[mulumbuman]

Hello all
Last season we were consistantly playing THROUGH BALLS to Odemwignie and alike.
However this season we look so much less direct its a joke.

First we'll pass to Pete..who for some reason is almost holding hands with thomas on the wing...he'll then pass to thomas. Will thomas put a ball in??? No he'll pass back to Shorey and then from him to mulumbu, then to jara and so on...

What is up with this. Throught Balls are our key to success especially with two speedy striker long and Pete. LAST SEASON: remeber petes goals against blackpool at home, wigan at home, chelsea at home...all through balls and there is more.

Maybe its something to do with appleton leaving>
I don't know..but its so frustrating.

Comments and views please....

[crisoWBA]

I don't think its anything to do with Appleton leaving, i could be wrong, but i blame the system as a whole, normally the through balls, theoretically, come from a creative midfielder near the centre of the park. In a 442 with two holding mids you don't really get that, although Mulumbu is quite good at it, (Fulham at home when Pete missed an absolute sitter). Imo it's just down to formation and maybe lack of confidence at the moment

[Baggiejim]

The problem is that we are playing in too rigid a system at home, advocated by the Head Coach himself, whereby players are ordered not to be so adventurous in compromise for being hard to beat in two solid banks of four. Let's take Odemwingie, for example. Last season he was being asked to play on the shoulder of the last defender with lethal through balls being played from everywhere on the pitch. This season however, he is probably under strict orders by Hodgson to play deeper on the pitch in order to take the flick-ons made by Long while also doing his part defensively. This is all too much for him to comprehend when his natural style of play is the aforementioned playing off the shoulder of the last man and scoring when one on one with the keeper. On the occasions that we have played to his strengths, he has been lethal - Newcastle away, Wolves at home and Norwich away especially.

Again, this is only really a problem at home as reflected in the statistics, whereas away from home there seems to be far more freedom and thus more chance for our set of players to play the way that they know best - pass and move, and ATTACK. Kind of ironic really considering that Hodgson has always had a poor away record.

[mulumbuman]

The problem is that we are playing in too rigid a system at home, advocated by the Head Coach himself, whereby players are ordered not to be so adventurous in compromise for being hard to beat in two solid banks of four. Let's take Odemwingie, for example. Last season he was being asked to play on the shoulder of the last defender with lethal through balls being played from everywhere on the pitch. This season however, he is probably under strict orders by Hodgson to play deeper on the pitch in order to take the flick-ons made by Long while also doing his part defensively. This is all too much for him to comprehend when his natural style of play is the aforementioned playing off the shoulder of the last man and scoring when one on one with the keeper. On the occasions that we have played to his strengths, he has been lethal - Newcastle away, Wolves at home and Norwich away especially.

True however, in my opinion this is a waste of time and talent...why play players is postions they don't like or just simply can't perform well in?

[Adder]

I agree we should be providing through balls for Pete and Long. Also agree its not happening because of the Scharner Mulumbu combination in a 4-4-2.
It should be Mulumbu with either Morrison, Thorne or Dorrans. I think if the front 2 feel they are likely to get quality service, they will be that much sharper.

[MulumbuPower!]

Difficult one. It seems that all of our attacking play consists of passing it around their box until either 1) someone take a wild shot (ala Morrison) or 2) we lose the ball. The biggest concern for me is that no one bar Long ran forward off the ball. Everyone expected the ball to their feet and by that time Norwich were all over them. Cox was especially guilty of this. No one was dragging their defence around or making forward runs and as a reslut we never really penetrated their back four effectively. Odem used to do this all last year but he seems to be playing far too deep at times. At times when we were in the final third we were passing pike we were trying to play out of our own area.
Did anyone notice that when Dorrans came on he was one of the few looking to make an through ball?

[DaveWBA]

Look at some of the goals we have scored this season especially away from home, we are still direct but on the counter attack. At home its natural to expect that the away sides bar the top teams are going to sit back a little more and anticipate that we will make most of the running, hence we simply don't get the chance to counter attack. Away from home I see little problem with it, but at home it completely suffocates us as currently we are playing with three central midfielders in a midfield four so we lack width, our quick front man playing deep so we lose the option of the ball over the top which at times was so effective last season and also allows teams to sit deep on the edge of their penalty area and unsuprisingly we don't have the players at our disposal who can create that one moment of brilliance to break teams down.

