IT'S UP TO YOU MALKY.........WORK IT OUT !!

Strong squad....well done on that score.

You need to work out the numbers and throw away the shackles, no more one up front bollocks. Or if you do, get wide men going past their men and people from midfield hitting the inside channels late. There were times last night when we, quite impressively, had 5/6 players in or around the box but no one for us to play a 10 yard ball to / from.....so Hudson, Turner hoofball.

Bellers was starved of the ball....so change it. Cowie (who I like but was not sure about what his role was) off, Whitts left, Conway right, Bellers more central.

Mutch looked much of a muchness (!) who, to be fair, looked as if he was playing to instruction rather than naturally. Was inclined to get forward but was a slow midfield returner like Whitts.

Bottom line is that we have good players in midfield which will be strengthened again soon.

The trick, Malky is empower them. Don't peg them into a number format. Coach them to keep the ball and interchange positions. Stay within 10 / 15 yards of the ball in midfield and play through.

Dont feck it it up now, son !!

Someone else broadly posted the same.....

Before anybody want's to point out that this is the first game of the season or point the fact that there were a few debutants or even our build up was disrupted by the mid-week internationals, that is complete bollocks.

We were shite today and for the first time really I place much of the blame on Malky's shoulders. Firstly tacticly, 4-5-1 @ home, what is that about? I am fully aware that 4-4-2 is increasingly becoming dated and you risk losing the midfield battle but f**k it, I'd rather have a go than just be hard to beat.

o I have no idea what use/advantage Turner's long diagonal balls provide, just gifts possesion to the opposition it seems.

o Whittingham is not effective as a deeplying playmaker, I lost count of the ammount of times he was stood next to the CB's tonight. He's our most talented player but it's wasted playing so deep, get Jordon Mutch to play there (who I though was one of the very few positives on display tonight).

o As for Cowie's role, can somebody please explain to me what purpose it serves having a 'winger' drifting into CM all the time. I can't fault Cowie's commitment and endevour but he is so clearly not a wide player.

o Finally, the most frustrating part of all is we have so many players who are good on the ball and are technically gifted in their own right, so why have we straight away decided to play long balls to Helguson?

As much as I blame the above players for not performing, I also blame Malky, clearly these are his tactical decisions because most of the above problems existed last season (just swapped Miller for Helguson).

I am a huge Malky fan but am pissed of tonight, its great to win football matches but I want to be entertained. Is that too much to ask!?!?!

Someone else broadly posted the same.....

Before anybody want's to point out that this is the first game of the season or point the fact that there were a few debutants or even our build up was disrupted by the mid-week internationals, that is complete bollocks.

We were shite today and for the first time really I place much of the blame on Malky's shoulders. Firstly tacticly, 4-5-1 @ home, what is that about? I am fully aware that 4-4-2 is increasingly becoming dated and you risk losing the midfield battle but f**k it, I'd rather have a go than just be hard to beat.

o I have no idea what use/advantage Turner's long diagonal balls provide, just gifts possesion to the opposition it seems.

o Whittingham is not effective as a deeplying playmaker, I lost count of the ammount of times he was stood next to the CB's tonight. He's our most talented player but it's wasted playing so deep, get Jordon Mutch to play there (who I though was one of the very few positives on display tonight).

o As for Cowie's role, can somebody please explain to me what purpose it serves having a 'winger' drifting into CM all the time. I can't fault Cowie's commitment and endevour but he is so clearly not a wide player.

o Finally, the most frustrating part of all is we have so many players who are good on the ball and are technically gifted in their own right, so why have we straight away decided to play long balls to Helguson?

As much as I blame the above players for not performing, I also blame Malky, clearly these are his tactical decisions because most of the above problems existed last season (just swapped Miller for Helguson).

I am a huge Malky fan but am pissed of tonight, its great to win football matches but I want to be entertained. Is that too much to ask!?!?!

so many valid points.
Our best player, Bellamy hardly saw the ball 2nd half. Everything went right, but with Cowie constantly cutting inside, we had no width. No movement from midfield to give defenders an outlet (on the floor) and Whitts is obviously our new CB cover.
Clearly within the first 25 minutes it wasn't working and yet nothing was done till the 80th minute? We have a £2 million striker on the bench? Was Etien or Conway injured?
Sums up City's performance when Super Kev was our attacking threat.


C'mon Malky - being rescued by your keeper and a jammy injury time goal is not good enough.

Strong squad....well done on that score.

You need to work out the numbers and throw away the shackles, no more one up front bollocks. Or if you do, get wide men going past their men and people from midfield hitting the inside channels late. There were times last night when we, quite impressively, had 5/6 players in or around the box but no one for us to play a 10 yard ball to / from.....so Hudson, Turner hoofball.

Bellers was starved of the ball....so change it. Cowie (who I like but was not sure about what his role was) off, Whitts left, Conway right, Bellers more central.

Mutch looked much of a muchness (!) who, to be fair, looked as if he was playing to instruction rather than naturally. Was inclined to get forward but was a slow midfield returner like Whitts.

Bottom line is that we have good players in midfield which will be strengthened again soon.

The trick, Malky is empower them. Don't peg them into a number format. Coach them to keep the ball and interchange positions. Stay within 10 / 15 yards of the ball in midfield and play through.

Dont feck it it up now, son !!

some great points , i am sure if you ring CCFC then MM will love to have you along as you obviously have a footballing brain and the finger on the pulse maybe Director of football ??

I don't blame Cowie for drifting into CM because I honestly believe that is an instruction from the manager. When Marshall took a goal kick McNaughton was our furthest player forward! Indicating that he has been told to operate almost as a right-winger, rather than a full-back.

This left us completely unbalanced and short on numbers in attack (and oddly at the back as Hudson often filled in at RB). When Joe Mason came on he did operate a little more on the right, but there again he isn't the answer neither.

I'm hoping this is a temporary tactic until Kim Bo get's here, but if not then MM has some serious rethinking to do.

Strong squad....well done on that score.

You need to work out the numbers and throw away the shackles, no more one up front bollocks. Or if you do, get wide men going past their men and people from midfield hitting the inside channels late. There were times last night when we, quite impressively, had 5/6 players in or around the box but no one for us to play a 10 yard ball to / from.....so Hudson, Turner hoofball.

Bellers was starved of the ball....so change it. Cowie (who I like but was not sure about what his role was) off, Whitts left, Conway right, Bellers more central.

Mutch looked much of a muchness (!) who, to be fair, looked as if he was playing to instruction rather than naturally. Was inclined to get forward but was a slow midfield returner like Whitts.

Bottom line is that we have good players in midfield which will be strengthened again soon.

The trick, Malky is empower them. Don't peg them into a number format. Coach them to keep the ball and interchange positions. Stay within 10 / 15 yards of the ball in midfield and play through.

Dont feck it it up now, son !!

some great points , i am sure if you ring CCFC then MM will love to have you along as you obviously have a footballing brain and the finger on the pulse maybe Director of football ??

Thanks NIB

Truth is, there would be thousands of us in the job cos plenty others could see it too.

Bump.....!!!

he can use 4-5-1,4-4-2 or 4-4-3 but he cant see it ...hes got the options ffs .lets get 2 up front velinkoja and mason,try something .

Why won't he learn from his mistakes? Surely if the system hasn't worked for the 2 previous games then you change it?!