Parker reckons change of formation wasn't reason for defeat

[rebel]

Parker got the selection and tactics wrong, the players made mistakes and then Tony Khan pours fuel on the fire.  It was horrible, Parker needs to learn, they players need upgrading and we all need to move on.

Nice post.

[rebel]

I think parker has the same issues as slav did but actually in some ways a bit worse.

The squad is wrong, as it was for slav. But slav was obviously more experienced but slav had to chop and change the defence because of injuries.
Parker has to chop and change because of lack of quality. That is compounded by not having a porper pre season.

They both had a common problem in recurtement, and only TK's PR machine are defending that.

Good post.

[rebel]

3 games in, only 1 decent half performance (2nd half v Leeds). Unfortunately, it does not bode well and surely will be a long road ahead no matter how it is sliced.

There seems to be multiple problems from bringing in new players down to the fundamental performance of many. Parker has his faults, but what can he do when players of not the right calibre are brought in and defend like schoolboys (eg, ball watching, not tracking and physically weak in the challenge).

Against Villa, I thought the players were totally at fault, they just didn't show up to play. Parker dose need to motivate them I feel. That i training ground stuff, all week.

I think the first half against Leeds were better than the second. I also believe we had a very good first half against Arsenal if we take into account the level of the opposition. Second half against Leeds started badly, then we had a short very good spell and we ended quite poorly for the last 20 minutes or so.

Maybe I'm being unkind here or just plain wrong, but I thought we really only looked decent when we were really chasing the game ad the oppo put the foot off the pedal a bit as it was plain sailing towards a win.

Your are correct in saying that, it was the same against Leeds, second half there was a 'purple patch', we showed urgency, there was a determined purpose to our attacks, played some really good football, looked a threat, scored 2 goals could of added a few more.

[bobby01]

Sorry, but Parker getting a pass because of individual player errors is not right. It was the same all last season but because of the standard of opposition we got away with it on many occasions. Stuart Gray is supposedly the defensive coach and has been here a long time, but the same errors re not tracking runners or marking from set plays are here every game. I have no idea what Matt Wells brings to the coaching side. Brede said training with Roy was boring because he drilled them over and over in defensive shape, but he also said it worked. I see the same problems every game so what they work on in training I really don't know.

[Matt10]

The 3-4-3 was never used before, but forgetting all that, the possession was much higher than it's been because we could go quite wide in attack. TC didn't have to play balls backwards (since some say that's how he plays...) and could play diagonal passes more often. We bypassed Villa's midfield much more. All that is great, but from there the problem is our "final ball".

- Massive amount of crosses to Mitro with noone else running off of him to pull the other centreback just further isolates him.
- No passes to Mitro's feet.
- No cutting inside from the wings, just cross after cross.
- Exposed at the back by the opposition able to keep 2 players higher up to prevent our CB's (Ream and Hector) from being there in transition.

It wasn't until the second half that we started to changing a bit. Started with Kamara's left footed shot that led to a disallowed goal. Then Bryan's brilliant strike that was equally saved.

If Parker wants to stay with the 3-4-3 then he needs to give the attack more creative freedom, but also understand that our lack of CB depth will be tested in transition. If we can have more pace in the back, such as Robinson versus Odoi/Ream, then maybe it will work better. I still prefer our 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 and making that work, especially because it's only been used against Arsenal.

[Sting of the North]

3 games in, only 1 decent half performance (2nd half v Leeds). Unfortunately, it does not bode well and surely will be a long road ahead no matter how it is sliced.

There seems to be multiple problems from bringing in new players down to the fundamental performance of many. Parker has his faults, but what can he do when players of not the right calibre are brought in and defend like schoolboys (eg, ball watching, not tracking and physically weak in the challenge).

Against Villa, I thought the players were totally at fault, they just didn't show up to play. Parker dose need to motivate them I feel. That i training ground stuff, all week.

I think the first half against Leeds were better than the second. I also believe we had a very good first half against Arsenal if we take into account the level of the opposition. Second half against Leeds started badly, then we had a short very good spell and we ended quite poorly for the last 20 minutes or so.

Maybe I'm being unkind here or just plain wrong, but I thought we really only looked decent when we were really chasing the game ad the oppo put the foot off the pedal a bit as it was plain sailing towards a win.

I don't know if there is necessarily a right or wrong as we all watch games differently. I thought that we were more than a match for Leeds in the first half, and were rather unfortunate to be behind at half time. Time and time again we bypassed their midfield and if Onomah had had a decent game we would have punished them. Unfortunately he mostly ran with the ball until he lost it.

We did the same for much of the second half, and in my opinion the real difference happened to be that we scored, which we got ourselves in equally good positions to do in the first half.

[TheDaddy]

Seldom disagree with Scot but the tactics were all wrong that was a game you look at as a three pointer . Flood the midfield and attack .five at the back just showed how poor we are as a defensive team .i don't like knocking our players , here comes the but , what the hell has happened to Hector it seems his head has gone From last season.

[Arthur]

I wonder whether Parker and his staff would ideally like to set up very similarly to Monday, and they are waiting on a full complement of new arrivals.

Play three centre-backs with a defensive midfielder just in front of them. Allow the full backs to play as wing backs and play two primarily attacking midfielders. With Mitrovic as our spearhead, give the final outfield spot to someone such as Lookman, who would operate between the lines of midfield and Mitrovic. All of which would mean no role for Knockaert and Cavaleiro.

Two key positions that make or break such a formation, of course, are the wing backs. It is they who have to cover the hard yards getting up and down the pitch to become wingers when we attack and full backs when we defend. Good news that we have these positions covered - with Tete and Aina on one flank and Bryan and Robinson on the other. And I can imagine all four would figure in many matches. When the starting pair tire, they make way for the two on the bench.

If we can acquire a centre back, or two, we may find this formation strikes the best balance between being solid in defence while providing a valuable means of attack.