If Bulut Stays-Can He Succeed?

[Bluebirdman Of Alcathays]

There was a moment yesterday where Bowler had the ball and three Boro defenders descended on him and he ran out of room. Won't future oppositions just close the space on the flanks and we'll lose possession regardless of who's playing there? Maybe he'll surprise us all and there'll be more variation but surely the same tactics will give us another mid-table finish (provided the bodies on the line approach continues to work).

[the other bob wilson]

There was a moment yesterday where Bowler had the ball and three Boro defenders descended on him and he ran out of room. Won't future oppositions just close the space on the flanks and we'll lose possession regardless of who's playing there? Maybe he'll surprise us all and there'll be more variation but surely the same tactics will give us another mid-table finish (provided the bodies on the line approach continues to work).

That's the thing, if Bulut's tactics are really as rigid and specific as Tuerto says they are (they certainly have been this season), aren't we going to be dead easy to play against next season because the opposition will know exactly how we are going to set up?

There was a fair bit of optimism within the week leading up to Saturday's match that we may see a few youngsters starting, but apart from Ashford (would he have been in the starting eleven if Grant was fit?), the youngsters had to wait for their chance es we lined up tactically just as we always do for league games. Ashford's first half performance offered proof that Bulut's mantra about working hard out of possession was still being applied - nothing wrong with that, but it's a question of degree with me and Bulut's priorities with his so called wingers have been very defensively orientated, moreso than with most clubs we play I'd say. I found it a bit sad that so much of Ashford's youthful enthusiasm was used up chasing back and forth deep in his own half making sure we had ten of the team behind the ball as soon as Boro got within fifty yards of our goal.

Maybe I'm making too much of this, but all season long, I've found the contrast in the type of football we play in Cup and league matches fascinating. The team selected are clearly given more freedom to express themselves when we're in possession with the pay back behind the mad defensive selections which improve the team's ability to play out from the back, but at the expense of what I'll call basic defending because there are so few natural defenders involved (those that are tend to be out of position).

To my mind, if you're a young full back, midfielder, winger or striker playing for the first team under bulut in a cup tie, it must be like playing an age group in terms of the type of football being played, but it is no preparation for what you'll be facing in Bulut's starting eleven for a Championship fixture. We may not be anything like as much of a long ball team under Erol Bulut, but it's still the case that the football played by the first team in the Championship bears no relation tactically to the way our youngsters play in our age group teams.

Erol Buluts' teams are good at winning games that we manage to stay in until their closing stages - our record from going behind from 1-0 down to win is pretty good, but if 1-0 becomes 2-0 or 3-1 then forget it - we've only drawn two games 2-2 all season and we were leading 2-0 and 2-1 in those. Similarly, we've only scored more than two in a game twice - a 3-2 win over Coventry in which we were never behind after taking an early lead and the 4-0 win on the ground of a side that are all but relegated.

This helps explain to some degree why we've only been capable of winning by one goal margins for the last six months whereas our lack of goals means that opponents are safe in knowing that the match is as good as won if they can get two goals clear of us.

We may not play a version of hoofball any more, but the basic thinking behind our tactical approach is the same, no matter who we're playing in a Championship game, we go out onto the pitch with an attitude that shouts "we think our opponents are better than us" - you would have thought that during a season where we been mid table or better for nearly all of the time, we still kept on playingon the back foot at hime against sides that were below us in.the table.

This philosophy explains why that big win at Huddersfield back in October is unique ib our season in being the only game out of the forty five in which it felt like we were in command for the whole ninety minutes - even last season there were matches like Birmingham, Rotherham, Blackburn and Reading at home where it felt like we were in charge throughout despite us only winning them 1-0 - not one of our home games have had that feel to them this season I'd say, we edge our way to wins under Bulut, but with the way he sets us up, it's the only way we can do it..