Gunnarson and Witts - fed up....

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Whitts was dropped for the final games when we went up I think we played Mutch/kim combination

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Whitts was dropped for the final games when we went up I think we played Mutch/kim combination

Spot on whitts was barely effective from the November and soon as mutch sorted his Injury out and Kim adapted to the championship they were are best options in midfield. Don't know how long we can go on with the pair of them in tandem in the middle of the park. The area we need refreshing more than others. Good players but not together consistently.

Ridiculous. By the time Mutch played we had won 11 games at home I think on the bounce. By then we had amassed 33 points and Witts was running every game. How people forget do easily and then criticise.

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Yeah but will we get away with it?

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Whitts was dropped for the final games when we went up I think we played Mutch/kim combination

Spot on whitts was barely effective from the November and soon as mutch sorted his Injury out and Kim adapted to the championship they were are best options in midfield. Don't know how long we can go on with the pair of them in tandem in the middle of the park. The area we need refreshing more than others. Good players but not together consistently.

From the moment Whitts was dropped and we played Mutch and kim we were like a new team and that got us over the line

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Whitts was dropped for the final games when we went up I think we played Mutch/kim combination

Spot on whitts was barely effective from the November and soon as mutch sorted his Injury out and Kim adapted to the championship they were are best options in midfield. Don't know how long we can go on with the pair of them in tandem in the middle of the park. The area we need refreshing more than others. Good players but not together consistently.

From the moment Whitts was dropped and we played Mutch and kim we were like a new team and that got us over the line

agreed they were a breath of fresh air. I like the pair of them but just not together. Whitts obviously can't do a full season so whoever partners him in a 442 is going to be on an hiding to nothing. Slades prefers this system so would rather see a different option.

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Definitely win the league with that formation

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

Whitts was dropped for the final games when we went up I think we played Mutch/kim combination

Spot on whitts was barely effective from the November and soon as mutch sorted his Injury out and Kim adapted to the championship they were are best options in midfield. Don't know how long we can go on with the pair of them in tandem in the middle of the park. The area we need refreshing more than others. Good players but not together consistently.

From the moment Whitts was dropped and we played Mutch and kim we were like a new team and that got us over the line

agreed they were a breath of fresh air. I like the pair of them but just not together. Whitts obviously can't do a full season so whoever partners him in a 442 is going to be on an hiding to nothing. Slades prefers this system so would rather see a different option.

Totally correct!

We missed Kim and Mutch hugely last season and they were like breaths of fresh air when Whittingham was dropped at the end of our Championship winning season. Not only did the team play effectively it started to play attractive football too.

I don't agree with the thrust of Brezza's arguement because I think to start progressing Whittingham has to be dropped. However, I agree that 4-5-2 would be a better system for us to adopt.

4-5-2

been here too long!!!!

ship em out!

8-8-5 deffo champions then

4-5-2

your made me realise the error? mmmm no goalie thats a new one!!!!

Sorry lads. You must realise that's a typo. I obviously meant 451. Mind you with Witts playing in a free role in a 451 we will have the ball so much we won't need a keeper. So we could play an extra attacker. Now whose having the last laugh?

Sorry I made the same error! Whittingham and possession don't go together.

4-5-1

Marshall

Peltier
Manga
Turner
Fabio

Gunnar
Digcakoi
Ralls
Adeyemi
Kennedy

Doyle

Of all this ridiculous talk. Of course they are good enough. Both are good players who were instrumental 2 years ago in getting us promoted. The problem is that they are outgunned against sides who play a 3 to our 2 and then get criticised. When we went up we played 451 with Helgusson up front. We played with one natural wide player eg Noone or Conway and we had 3 runners in Cowie, Gunnarson and Kimbo/ Mutch. As a result Witts could play his natural game and tore the opposition apart. Therefore, in short, do not criticise these 2 good passionate Bloobird players - it's the system that needs changing. We MUST play 452.

whitts doesnt put a shift in....nothing to do with formation....simple

It's been onvious all season we needed to play 4-5-1 but the only person who can't see it was Slade!

To take the title of the post.....

Im fed up of Whitts. end of

Stats guys - lets finally put this one to bed % of max point obtained when Whitts started against not starting in the promotion season.....

Theres lies, damned lies and ........statistics!

Stats guys - lets finally put this one to bed % of max point obtained when Whitts started against not starting in the promotion season.....

In the games Whitts started during our promotion season we took 74% of the points available, in the games he didn't start we took 49% of the points available.


Interesting stat that.

Stats guys - lets finally put this one to bed % of max point obtained when Whitts started against not starting in the promotion season.....

In the games Whitts started during our promotion season we took 74% of the points available, in the games he didn't start we took 49% of the points available.


Interesting stat that.

When Whittingham didn't play last season for 3 games, we scored 8 goals and took 9 points.

Interesting stat that.

Stats guys - lets finally put this one to bed % of max point obtained when Whitts started against not starting in the promotion season.....

