Malky's team selection
Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:58 am
Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of Malky but how could he get team selection so badly wrong tonight and why did he take so long to make substitutions when everyone could see it wasn't working?
Lot's of players tonight had a mare but why was that? How could so many players have such an off night in the same game?
My own view is that they played badly as individuals mainly because of Malky's team selection and the way the team was set up.
Of our 6 most attacking players (4 in MF and 2 up front) only one had any sort of pace...Campbell. The whole midfield and HH are slow and therefore easy to defend against as our attacks were too predictable and laboured. We couldn't turn Derby's defence because there was no point in playing balls in behind them as we didn't have the pace to win the ball.
Strangely, for a team with ambitions of playing in the Premier League our main tactic was to hit long balls towards Heidar Helguson. He got his head to some, but rarely did we win the second ball which may have allowed us to build some pressure on Derby's defence. Because this failed the ball was soon coming back at us putting us under unwanted pressure. Nugent and Turner looked very shaky and we were lucky not to concede a couple of goals in the first half.
The pressure on us and the shaky nature of our defending caused us to make mistakes. Even simple passes were missing their intended targets as the players tried hard to get into the game. We looked disjointed and incapable of stretching Derby's defence.
I don't like criticising players but at the moment we seem to have a few struggling to find their form. Whitts seems to have lost confidence. What's happened to his delivery at free kicks and corners? He seems to struggle even more with captaincy. Some may say it's time to rest him but perhaps he just needs some help. Personally I'd play Kim in the middle alongside Whitts and Gunnarsson and play Campbell as a lone striker. If Bellamy is available he would be one of my wingers with probably Noone on the other wing. This formation gives us a lot of pace going forward and with 3 in central midfield we have more chance of keeping possession and building some moves. Kim has lots of energy and technical ability, he keeps the ball well and rarely gives it away. He links up well with others and as soon as he's passed the ball he moves into space giving the player in possession some options. Unfortunately not many of our team does that. We are much too static which means that players with the ball have few outlets to aim for resulting in forced passess which often go astray.
Even without Bellamy and Hudson we have the players to have won that game tonight. Unfortunately Malky didn't pick them
Lot's of players tonight had a mare but why was that? How could so many players have such an off night in the same game?
My own view is that they played badly as individuals mainly because of Malky's team selection and the way the team was set up.
Of our 6 most attacking players (4 in MF and 2 up front) only one had any sort of pace...Campbell. The whole midfield and HH are slow and therefore easy to defend against as our attacks were too predictable and laboured. We couldn't turn Derby's defence because there was no point in playing balls in behind them as we didn't have the pace to win the ball.
Strangely, for a team with ambitions of playing in the Premier League our main tactic was to hit long balls towards Heidar Helguson. He got his head to some, but rarely did we win the second ball which may have allowed us to build some pressure on Derby's defence. Because this failed the ball was soon coming back at us putting us under unwanted pressure. Nugent and Turner looked very shaky and we were lucky not to concede a couple of goals in the first half.
The pressure on us and the shaky nature of our defending caused us to make mistakes. Even simple passes were missing their intended targets as the players tried hard to get into the game. We looked disjointed and incapable of stretching Derby's defence.
I don't like criticising players but at the moment we seem to have a few struggling to find their form. Whitts seems to have lost confidence. What's happened to his delivery at free kicks and corners? He seems to struggle even more with captaincy. Some may say it's time to rest him but perhaps he just needs some help. Personally I'd play Kim in the middle alongside Whitts and Gunnarsson and play Campbell as a lone striker. If Bellamy is available he would be one of my wingers with probably Noone on the other wing. This formation gives us a lot of pace going forward and with 3 in central midfield we have more chance of keeping possession and building some moves. Kim has lots of energy and technical ability, he keeps the ball well and rarely gives it away. He links up well with others and as soon as he's passed the ball he moves into space giving the player in possession some options. Unfortunately not many of our team does that. We are much too static which means that players with the ball have few outlets to aim for resulting in forced passess which often go astray.
Even without Bellamy and Hudson we have the players to have won that game tonight. Unfortunately Malky didn't pick them