The key and most integral part is that the team begin to play more like they don't have Mitrovic when they in fact they do have him. Sounds rough around the edges, but the issue we have had that I think everyone on this board can see is that we become so one dimensional and predictable that once a team marks Mitro out, we are in for trouble. With a monster player like Mitro, the key is to almost take him out of the game intentionally, stop focusing our plan of attack on constantly getting him the ball, and instead have Cairney and Bryan and Reed, etc. start to shoot and become danger men to mark, and then start bringing Mitro in for the killer tap in, header, or given space to shoot. I think the one thing that has brought a real eyebrow raise is how devastating some of our midfielders and wing-backs can peg an accurate shot on goal. This kind of sporadic, but accurate peppering of the goal to keep teams on edge with potential spillage by the keeper is what we need to be doing to mix our tactics up.
Mitro isn't the problem, his absence is not why we won 2 on the trot - they were ground out results - but we did see more effort, fluidity, and innovation on behalf of our midfield and some daring shots from Onomah, Arter, Reed, Bryan, and Christie, all of which were rockets and forced keepers into fine saves. Do this, with Mitro up front for the rebound, or at least play in such a manner that teams focus less on shutting down our only attacking outlet, and watch the sparks fly! 082.gif :beer: :wine:
Playing without a crowd does not help either
I'd stick him on the bench....to make him want it....then I'd look at him alluringly, and say Mitro get warmed up, and make the tea at half time
Quote from: H4usuallysitting on July 05, 2020, 12:57:32 PM
I'd stick him on the bench....to make him want it....then I'd look at him alluringly, and say Mitro get warmed up, and make the tea at half time
Wouldn't put him on the bench,,,a lot better without him, we were becoming a boring one dimensional team trying to get the ball to him all game,,,,very boring.
In my opinion we must not use him as a long ball target man, that never seems to work. Keep the style we had yesterday by working the ball down the flanks, Joe Bryan certainly helped there, and then play the ball in either on the ground or in the air and then get Mitro on the end of them. That is where he is most effective not the long ball down the middle.
we all know he is not the quickest but certainly one of the strongest and will out muscle most opposition in the box and get on the end of the cross.
Quote from: Bill2 on July 05, 2020, 02:08:29 PM
In my opinion we must not use him as a long ball target man, that never seems to work. Keep the style we had yesterday by working the ball down the flanks, Joe Bryan certainly helped there, and then play the ball in either on the ground or in the air and then get Mitro on the end of them. That is where he is most effective not the long ball down the middle.
we all know he is not the quickest but certainly one of the strongest and will out muscle most opposition in the box and get on the end of the cross.
Absolutely. Work some cut backs into the box for Mitro to slam home or tap in around the 12 yard box like Onomah yesterday.
Quote from: ex-Pat on July 05, 2020, 02:02:01 PM
Quote from: H4usuallysitting on July 05, 2020, 12:57:32 PM
I'd stick him on the bench....to make him want it....then I'd look at him alluringly, and say Mitro get warmed up, and make the tea at half time
Wouldn't put him on the bench,,,a lot better without him, we were becoming a boring one dimensional team trying to get the ball to him all game,,,,very boring.
Well of course yesterday was so exciting.
The problem is not Mitro but how we use him. Nearly every game he is isolated . Balls punted up to him are a waste as he has no one to lay it off to or hold it up for. To get the best from him he needs us to play 4-4-2 with non inverted wingers & with someone close to him to work as a tandem.
Quote from: ex-Pat on July 05, 2020, 02:02:01 PM
Quote from: H4usuallysitting on July 05, 2020, 12:57:32 PM
I'd stick him on the bench....to make him want it....then I'd look at him alluringly, and say Mitro get warmed up, and make the tea at half time
Wouldn't put him on the bench,,,a lot better without him, we were becoming a boring one dimensional team trying to get the ball to him all game,,,,very boring.
Yes, 34 goals this season (including internationals) is very boring.
Another ex-Pat classic to add to the ever growing collection.
