FFCDOUG

Yep the story of our season. We don't really seem to have any variation to the wide triangle patterns. They rely on a winger being on top form and Iwobi has gone missing in the second half of the season. Just thinking back over the last few years do we actually score goals from CM?

Haha yeah, all on big wages too. I genuinely would prefer any academy player to Traore right now, he just looks bored and lost. I can't wait for Wilson to return.

Yeah good point about Tete. Castagne has had the odd good game, but Tete is much better. It says a lot when William at 36 is our best player in a big game. Iwobi needs to get his form back as well.

Why can't we ever break down a low block. So frustrating!!

Yeah he doesn't offer much more. But against a team that plays a low block and counters efficiently u need someone that can find pockets, which ESR does a hell of a lot better than Pereira. I think Wilson was a big miss tbh. He is the only attacking left footed player and makes great runs in behind.

Yeah exactly. For all the great Silva does he's had serious trouble breaking down low blocks. We don't currently have that one player like Eze in the squad who can produce magic. Smith-Rowe has not been a £35m player but he should have started above AP, who offers nothing. Iwobi has lost it as well.

I completely agree with this. To lose 3-0 at home to palace in what was the biggest game of the season is shocking. He was outcouched by Glasner. I get why Muniz and Pereira started but it should have been Smith-Rowe and Raul. Raul was on top form. Pereira offers very little.

I completely agree with this. It's what is holding us back getting to that next level which is so frustrating. Our home form is awful, I think we've only won 4 games which is really poor considering some of the teams we've played. The inconsistency is one thing Marco is still unable to shake.

I personally didn't think palace were that great. We've seen a lot better teams at the cottage this year. Yes they had a really good structure defensively, but we're so poor that we didn't push them out of that at any point in the game. A complete off day for everyone. Forget it and move on.

I wouldn't go too much into depth with analysis into that performance. Palace weren't amazing and we were just atrocious. Worst performance of the season, more so than United, Wolves and Southampton at home. Just write it up as a shocker and move on!

Definitely with the world cup in 2026. He'll want to push himself to be his best to make sure he's part of the squad next year for Mexico. He's also great to have around the club from what I've heard.

Yeah not sure why we had such a poor window. Are we genuinely broke? Sounds like all we offered is straight loans for the players we were interested in. Is Tete close to being back then too, there have been snaps of him training? Hopefully we go hard in the summer after PSR reset

Both

Yeah that's, the problem. Our tempo was abysmal all game bar the last 15 minutes. Silva tried to gloss over it, but u can't say we dominated and 100% deserved to win when our expected goals was less than 1. We miss that big game player currently to get us over the line.

Good luck finding anything to analyse, maybe Wilson's defending on Mazraoui, he seemed to track him like a hawk whenever he inverted. I think that was poor from Marco as Wilson should be the one dragging him around, not the other way. I think that left us one less option when countering.

The stupid thing is that I can see us going to Newcastle and getting a decent win, as we play so much better against teams that want to attack. Need to find a way to beat shit teams, it's been so poor at home this year.

The tempo was abysmal from us all game. We only upped it after they scored. Marco's comments were wrong that we completely dominated the game, we barely offered anything. Getting a striker in or another quality attacking player is essential before the end of Jan.

That's so true, the amount of times we get the ball outside the penalty area and make a safe pass sideways, just shoot ffs, and have the confidence to.

Yeah it's a decent option, and when we have the right personnel available it could work. I think Smith Rowe/Iwobi would be the ideal 2 "inside 10's". Against a low block though it negates the benefits of 4-3-3. Although saying that we've struggled against poor teams whatever system, so who knows.

I actually quite like the 5atb. I think this would maybe be perfect for Cuenca to slot in though with him going central and bassey left and Anderson right. Berge and Lukic would also complement the middle perfectly. I think it falls down ATM as Andreas isn't suited to that role.

Yeah we weren't great today bar a good 20 minutes when Cairney took over the game. I can see why Bournemouth is above us though, a decent team. Shame we couldn't hold on though. I agree that this formation would be great with Berge back though.

It was so funny watching tosin do tosin things again by falling asleep to miss the runner behind him. Just glad it's not for us anymore.

Is he enjoying the success of the U-21 team at the moment and does he find the time to get down to motspur park to watch the games?

I thought as much, Palhinha's insane defensive stats sometimes covered up that he wasn't as good as Lukic and Berge progressing the ball upfield. Although that's not to say with the way Marco is playing this year he couldn't have improved in that aspect.

I agree with this. Sander seems much more accomplished on the ball. He may never get the tackle stats of palhinha, but I think those stats sometimes hid the detrimental effect he had on our build up.

Hopefully the lads turn up we can't afford another Wolves display. Looking forward to hopefully Wilson getting a start and Iwobi going centrally or even Wilson in the other "free 8" role. I think Raul will still start but Muniz must be knocking back on the door for another crack

So happy he's finally been dropped. Might be a wake up call to him that he's not prime Kaka.

I'm not against this. Not been anywhere near his "supposed" standards this year in what he says is his favourite position. I just can't really see what he offers if we're not scoring from set pieces.

I think the Wolves match had a good mix of players that went and played that didn't. ESR/Reiss/Tete/Lukic/Leno. Anderson was also back early. Yet 3 of those were off the boil. It is strange and I do think rotating should have been an option. Especially with Raul and Pereira. So it's hard to pinpoint

Yeah potentially. Maybe that's one flaw in this "2 free 8's" system. Is that his focus currently is on the left hand side, and the system doesn't allow him to venture too far over to the right to find pockets there. He did try to drop deep on occasion yesterday to no avail.