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| Did Mcleish Play 4-5-1 In Order To; Keep Lee Bowyer Happy? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 30 2010, 09:47 AM (296 Views) | |
| Mr_Blue_Sky | Aug 30 2010, 09:47 AM Post #1 |
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Paul Tait
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In Mcleish's post-match comments after the Blackburn game, in an article I read, he was quoted as saying he got abit of stick from Lee Bowyer for starting Craig.G, but he felt it was justified. Does anybody reckon the reason we started 5 in the midfield yesterday was to keep Bowyer happy as well as playing Craig? Or just because he wanted to try and dominate the possession with enough bodies in midfield? It might be okay against teams where we are expected to get a thumping and we need to hold the ball, but it was clear that 4-5-1 is not getting the best out of Jerome, as he is much better with a striking partner IMO. Just a thought. |
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| Bluenose_68 | Aug 30 2010, 09:54 AM Post #2 |
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Peter Enckelman
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No chance- he played 4-5-1 to try and beat Bolton. The English obsession with 4-4-2 is what keeps this country back in the footballing stone age. I wonder how many at 2up were questioning the tactics?? Bn68 |
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| Amuser | Aug 30 2010, 09:55 AM Post #3 |
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Geoff Horsfield
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You may find this article to be of interest: http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-s...97319-27163085/ |
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| Mr_Blue_Sky | Aug 30 2010, 10:10 AM Post #4 |
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Paul Tait
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To be fair, rather than holding for what we have, I said at HT we should go two up-front and look to kill the game. Even if we were defending and then hitting Bolton on the counter, keeping two up-top would have been better than just one. He did make the change yeah, but didnt he bring on Derbyshire for Mcfadden? So we finished the game with Fahey-Gardner-Bowyer-Ferguson, that's right aint it? Four CMs is trying to keep hold of the game if you ask me. We should have continued to go for it. No point saying that now because the game is done, but sometimes I wish we would be a shade braver away from home. KRO |
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| Migster | Aug 30 2010, 10:14 AM Post #5 |
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Bob Latchford
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I don't disagree with his 4-5-1 for a moment. I would have had Michel on the bench though if he's fit. |
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| dr.nick | Aug 30 2010, 10:48 AM Post #6 |
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Trevor Francis
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451 is a decent formation as long as the forward isn't isolated from the midfield and in the first half yesterday that proved correct. When we changed in the second half to 4 4 2 we lost our shape and allowed Bolton on to us. |
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| Mr_Blue_Sky | Aug 30 2010, 11:14 AM Post #7 |
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Paul Tait
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I dont think it was the 4-4-2 persay that lost us our shape, I think it was the fact that Larsson went off injured and was replaced by Fahey, and then Mcfadden went off for Derbyshire, so these were very far from like-for-like swaps. The fact we had four CMs on the pitch completely hindered our ability to counter-attack. A few times in the last 10 mins the ball came out to Fahey in a LM position and instead of bursting forward on the counter like most teams would do, with support from the other wing and at least one striker to leave us with a 3 on 1, 3 on 2 situation, he immediately controlled the ball and came in central, allowing us to get congested in the middle and didnt stretch the Bolton back-line at all whilst we were countering. Yesterday summed up how much we need some decent wingers, desperately. If one of our wingers gets tired or injured, we have to replace him with a CM. We need options. |
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| chudlt | Aug 30 2010, 11:30 AM Post #8 |
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Frank Worthington
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Maybe AM looked at our last few results against Bolton and set up the team accordingly. |
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| jasonp | Aug 30 2010, 12:04 PM Post #9 |
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Joe Hart
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I say fair play to Mcleish for putting his hands up and saying that he might have made a mistake......but we still didn't lose though |
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| Blooboy | Aug 30 2010, 12:42 PM Post #10 |
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i definetly think it was the 4-4-2 change, we had an extra man in midfield after they had their goalkeeper sent off, we were keeping it tight and stifling them, they had hardly anything of a sniff until we changed, suddenly we had 2 players forward getting no service instead of one. fact is under Mcleish we pass the ball forward, yes we occasionally lump it forward but mostly we pass it. Jerome got no service, so where did Mcleish think the service was going to come from with two upfront?? |
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| Francis No.8 | Aug 30 2010, 12:59 PM Post #11 |
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Paul Tait
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Lukey, you make some good points. We need a couple of midfielders in the squad who can stretch teams for situations like you described. We have too many central-midfielders in the squad. Its what Eck has been looking at i'm sure. |
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| koppite | Aug 30 2010, 01:11 PM Post #12 |
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Garry Pendrey
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No matter what system you played, I thought we had one more player than bolton in the second half. To read a lot of comments, I would have thought we were playing against a full team. So, who was the weakest link? I did not have my blue tinted specs with me, but I thought our "tactics" were rubbish. Who is in charge, come in Alex. :applause: |
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| Holmsie | Aug 30 2010, 03:05 PM Post #13 |
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Frank Worthington
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Either way Lukey, it worked in the first half. That was probably the best way we've started a game under McLeish I've seen in a very long time. Having 5 in midfield looked to have surprised Bolton a bit, and we DOMINATED them. However, in the second half, from when it went 2-1 he should have gone 4-4-2 IMO. Bowyer and Jerome off for Zigic and Derbyshire would have been my choice. Strange game to watch - a tactical stroke of genius, then followed by a glaringly obvious change that was needed - that just wasn't! Hopefully when big Eck watched the video back he'll see this. |
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| Mr_Blue_Sky | Aug 30 2010, 11:21 PM Post #14 |
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Paul Tait
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I think Mcleish is a top manager, great attitude, hard worker, absolute gentleman who is very astute, fair and considerate when making any decisions or comments to the media. But the one part of his game, infact the only part of his game, that I think needs more work is his substitutions. There are times when he gets it spot on, like the Sunderland game when he bought on Zigic, Mcfadden and Gardner and changed the game, but arguably those 3 players should have started anyway. But at times, like I said earlier in the thread, sometimes I wish we would be a shade braver. Two games that spring to mind, Portsmouth in the cup, he waited until the second half when we were 2-0 down at Fratton park, until he bought on Chucho and another attacking player aswell, either Seb or KP I cant remember, sometimes it takes a shock to the system in order to make a change. Another example was at St.Andrews against Villa, I cant remember exactly how it went, but it was 0-0, with about 10-15 mins to go he throws on Chucho to try and nick it, but then brings on Carsley, another body in Midfield. We concede a goal with about 10 mins to go, and straight away he takes Carsley straight back off and replaces him with Super Kev. Im not knocking the guy like a few people on here do, because I do think he is a top bloke, top manager, and definately one of the best Blues have ever had, but when it comes to Subs, I think he could be abit better. Like I said though, still a great great manager |
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| Elvis | Aug 30 2010, 11:58 PM Post #15 |
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Paul Tait
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spot on **thumbup |
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| saffybluenose | Aug 31 2010, 12:16 AM Post #16 |
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Peter Enckelman
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lee is getting on a bit.. but what a start to the season craig's having for us eh? |
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