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Excellent report, thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
It certainly was unusual for Warnock to mention them in the week and to talk about the good football they play, I wonder what brought that on? It's an odd coincidence that he did that then we played some good football today but I guess there's no point in reading too much into that.
How did they set up formation-wise? What kind of a striker is Griffiths? Sounds like he's made a good start here.
Great read there. I missed the game yesterday but from what I hear, Sion Spence has been exceptional this year under Bellamy. Long may it continue.
They started off with three centrebacks and wing backs, but it looked to me as if it was more of a 4-4-2 at the end, Griffiths is strong, pretty quick and good in the air for someone who certainly doesn't have a typical target man build - I also like the look of Joel Bagan a defender we got from Southampton.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loramski
Bellamy was interesting (as always) before the game yesterday. He said he hoped we'd go 4-4-2 and analysed the reasons why very well, it still seemed odd that he called it exactly right even though Warnock hasn't started a league game with that set-up since he came here, as far as I can remember. Of course, it's not unlikely that a change of tactics would have been an open secret within the club but, coupled with Warnock's random praise of the Academy in the week, it made me wonder if there wasn't a bit more to it. If Warnock went from Tuesday's dress rehearsal of 4-4-2 (which would even have embarrassed Slade) to yesterday's singing and dancing version entirely off his own back then he really is a genius.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
One other thing Bellamy said which I found interesting was that he now has to coach lads to play with a partner up front whereas in his day it was the norm. He said youngsters are now so used to playing up front on their own that playing as a two is alien to them and then briefly explained the advantages of it as well as how to avoid getting overrun in midfield if you do. I'm aware other sides are doing it with some success but it seemed odd somehow coming from Bellamy, I think of it as old school now but apparently not. My worry with him is that he's becoming such a good pundit that he may see that as his future rather than coaching which would be a loss I think.
If I had to guess, I'd say Bellamy will want to give management a try before he would seriously contemplate a career in the media. Who knows where the decision to change tack compared to what we had seen in our first three matches came from - I seem to remember Warnock suggesting things may change in the Arsenal match after we has played Huddersfield.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loramski
Warnock explained that he went with two up front to try and stop Arsenal playing through us as they feared they would do if we kept on playing with just one striker, so that almost makes the changes we saw defensive ones, but the way the full backs pushed on in a way I'd not seen before under this manager (I watched the extended highlights on the club website and he attacked more than I thought he had at the time) strongly suggests otherwise.
Indeed. One of my criticisms of the Norwich game was that Harris and Richards were so intent on tracking back that we almost ended up with six at the back which left the front two completely isolated and double marked. How Warnock got from that to the daredevil stuff we saw on Sunday is beyond me. I didn't go back to see Bellamy's post match analysis although I did see a clip of him at half time commenting on how many men we were getting in the box and saying its something we hadn't been doing in previous matches. It seemed a bit churlish of the MOTD pundits to criticise our lack of movement in the box, it's the first time most of our players had made it in there all season so it's hardly surprising they weren't sure what to do when they got there.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
My eldest pretty much shot me down in flames when I suggested this but would you see it as possible that Warnock had sought out Bellamy during the week? I've no idea. On the one hand it would seem like a lack of confidence in both yourself and your staff to seek advice from elsewhere, on the other it would seem like common sense to pick the brains of someone with experience and knowledge of the Premier League as both a player and a pundit as well as a coach from within the club whose team is playing well and getting results. No point in speculating really but I'm a bit confused as to where Sunday came from, it was so unlike Warnock.
Given his size, I would guess you could probably count on the fingers of one hand, the number of times Craig Bellamy would have played up front by himself, so I'm thinking he would be much better placed to talk about the merits of playing two forwards, while someone like Ronnie Jepson may have played as a lone striker fairly often in his career - as I said, Warnock was hinting at something different in his post Huddersfield press conference, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was minded to "have a go" against Arsenal (if you're going to do that against only one of the top six, Arsenal seem the obvious candidates to me), but took soundings from the two strikers on his coaching staff to consider the best way of doing it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Loramski
It's a tricky one because there's no way of knowing whether Warnock changed systems because we hadn't scored in three games, because it was Arsenal up next or because he knew he wouldn't have Murphy and Mendez-Laing available (and possibly Hoilett too). I guess the point I've been making is that Tuesday was exactly how I'd imagine Warnock playing 4-4-2 would look like whereas Sunday was how I'd imagine Bellamy playing 4-4-2 would look like. It's pointless me speculating any more how we got from one to the other in five days but I'm glad we did.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Fascinating conversation.
I saw and heard Bellamy's comments and tbh I wasn't surprised we went 442 given the make up of the team.
Bellamy I am sure had inside knowledge and may very well have been consulted.
I take that as a positive.
I think Warnock showed his lack of prem nous in the first few games. Arsenal changed that to some degree and he was only let down by uncharacteristically shaky performances by the Centre backs. Otherwise, who knows what might have happened.