pitch. Brannagan and Mcguane consistently pick the ball up and can't pick out Browne between the midfield and defensive lines, leading to all of our play going down the wings or playing direct balls to an isolated striker. The best we get from Browne in the middle is a quick skip round a player and foul in deep positions, or the occasional decent burst forward which always ends in hopeless efforts miles over the bar, sure there's a bit of potential there but it's ineffective at the moment and not something we can afford at this stage of the season.
We need him back on the left, his natural position, where he's played his best football for us. He can get at full backs and get dangerous balls into the box from the by line, something we are really struggling with currently. We need goals, which means we need finishers in those positions, that needs to be Brannagan if we stand any chance, not a player who flatters to deceive and can't finish or link play. Brannagan can pick up those crosses and clearances, he can press defences, he can play the correct final ball and he's far more likely to finish chances.
That formation is the current system we use, the one that actually prevents our full backs becoming horribly isolated. It's led to us conceding less and being rolled over, we currently have Brannagan and McGuane dropping deep with our full backs to offer more cover. That's worked sure, but we NEED goals right now and need to sacrifice a little defensive protection for goals further forward. We cannot afford to have both of them doing defensive donkey work for 90 minutes to see out draws and narrow defeats.
Whether it be Fleming, Brown, Long or Anderson at fullback, we need to get our best players into those forward positions to score more now and Smyth is more than capable of playing the covering role in defensive midfield to allow that to happen. We aren't sacrificing a player in there, it's the same system with a less experienced robust midfielder allowing our BEST player to venture forward when we need him. That's worth the adjustment in my opinion.
He is the definition of a “hogger” to roll back the years. He’s the kid who everybody thinks is the best player in the school because he can dribble past people easily, but actually he’s no fun to play with because he would rather take everyone on and have 20 shots a game, and maybe score once from it, than pass the ball and have the team score two or three. I think too many people (including those who coach and manage him) get caught up in his ability to take on half a team, rather than wanting him to lift his head up and play a simple pass.