With Mitro in the team, it would be awfully hard to try a game plan that 'omitted' him. I don't see how that is really done. Actually, sometimes, and I do say sometimes, Mitro is the problem. The team is too one-dimensional with Mitro as the central, and seemingly only character.
I wouldn't mind seeing him on the bench and brought in during second half. I think there were a game or two earlier in the season when FFC won games without his presence.
Sadly our tactics don't play to Mitro's strengths....the only person who doesn't seem to realise this is Parker.
If we didn´t have Mitro & his 23 goals where do you think we would be?
Quote from: grandad on July 05, 2020, 06:16:50 PM
If we didn´t have Mitro & his 23 goals where do you think we would be?
We'd be in a bad place, no doubt. I'm just trying to posit that instead of pumping the ball to him and going one dimensional, we instill in our midfield that it's okay to not always just look or go to him. Take some long range shots, give others runs into the box for goals, take some of the focus off Mitro and then he can be more
Effective and deadly.
As I have said in another thread Mitro isnt the problem its how he is used thats the problem. He wasnt the problem when we won promotion because he was used correctly
Our attack with Mitro leading the way is predicable and quite honestly boring, regardless of its success. That's not to say that we are anything other than lucky without him. We need different tactics. I'd like to see the team switch off to a 4-4-2. Bring Reid up alongside Mitro or even one of those wonder boys that the under 23s always seem to have. I think it'd be effective against teams that bunker like Brum. The fluidity of the team would improve if we switch off during the match. I can't see Parker's tactics working against even lower mid level teams in the Prem much less the likes of City or Liverpiddle.
Quote from: grandad on July 05, 2020, 06:16:50 PM
If we didn´t have Mitro & his 23 goals where do you think we would be?
If we didn't have Mitro (who I love) we'd have someone else, who would not be as good at some things but possibly better at others. Like, when people on here said exactly the same things about Ross McCormack. When we didn't have his goals, we ended up spreading the goals about, became quicker, less predictable and scored far more. And got promoted.
Quote from: YankeeJim on July 05, 2020, 08:09:34 PM
Our attack with Mitro leading the way is predicable and quite honestly boring, regardless of its success. That's not to say that we are anything other than lucky without him. We need different tactics. I'd like to see the team switch off to a 4-4-2. Bring Reid up alongside Mitro or even one of those wonder boys that the under 23s always seem to have. I think it'd be effective against teams that bunker like Brum. The fluidity of the team would improve if we switch off during the match. I can't see Parker's tactics working against even lower mid level teams in the Prem much less the likes of City or Liverpiddle.
I dig this. We should do Reid or Cav off Mitro and Bryan at left wing potentially (if Cav goes up top with Mitro). I'd love to see Stansfield or some other U23 wonderkid get the call up. Breed our own striker into a Champ/Prem striker for a change rather than just selling them off. It would reduce the focus on Mitro and open the game to more fluidity.
Mitrovic plans his runs to last 90 minutes, hopefully when he comes back he runs non-stop until he's exhausted and then we substitute him maybe the 75th minute. I think Mitrovic will never be fast, but he can run more confusing defenses especially if he plays less than 90 minutes.
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
Wrong. False. Daft.
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being.
I guess Mitro is on 100k per week in New Zealand dollars, but in pounds, he is on £60,000 per week. If I was paying for just entertainment I'd have Mitrovic polishing AK boots too, but I'd prefer to win.
With out Mitrovic we wouldn't be anywhere near the play offs
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
WUM
Quote from: Twig on July 06, 2020, 09:27:21 AM
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
WUM
I also look at TFI & I get the impression a lot of the new arrivals are either WUMs or Brentford fans.
When Mitro returns he's going to be on 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🤞
The problem has been his dodgy haircut. Now that the barbers are working he will come back with his normal hair do and will be back to his best.
Mitro needs better service.
Use the Forrest game tomorrow to rest Cav. and Knock and try Reid and Kebano in the wide positions. Stefjo will have to come in as the lone striker.
I think the point you make about how we've gradually moved from playing as a team to playing towards the strengths of Mitro is very true. We lost that energy up front as the players were always looking to get the ball to mitro or whoever was up front, which was limiting.. what we need is a team with the fluidity as they had against birmingham and instead of making it all about mitro, have mitro as the clean up/poacher.
