bugenhagen

Absolutely, but that does not relieve him of his duties as our last line of defence.

Was thinking the same. Proud, so proud...

If he had the seat in front of me, I'd never expect him to be where he is supposed to anyways

You mean where Long should be. Bazunu should be in the stands (at best)...

I disagree. I believe playing with 3 or 5 at the back demands more of our shit defenders (and wing-backs). None of our lot is up to the task. We play with three sweepers, out of position, marking thin air most of the time. I do agree with you that when it was working, it gave us the benefit of playing our best attackers, but that little bonus has stopped working, so I think we would be better off switching between a 4231 and a 433 depending on the game and opposition.

Can only speak for myself, but it is because I hold SR in such low regard. In my eyes they keep making the same mistakes over and over. Most football related decisions they make are either wrong or poor, at best. I don’t think they are deliberately trying to fuck up, because they genuinely believe in what they are doing, which is the real problem. Every time they make a change, we somehow end up back at the exactly same place, or worse.

How much did those spells have to do with playing 3 at the back, though? When it was good, our right wing-back was an out and out winger, playing as a winger. When he has been pegged back, or replaced by Fraser and we play with a more classic wing-back role, it has looked pretty shit… When it has looked good, our formation has resembled a 4231, and when it looks shit, it has resembled a 523.

I wonder if Stephens has received his cap from the club yet…

Says it all, really…

Sensible and thoughtful post, but sadly, none of the observations and potential solutions will happen or change. There is no hope. That’s what really hurts…

The same useless pricks that gave Stephens a new contract? Yeah, they’ll sort it out by giving Baz a shiny new one… 4 more years! 4 more years!

This is what I see every game.

This was always going to happen. It was pretty easy to see. We had a spell where we scored on every chance, and played crap in second halves, but got away with it. That was never going to last. Today is the blueprint for the rest of the season, not the Charlton game.

That is my problem with this as well. I understand his reasoning, but the three moron brothers are just prancing around marking thin air, so there is no benefit in the end.

The club like things and trends that are hip and new. Stats are probably on the way out, and the Black Box was a Les Reed thing... sooo old

There is no need to argue about this... Our first choice goalkeeper should be better than Bazunu or McCarthy, one of them should at most be our backup GK, and the other should be third (or if we got rid of one, Long is probably OK as number 3). The only pointless thing here is the responses from MLG...

Agree that he won't retire, but we can not have him on our books next season in any capacity. He would never be seen as a "bonus player" if fit, the club would once again plan on him staying fit, he takes up a place, and we again miss out on a real option.

Not to worry, we have shoehorn!

Be kind 😉 What really happened was that Archer went up top, pushed Armstrong to the right, and Azaz stepped deeper into midfield. It is more attacking players in certian roles, but we did not really change the genereal shape. What often happened was that Azaz was more on the left, pushing higher than Downes on the right, and THB often pushed up into the same space as Downes was in.

Woolfenden and Labitabidabida? 😉

I agree with the point you are trying to make about our defenders, but starting out with "It makes absolutely no difference who is in goal" is a little over the top. A better keeper, more commanding of his area, would help our fragile defence. It won't fix it, but it would be a big help, and it could potentially clean up a couple of the mistakes they make.

This is very true, but with our squad, goalkeepers and defenders particularly, it might be an easier task to get the forward line scoring as he has done. We will never be hard to beat with this team, but if we often go 3-0 up, a lot of the teams in this division won't have it in them to get back in the game. Can we get better defensivly, absolutely! But I think in the short term, Tonda had the right idea about how to get points on the board. The interesting thing is to see how he now develops the team and his tactics.

It made me think of the interview with Strachan the other week, about the point that he got us in such good shape, where his respons was something like: "The players weren't that fit, but we made them believe they were". The power of suggestion...

Yeah, but that doesn't sound like us, now does it?

It's one of the things SR is decent at, but there is no way they can make that happen? Right? This will only end in a new contract.