It seems in effect a simple problem to solve and I fail to see how Roy can't spot it, the way we've played away from home by and large this season has been just as good as last season if not better. The defensive stability Hodgson has brought in is a major factor in this, however at home we need to allow our players more freedom, make sure the wide men stay out wide, get Odemwingie/Long on the shoulder of the last defender and just let the defenders defend. We need to utlise talents like Dorrans, Odemwingie and even Tchoyi to a certain degree and not let them stagnate, we saw last season what we are capable of if we do.

I don't think we will go down but it will be close if Roy continues to be stubborn and not let us play at home. Seems strange to be moaning about a manager not being attacking enough after having a whole season moaning about Mowbray not knowing how to defend.

[valleybaggie]

away from home we are playing defensive not to lose and relying on the homeside to want to win the game more and when their moves break down hitting them on the break which as worked very well this season. the only thing that's wrong is when we play home we adopt the same strategy and play into the away teams hands .we should be set up as  more  attack minded at home and just go for it

[Adder]

I thought Dorrans did OK when he came on - he seems to be getting written off by a lot but he passed pretty well and started a few moves.
Talking of penetration, credit Morrison for a peach of a left foot pass to give Cox the chance that Ruddy rushed out and smothered.

[rubyruby]

Difficult one. It seems that all of our attacking play consists of passing it around their box until either 1) someone take a wild shot (ala Morrison) or 2) we lose the ball. The biggest concern for me is that no one bar Long ran forward off the ball. Everyone expected the ball to their feet and by that time Norwich were all over them. Cox was especially guilty of this. No one was dragging their defence around or making forward runs and as a reslut we never really penetrated their back four effectively. Odem used to do this all last year but he seems to be playing far too deep at times. At times when we were in the final third we were passing pike we were trying to play out of our own area.
Did anyone notice that when Dorrans came on he was one of the few looking to make an through ball?

the problem lies in the role that cox played. its crucial to roys 442 working smoothly and it requires a very clever footballer who can drop off defenders at the right moment in the right space. then the ball has to be controlled instantly and layed off to open up quality opportunities inside the box. we havnt anyone to do this well and we cant afford tevez or rooney! cox seemed to me to completely misunderstand what was required at the weekend and when he did get into good positions his touch let him down. actually this led to norwichs opener

[beechyboy90]

if were playing a 4-4-2 we need to use the fullbacks to create with an attack with tempo which we are not doing. odemwingie reveled as a loan striker because no one knew who was actually marking him, marking two is alot easier then marking one sounds daft i know.

i dont think lack of creativity has anything to do with mulumbu shcarner combo, there not the reason for our lack of width. im pretty sure without scharner in the team this season we have only beat bolton and got points against qpr. all other points retained when he was in the team.

system is to rigid to robotic, no width and more importantly no tempo

[Adder]

i dont think lack of creativity has anything to do with mulumbu shcarner combo, there not the reason for our lack of width. im pretty sure without scharner in the team this season we have only beat bolton and got points against qpr. all other points retained when he was in the team.

We will have to disagree on that. The 5 best passers at the club ? No particular order Morrison, Thorne, Gera, Brunt, Dorrans, can add Jara to that also. Surely you have to play 1 of your 6 best passers in a central midfield role - at least you do if you want to play constructive passing football and break teams down.

[hardtobeat]

i think one of the biggest reasons for our poor performances attacking wise is our lack of movement off the ball.When the man in possession looked forward las season he had far more people ,making forward runs into space than he's had at anytime this season.By accident or design only the head coach can tell you that.

[63Brummie]

I agree we should be providing through balls for Pete and Long. Also agree its not happening because of the Scharner Mulumbu combination in a 4-4-2.
It should be Mulumbu with either Morrison, Thorne or Dorrans. I think if the front 2 feel they are likely to get quality service, they will be that much sharper.

Good point Bud.
Roy doesn't appear to deviate too much from his 442 credo.
Roberto Martinez has shown some nice tactical ideas; his 352 being a case in point.
Whatever the systems we play; ball retention and movement is vital, neither of these ingredients are evident on a regular basis which is why we lie 15th.

                                         Foster
                    Dawson.      McAuley.        Olsson
Jara.    Mulumbu                                 Scharner                       Jones

                               Dorrans or Gera

               Odemwingie or Tchoyi.    Long or Cox

Jara's natural mode of thinking is attack, so let's use it, Jones will plough a furrow up and down the left all day long with few mistakes.
NB: The inclusion of Dawson to cover Jara's forward play.