Ex Player Alex Rodriguez Gorrin

Personally, I'm not worried in the slightest about Taylor's goal drought, all strikers have dry spells, and he's going through his right now.

The problem is that we've not had goals coming from anywhere else on the pitch, meaning this drought has come at the worst possible time.

It's just not happening for him at the moment, but before long, he'll score a scrappy goal, and everything will be back to normal.

He's too good for it to go on much longer...
 
Apart from the goals a much more committed and skilful performance I think Dan has made him realise he cant rely on his reputation only
 
Last night we saw the strengths of both players
  • Taylor the fox in the box player
  • Agyei the pace and strength to run defenders and to create his own opening.

So in our current format only 1 can play and so sacrifice one element of the game

So why not play 442

Midfield 4 of Shop Gorin Bran Barker
Front 2 of Taylor and Agyei

Now that is what I call an attacking side

Thoughts
 
OxfordNondie said:
Last night we saw the strengths of both players
  • Taylor the fox in the box player
  • Agyei the pace and strength to run defenders and to create his own opening.

So in our current format only 1 can play and so sacrifice one element of the game

So why not play 442

Midfield 4 of Shop Gorin Bran Barker
Front 2 of Taylor and Agyei

Now that is what I call an attacking side

Thoughts
Click to expand...
Not sure that KR would ever see it that way, not his style!
 
Foley said:
After last night's excellent performance, I am struggling to see why we would suddenly change formation (from the one that got us into the play offs last season)
The middle 3 last night were all excellent so advocating dropping one after last night?
Click to expand...
One performance - yes one in a recent blue moon if we are honest.
Different side last year
However KR will tinker with the line up for the next game trust me.
 
OxfordNondie said:
Last night we saw the strengths of both players
  • Taylor the fox in the box player
  • Agyei the pace and strength to run defenders and to create his own opening.

So in our current format only 1 can play and so sacrifice one element of the game

So why not play 442

Midfield 4 of Shop Gorin Bran Barker
Front 2 of Taylor and Agyei

Now that is what I call an attacking side

Thoughts
Click to expand...
Agree ....Agyei & Taylor could potentially be the U's most lethal strike force since the days of Aldridge & Hamilton..... also agree with @Manorlounger its not a KR preferance, so its doubtful it'd happen
 
Kelly may not be flavour of the month with many, but what struck me last night is that he brings out the best in both Gorrin and Brannagan. If you want them firing on all cylinders (and we are sh!t hot when they do) then I think you need Kelly in there.

Create the chances we did last night and we will continue to score, be that Taylor, Agyei, Shods, Barker etc etc. On balance, I would have Taylor in a front three with Agyei coming on to bully the defence with his physicality and run them ragged for the last 25.

But you are probably right that KR will tinker, partly because it is what he does and partly because we are pretty threadbare on senior players and we have two games a week for, like, forever....so need to rotate a bit.
 
Last edited:
So direct last night and that’s when he is at his best. Doesn’t always come off but if he persists and goes at his full back every time he will score and create chances as he did last night.

If there were fans in the ground he’d have had them up off their seats about 3 or 4 times just in the first half last night.
 
OxfordNondie said:
One performance - yes one in a recent blue moon if we are honest.
Different side last year
However KR will tinker with the line up for the next game trust me.
Click to expand...
To be fair most managers are tinkering.
Almost all clubs are suffering a lot of injuries and have played 2 games a week for a long time. So there is a need to rotate.
I still don't know why after one of the best performances of the season anybody would want to totally change formation to what seems to be a formation from the past
 
I'm not sure that Dan would have scored the two that Matty got last night as he rarely picks up those positions. I'm also certain that, as much as I love him, Matty ain't outleaping a defending, beating him for strength and power and scoring on the angle like Dan did against Swindon.

Both are very different types of players, and hopefully, both are now bang in form for the remainder of the season. I think it works well with one doing the early leg work and the other potentially capitalising later on, and also allows both to give 100% knowing that they'll stay fresh.

We've tried 2 up front at times, and it's never really worked regardless of who we've played. So I don't see any point in changing a system that has generally worked for us for 2 seasons. The difference last night was confidence, positivity, and, dare I say it, Liam Kelly doing the things no one sees! Yes, Barker, Taylor, Shodipo, Bran, and Gorrin were fantastic, but it's no coincidence that our best results tend to come in games where Kelly is doing the little things well. Changing that midfield for a second striker would be counter productive in my view.
 
Left Wing Cross said:
Basically no. For example, in the PL only Burnley play anything close to 442.

I do not understand this fascination with returning to 442. Is it because that was what was played in the glory years? When was the last time we started a game playing a standard 442? 15 years ago? 20 years ago?
Click to expand...
442 is slightly ingrained in the British football fan psyche I feel. It always makes me think of Mike Bassett: England Manager.

Truth is countries on the continent and further a field moved away from this formation, from youth level upwards, while we were still making it our formation of choice in the 90s.

In the 90s we were still playing 442 on full size 11 v 11 pitches in youth football while everyone else had moved on with their development of kids on smaller pitches with different formations. Is 442 the sole reason English football fell behind in it's development back then? Well no but it showed the wider inability of England to move with the times.

As an occasional formation in certain situations fine but as a standard formation for a modern progressive club like ours where we want to play good football consistently from kids upwards, no thanks!
 
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