First let me say that I am basing all this on what I have seen on the box this season. So it means that A) I may have missed things in the overall picture, and b) The TV may not have been truly representative of the season as a whole. The defensive lapses, lack of creativity and structure appear to be adding up to relegation at the moment.
At least the team seemed to have a shape at Derby, but IMO completely the wrong one. The Diamond midfield just does not work. Unless you have the players who can dominate a game it leaves you short of width in attack and the full backs exposed in defence. Often the players end up in areas of the field where they are at their least effective. If you are going to insist on the Diamond then surely the point of the Diamond must be the most capable footballing midfielder, not the least (Austin). Just switching Austin and Cook has to be an improvement. Austin helps the defence and Cook has the energy to get up and down with a bit more freedom to try things. Austin's position last night should have been just in front of Martin to make it harder for Derby to get the ball to him, and in a position to challenge Martin or help the defence. The defending from the defenders was not so bad last night. Individually they are the best we have, but collectively not good enough, so a formation and personnel to protect them are required. Last night the Leeds midfield was doing almost as good a job as Derby were at pressurising the defence. Why was Doukara marking their bloke for the 2nd goal? Should have been somebody who knows how to do it. As a few have also said, Austin is now my version of Rich's Becchio too. The 'expert' summarisers just seem to see him running around a lot and challenging, without noticing how many times he loses the ball. Not sure what Bianchi offers either, the only position he has looked remotely effective in is the central holding role. I'm sure he played there a couple of times in Redfearn's spell as caretaker. As for Doukara, I was wrong about him. I thought he looked decent at the start of the season, but he seems to be an inferior version of Emile Heskey. Has all the attributes, but they don't add up to equal a footballer. As for a solution? I think Antenucci, Adryan, Cook and Mowatt have to play, as they are the 4 best footballers. Austin or Bianchi to help out the defence, and then whoever else balances the team off So either a 4-1-4-1 with Austin or Bianchi just in front of the back 4, Antenucci up front and Adryan, Cook, Mowatt and Morison in midfield. With Morison supporting Doukara in attack, then dropping into either wide position when we lose the ball, with the other 3 shuffling as necessary . Perhaps a 4-3-3 with Adryan and Antenucci joined by ether Morison or Doukara. No natural width, but possibly enough presence to at lease occupy the opposing full-backs. 4-4-2 is largely discredited now, but even that could work with Cook and Austin/Bianchi in the middle, Mowatt tucking in a bit on the left, and Adryan playing wide right. I don't know the answers, but I can see the difference between a team that seems to work (Derby), and one that definitely doesn't. Sorry for the length of that. KOT. ____________________________________________________________ UK Shared Business Services Ltd. Registered in England and Wales as a limited company. Company number 6330639. Registered Office: North Star House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1FF. UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UK SBS) is the new name for RCUK Shared Services Centre Ltd. While we migrate all our materials to the new name and new identity please bear with us. This email and any attachments are intended for the named addressee(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify UK SBS immediately and do not disclose, distribute, or retain this email or any part of it. While UK SBS has taken every reasonable precaution to minimise risk of this e-mail or any attachments containing viruses, the recipient should carry out its own virus checks before opening the attachments. The Company does not accept any liability for any losses or damages which the recipient may sustain due to presence of any viruses. Any opinions expressed in this email (including attachments) are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the company's opinions. We will not accept responsibility for any commitments made by our employees outside the scope of our business. The Company reserves the right to monitor all e-mail communications through their networks for the purposes of preventing and detecting crime. ____________________________________________________________ This message has been scanned by the iCritical Email Security Service. For more information please visit http://www.icritical.com ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
