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Time to ‘man up’ in the trenches

yellowbow

yellowbow

Well-known member
With the so-called ‘strikers’ in our squad proving to be flaky at a time when we need them the most - ok I’ll name them, Thomas, Obika and Mehmeti- does anyone see any alternatives that Robinson could utilise for the crucial run-in to the season? A left field alternative to get us the points we need. Maybe a false 9 formation or even throwing a centre back up front..?
 
yellowbow said:
With the so-called ‘strikers’ in our squad proving to be flaky at a time when we need them the most - ok I’ll name them, Thomas, Obika and Mehmeti- does anyone see any alternatives that Robinson could utilise for the crucial run-in to the season? A left field alternative to get us the points we need. Maybe a false 9 formation or even throwing a centre back up front..?
Click to expand...
Henry uptop with Napa, Rothwell in behind with Ledson Brannagan Ruffels in midfield.
 
It’s crossed my mind that maybe Aaron Martin could put himself about up front. He’s got a good touch for a big fella and wouldn’t it be ironic if he turned out to be the hero that got the goals to keep us up. Maybe smacks of desperation though..
 
I think if you start throwing our fourth/fifth choice centre back up front then you will destroy any confidence Thomas has. That said, Thomas, Obika and Mehmeti are all so injury prone the opportunity will probably come along soon enough.
 
Henry and Napa arent centre forwards, so what makes you think this is the answer?

Now isnt a time for trying radical changes in system, its about going back to basics and grinding out enough points to ensure League 1 football next season.

We arent in a position to check players in who may not yet be ready for first team football (id argue those that havent been included yet arent, otherwise why havent they been, remember Napa has) or for players learning how to play in a new position.

What we need now, is to go back to basics, play people in positions they know well and are experienced in, yes Thomas was poor today but he has shown that when fit and we create chances, that he can score goals, i know who id rather through on goal needing a last minute winner to stay up and its not some lad from the youth team no matter how good they may go onto be.

Thomas will score if we create, despite his numerous faults, its not just down to him if he doesnt score.

Obika is useful if he has a partner or midfield players joining in/getting beyond him....if we dont do these things he cant be expected to hold onto the ball indefinetely.

There is plenty to work on, as there has been all season, but the players do have enough about them to get the required points if they apply themselves correctly (particularly at set pieces) and make good decisions, neither of those happened today and we lost the game because of it
 
yellowbow said:
It’s crossed my mind that maybe Aaron Martin could put himself about up front. He’s got a good touch for a big fella and wouldn’t it be ironic if he turned out to be the hero that got the goals to keep us up. Maybe smacks of desperation though..
Click to expand...

Have you had your drinks spiked this afternoon?! The guy isn’t good enough for CB let alone striker.
 
Simple question: What’s the point of talking about the attributes of our illustrious strikers if they’re not available 70% of the time..? And only they can answer the question of why that is.

I suppose I should get to the crux of why I started this thread. I saw a striker today who can be described as nothing better than a warhorse or journeyman, get two chances today and score two goals. He’s never going to be a Ronaldho or a Messi but when the chips are down he can be relied upon. You can’t say that for any of our strikers. At least Thomas is available for more than 50% of the games, There were big doubts about about Obika before he arrived and he’s done nothing but confirm them. As for Mehmeti, I’m not even sure what the question is let alone the answer. Where does Robinson even start to find an answer with that mottley bunch??
 
I think the only answer is to stick with Thomas. However, it needs those playing behind him to bust a gut to support him in the box. We only looked like scoring from outside the box today. We desperately need more coming down the channels and getting balls into the box. What was very apparent today was how crap our recruitment in the summer was. If it wasn’t for Faz and DE stepping in in January and bringing in some decent players we would be in even more of a mess. I just hope we can get the points to secure safety soon and start clearing out the dross that Clotet brought in.
 
yellowbow said:
With the so-called ‘strikers’ in our squad proving to be flaky at a time when we need them the most - ok I’ll name them, Thomas, Obika and Mehmeti- does anyone see any alternatives that Robinson could utilise for the crucial run-in to the season? A left field alternative to get us the points we need. Maybe a false 9 formation or even throwing a centre back up front..?
Click to expand...
Anything, anything is better than Thomas.
 
yellowbow said:
I suppose I should get to the crux of why I started this thread. I saw a striker today who can be described as nothing better than a warhorse or journeyman, get two chances today and score two goals. He’s never going to be a Ronaldho or a Messi but when the chips are down he can be relied upon. You can’t say that for any of our strikers.
Click to expand...

Pitman's two goals were tap ins. Fair enough he was there to score them but he did so when we were down to 10 men and they had considerably more space. I wouldn't say he was carrying them when the 'chips are down'. And you could've had him up top for us today and I'm not sure if he'd have done anything Thomas didn't do. For the rest of the season, I think we're best off sticking with Wes, he's the best we have and we have to hope he stays fit.
 
yellowbow said:
With the so-called ‘strikers’ in our squad proving to be flaky at a time when we need them the most - ok I’ll name them, Thomas, Obika and Mehmeti- does anyone see any alternatives that Robinson could utilise for the crucial run-in to the season? A left field alternative to get us the points we need. Maybe a false 9 formation or even throwing a centre back up front..?
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is that currently we are flooding the midfield with able footballers who lack pace.
That means that we get plenty of possession, but do not have the 'legs' to get up and beyond the centre forward.
Sercombe transformed us when he came in, because he had the engine to get box to box and take the risk of getting beyond the ball.
He is doing the same for the Gas this season (10 goals and counting).
All our current midfielders like to play with the ball in front of them. That leaves us predictable in attack. Centre backs gang up on Thomas, full backs tuck in (with no attacking width to worry about) and the defending side can just play nice and compactly, wait for us to lose the ball and then spring a counter by hitting channels balls to turn our slow centre backs around.
It gives the illusion that we are dominating games, but we are not really.
 
If there is such a thing as a 'good' 0-3 then yesterday was it.
I thought we played well for 60 odd minutes, and would have at least taken a point if Mowatt could: a) take a penalty, and b) learn to behave himself. Hope he never plays for us again btw- not because of the sending-off but because he is not very good....
It may be a poor L1, but Pompey are only two points off the play-offs and we made them look very average until the sending off.
KR is no fool- he will know we have decent players but lack pace- hence giving Napa a start (he looks decent but need to bulk up).
If (and this is a big is) we can keep our midfield, that will be very competitive next season.
We need two new strikers- Thomas is too easily bullied and Obika appears obsessed with his one 'trick' (rolling the ball under his feet), cannot finish and lacks game awareness. We also need a new left back- I am less impressed by the MCFC loanee every time I see him.
But- we need two out of nine. Mustn't be complacent, but we really should manage that.......
 
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