I think the positives massively outweigh the negatives with Big Dave, biggest one being i actually look forward to games!
I think he has got a lot of things right but its now at the stage to admit the defensive experiment isnt going to work as it is. I know we are the buzz words of 'transition' and 'work in progress' and i think its obvious going forward and our style are testament to that, we have improved massively.
However defensively there is no signs of any real improvement, we are nearly a quarter of the way through the campaign and if anything i would say its got worse, if we had the odd game where we shocking you would say ok but it happens nearly every game, there comes a point to say thats enough.
Its not just that Hegazi, Dawson and Bartley are out of form (which they are) but its the fact they just dont look comfortable with the basics of the role, they all look nervous and this spreads to the keeper too.
Dawson has gone from being one of our most consistent performers in the league above to a shell of the player he was, i am not Hegazi's biggest fan but he has his strengths yet at the moment he is an accident waiting to happen and watching Bartley on those surges is painful to watch at times.
I dont blame the players too much, i said at the start of the season i didnt see why a midfielder should need to drop and take the ball off them two yards away as the defenders at that level should be able to pass and carry a ball forward. I got that badly wrong, i do find it staggering that multi million pound footballers do struggle to pass and control a ball more than 10 yards but they clearly do.
If the long term plan was going to be playing out from the back then i do wonder why on earth we signed Bartley, if you want a stereotypical championship centre half who will head and kick anything, you sign Bartley. If you want somebody to keep possession and build from the back, you dont sign Bartley.
I love the you score 2 we score 3 in theory but if you want to win promotion which i assume we do, then there has to be a balance, you have to give yourself a chance with a clean sheet, we dont get out of bed unless we concede at least 1 and lately its more and more conceding 2's, its just not sustainable, you dont actually win anything when you defend as bad as we do, no matter how good your strikers are.
We dont have the defensive personnel to play the way Mooro and Jones want to play, i think revert back to what our defenders strengths are, style and formation wise for now then look to sign players who suit ball playing and 3 at the back.
We have tried something new, it hasnt worked for now, it happens to all coaches, learn from it, change it and move on.
At home i fancy us to blitz anyone and i would put half the premier league teams in with that too, away from home its very different. Big Dave said before the game last night it was all about the performance, he didnt really get that and its happened quite often away so maybe the time is to say, okay how we are setting up / approaching games away isnt working, you cant play well every game but we havent really played well away from home at all so again learn from it, change it and move on!
I have no idea if Big Dave got lucky with the subs last night or if it was tactical genius or panic subs, i like to see the positives and give the benefit of the doubt and with what he has achieved i would like to think it was the plan all along, something he has also added is the never give up attitude, players want to play for him, he is implementing a style we all want to see, as a fan i have said what i think we could improve but my job isnt on the line here but the biggest thing he has done is added pride back to our club, after the last few years of being classed as anti football, a bit of joke club last year, we now have the pride back and i put that down to one man - Darren Moore.