Quote from: General on July 06, 2020, 05:35:48 PM
I think the point you make about how we've gradually moved from playing as a team to playing towards the strengths of Mitro is very true. We lost that energy up front as the players were always looking to get the ball to mitro or whoever was up front, which was limiting.. what we need is a team with the fluidity as they had against birmingham and instead of making it all about mitro, have mitro as the clean up/poacher.
Precisely!
Quote from: SP on July 06, 2020, 09:30:51 AM
Quote from: Twig on July 06, 2020, 09:27:21 AM
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
WUM
I also look at TFI & I get the impression a lot of the new arrivals are either WUMs or Brentford fans.
I'm Fulham through and through, came here cos cottage corner went down, either ways I love Mitro but there's no excuse for his behavior against Leeds, on 60K a week " my apologies"
Totally out of order an inexcusable no matter how much you love him,
He's looked fat, slow and lazy you can defend him all you want,,,,
Me personally if AK was fit I'd start him all day over Mitro to make him hungry..
hope I don't get banned for disagreeing with others on here
I'm with you Big T. Mitro has looked lazy in recent matches - the ball is played up to him, he fumbles then loses it but never chases back and switches off.
Having said that he has been our saviour on many occasions. Just think how successful we would be if he was energised!
Quote from: Big T on July 07, 2020, 01:35:15 AM
Quote from: SP on July 06, 2020, 09:30:51 AM
Quote from: Twig on July 06, 2020, 09:27:21 AM
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
WUM
I also look at TFI & I get the impression a lot of the new arrivals are either WUMs or Brentford fans.
I'm Fulham through and through, came here cos cottage corner went down, either ways I love Mitro but there's no excuse for his behavior against Leeds, on 60K a week " my apologies"
Totally out of order an inexcusable no matter how much you love him,
He's looked fat, slow and lazy you can defend him all you want,,,,
Me personally if AK was fit I'd start him all day over Mitro to make him hungry..
hope I don't get banned for disagreeing with others on here
Fair enough. Would you say these comments to him in person?
Quote from: Big T on July 07, 2020, 01:35:15 AM
Quote from: SP on July 06, 2020, 09:30:51 AM
Quote from: Twig on July 06, 2020, 09:27:21 AM
Quote from: Big T on July 06, 2020, 02:21:41 AM
He's been looking fat and aloof lately and at a 100k a week he's taking the mick, I'd have him polishing AK's Boots for the time being
WUM
I also look at TFI & I get the impression a lot of the new arrivals are either WUMs or Brentford fans.
I'm Fulham through and through, came here cos cottage corner went down, either ways I love Mitro but there's no excuse for his behavior against Leeds, on 60K a week " my apologies"
Totally out of order an inexcusable no matter how much you love him,
He's looked fat, slow and lazy you can defend him all you want,,,,
Me personally if AK was fit I'd start him all day over Mitro to make him hungry..
hope I don't get banned for disagreeing with others on here
Oh yeah, fat and lazy! Right.
Big T , general and bill 2, all hit the nail on the head. His behaviour at Leeds inexcusable, and when he receives the ball halfway into the opponents half he invaryably loses it again, BUT he' pretty lethal in the opponents P box as stats show. I want him playing not on the bench despite him being overweight and yes at times a tad lazy . His goals have got us where we are for sure.
I accept Mitro made a stupid mistake against Leeds. I see no evidence his body mass is out of line with what is expected of an athlete and I certainly don't see him as lazy. Mitro frequently runs himself into the ground chasing shadows due to the limited service he gets.
Quote from: Twig on July 07, 2020, 01:33:05 PM
I accept Mitro made a stupid mistake against Leeds. I see no evidence his body mass is out of line with what is expected of an athlete and I certainly don't see him as lazy. Mitro frequently runs himself into the ground chasing shadows due to the limited service he gets.
He didn't look like much like an athlete to me against Brentford and Leeds, if it was anyone else you'd say drop him
I hope his 3 match suspension snaps him into gear because right now we are playing better without him and that's a real stretch