In the games Whitts started during our promotion season we took 74% of the points available, in the games he didn't start we took 49% of the points available.


Interesting stat that.

When Whittingham didn't play last season for 3 games, we scored 8 goals and took 9 points.

Interesting stat that.

Just think how many we would have scored if Whitts had played in those games.

Stats guys - lets finally put this one to bed % of max point obtained when Whitts started against not starting in the promotion season.....

In the games Whitts started during our promotion season we took 74% of the points available, in the games he didn't start we took 49% of the points available.


Interesting stat that.

When Whittingham didn't play last season for 3 games, we scored 8 goals and took 9 points.

Interesting stat that.

Just think how many we would have scored if Whitts had played in those games.

Just think how many more we would have conceded!

Stats guys - lets finally put this one to bed % of max point obtained when Whitts started against not starting in the promotion season.....

In the games Whitts started during our promotion season we took 74% of the points available, in the games he didn't start we took 49% of the points available.


Interesting stat that.

When Whittingham didn't play last season for 3 games, we scored 8 goals and took 9 points.

Interesting stat that.

Just think how many we would have scored if Whitts had played in those games.

I said it at the time and I will say it again, we would never have had players flooding into the box for Connor McAleny's goal away to Rotherham. Whittingham being out of the team gave us the legs, energy and work rate in the middle of the park to be able to play a more attacking, high pressure game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8nqkM7F86M

Whitts just slows the game down...... Lovely set pieces but we were dominated by less than average teams last season with him and Gunnar together in the middle... Whitts can only work in a 5 man midfield. Slade doesn't know how best to play that way... It's frustrating but we need to adopt a more modern approach in the game...

4231 seems to be the most preffered formation.... It can become very adaptable very quickly.


2 ball winning players and 3 creative. We had perfect players to utilise this formation but slade didn't know how to put this into play. Hence getting rid of key quality players who would have suited this set up....

The modern game is all about energy, pace, movement, vision, quick passing, tactical nous and commitment. Where does Whittingham fit into all this?

Whitts just slows the game down...... Lovely set pieces but we were dominated by less than average teams last season with him and Gunnar together in the middle... Whitts can only work in a 5 man midfield. Slade doesn't know how best to play that way... It's frustrating but we need to adopt a more modern approach in the game...

4231 seems to be the most preffered formation.... It can become very adaptable very quickly.


2 ball winning players and 3 creative. We had perfect players to utilise this formation but slade didn't know how to put this into play. Hence getting rid of key quality players who would have suited this set up....

I agree with pretty much all of that and the challenge for RS is, in my opinion, to find the way to get the best out of our squad which is something he didn't manage last season.

We all know that using Whitts and Gunnar as CM is a strict 4-4-2 leaves us wide open to counter attacks as neither player has good recovery pace and are therefore easy to pass through, around and over. We need at least 1 destructive midfield holding player in front of back four and that player must have good recovery pace. This will release Whitts further forward or into the middle of the 3 midfield playersin your 4-2-3-1 and it's from that position he will, in my opinion, be seen at his best.

The problem for Whitts is IF we sign McAleny who, again in my opinion, is a better player than Whitts was at the same age then he will be under real pressure for a place in the starting 11. But until we sign a player with the same "Vision" as Whitts then a way MUST be found to get the best out of him.

And we ALL know being one of a CM two is not his best position, never has been and never will be.

Whitts just slows the game down...... Lovely set pieces but we were dominated by less than average teams last season with him and Gunnar together in the middle... Whitts can only work in a 5 man midfield. Slade doesn't know how best to play that way... It's frustrating but we need to adopt a more modern approach in the game...

4231 seems to be the most preffered formation.... It can become very adaptable very quickly.


2 ball winning players and 3 creative. We had perfect players to utilise this formation but slade didn't know how to put this into play. Hence getting rid of key quality players who would have suited this set up....

I agree with pretty much all of that and the challenge for RS is, in my opinion, to find the way to get the best out of our squad which is something he didn't manage last season.

We all know that using Whitts and Gunnar as CM is a strict 4-4-2 leaves us wide open to counter attacks as neither player has good recovery pace and are therefore easy to pass through, around and over. We need at least 1 destructive midfield holding player in front of back four and that player must have good recovery pace. This will release Whitts further forward or into the middle of the 3 midfield playersin your 4-2-3-1 and it's from that position he will, in my opinion, be seen at his best.

The problem for Whitts is IF we sign McAleny who, again in my opinion, is a better player than Whitts was at the same age then he will be under real pressure for a place in the starting 11. But until we sign a player with the same "Vision" as Whitts then a way MUST be found to get the best out of him.

And we ALL know being one of a CM two is not his best position, never has been and never will be.

Excellent response, t tend to agree with u

Steve Bruce may well settle this interesting debate for us! In all honesty I think just about everyone has made excellent posts on this topic. Its made for very good reading