"Where's the width?"

[palexander]

Just watch the interview on the OS with Tilly's pre-Walsall thoughts.

Spoke about Grant playing on the right in front of Franno and said "no doubt people will say, 'wheres the width'" - in a manner that people HAVE said that - I assume either from the East Stand or its been picked up from here.

He did say that it was working well though, so I dont expect it to change any time soon.

Laurent sounds like he could be back in a couple of weeks, but Tilson says 2-4 to be 'safe' so he doesnt get a date held against him.

 

[GBJ]

To be fair, it has been working well in the opening 2 games.

I also think it depends on what combination we've gone for uptop. For example, Walker/Freedman/Barny aren't the big physical type to attack the ball from a cross and will get bullied off it more often than not, so the idea of having a wideman swinging in crosses becomes pointless. (Apart from Tuesday night - well done Barny)

Then it depends on what kind of result Tilly is looking for. There's no question (IMO), that Tilly set out for a draw last saturday, but realised the formation worked very well, better than he expected and therefore left it the same for Cheltenham.

 

[Strykr]

for me hes come across a bit crabby the last few interviews, maybe just a case of being in the job for so long and fed up with all the ron managers that think they could do the job better without really understanding what goes on, budge, etc, plus some of the daft media speculation!. its clear that he works better with a tight knit squad and the grant francis thing seems like a sensible way to get the best out of the personnel at his disposal.
although only 24 franno is quite a senior member of the team and hopefully this season he'll perform up to his potential which i think most of us agree is pretty good, seems like team spirit is pretty good and to quote tilly, 'the lads are all up for it'. relishing the challenge of all the so called big sides in the league.

 

[DTS]

I think the 4 central midfielders across the midfield has worked fairly well but I do really feel that a decent winger would win you more games that you lost.

If you look back to recent years Gower won us so many games with his goals and creativity. I dont think the same could ever be said for Granty altough I expect were more of a solid defensive unit due to his presence.

 

[leeblue]

we are crying out for a right winger, dont get me wrong with grant sitting in front of francis we have a good shape thats hard to beat but against hudderfield it limited our attacking options and of course we lost an outlet wide right at times, there is a difference between playing right mid and being a winger, I love a proper winger so maybe I a bit biased

 

[dloman]

In all fairness its pretty much how we finished last season as well and we had pretty good results with it then.

 

[palexander]

we are crying out for a right winger, dont get me wrong with grant sitting in front of francis we have a good shape thats hard to beat but against hudderfield it limited our attacking options and of course we lost an outlet wide right at times, there is a difference between playing right mid and being a winger, I love a proper winger so maybe I a bit biased

Know what you are saying, but dont think it 'limited' our attacking options as I thought we were quite bright against Huddersfield.

I think Tilly is setting everything up to incorporate Sawyer - and there is your creativity.

The fact he is playing 4 CMs across midfield suggests to me he (obviously!) wants to keep it tight and the stripping of the VC from Macca the other night gives me the feeling that Macca will make way for Sawyer to give us a creative outlet in midfield and that the other 3 will provide cover for when he forays forward.

(If you are reading Tilly, sorry - not telling you how to do your job, dont get upset and diss me in any interviews).

 

[Andy_S]

One of my massive gripes with the manager is that he doesn't treat each game as a different one. So it's all very well saying it's working well now, but it doesn't mean it should be used for every game. For example, using a very defensive midfield away from home against the top team in the league isn't generally what you should use at home to the bottom club in the league. In the past he's done this type of thing and I really do hope he's learnt from his mistakes.

 

[danburyshrimper]

i think Tilly is just using what he's got at the moment ,, i'm sure he would like to have an attacking out + out winger in his squad but this was supposed to be Scannell's role + this hasnt worked out. Having Grant tuck in covering Francis does work well in our formation , Franno is suspect when attacked by a tricky winger so grant squashes this threat + Grant likes drifting deeper + more central so this allows Macca/ Sawyer to attack more.. a la Pettefer / Jupp --

anyone else wonder if Macca was asked if he will do the wide role, to enable Sawyer in the middle, + macca kicked up a fuss ? this might explain Mildy getting the armband on tuesday ?

tough match on saturday , i fancy a gritty 1.0 win ...

up the blues !!!!

 

[TTS]

4 'central midfielders' across the middle , with Grant in front of Franno , works well ok away from Home (Col U last season), but for me is not attacking enough at home .

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Everyone is forgetting that with Grant in front of Franno, it gives Franno ideal opportunity to overlap Grant up the wing and put in some decent crosses, with Grant to drop back to fill the gap when needed. That works as well, if not better than a full back and an out and out winger.

 

[OlvisIII]

In my opinion the best five midfielders in the club - comfortably - are Grant, Moussa, McCormack, Christophe and Sawyer. With no extra funding available, we need to develop a formation that allows four of these playesr to start every game - that is what Tilly is doing. On their day they are five of the best midfielders in the league.

We won the league three years ago with practically the same 11 playing every game - give or take the odd change especially at the back. If these eleven stay fit then there is no reason why we can't challenge.

You always need to take the oppo into consideration, but if we are positive and are secure with our plans then we can adopt this system all season and will cause any team problems.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Everyone is forgetting that with Grant in front of Franno, it gives Franno ideal opportunity to overlap Grant up the wing and put in some decent crosses, with Grant to drop back to fill the gap when needed. That works as well, if not better than a full back and an out and out winger.

Think Franno said as much himself in an interview in yesterday's Echo.

 

[Smiffy]

Both goals we conceeded on Saturday came from crosses down the right hand side though?

 

[united we stand]

One of my massive gripes with the manager is that he doesn't treat each game as a different one. So it's all very well saying it's working well now, but it doesn't mean it should be used for every game. For example, using a very defensive midfield away from home against the top team in the league isn't generally what you should use at home to the bottom club in the league. In the past he's done this type of thing and I really do hope he's learnt from his mistakes.

Maybe Tilly is taking Brian Clough for Inspiration.

When he went to Forest , and BEFORE he made them a big club he used to say something like ' Why should I change formation to play xxxx, we are better than them across the park , I expect them to change formation to play us.

The thing is - he was right !

 

[maninasuitcase]

We seem to have had a lot of success playing with non wingers on the right, Bradbury, Petts etc, with a more gifted winger on the left, eg Gower.

It seems to give us a more solid formation as sometime the likes of Black were caught up field and didn't chase back.

 

[Sean 2]

I'd like to see Granty getting forward more often.
When he has the ball in the opponent's box they just wanna hack him down!

 

[mattytheshrimper]

never used to like it when moussa was stuck out on the left but now he has really come into his own and suits the posistion. i felt last season he looked out of place and it didn't suit him. but after seeing a few pre-season games and him also knocking in a few goals i think he will get better and better there. again can't see granty suiting be a winger but who know's. we've such good player who are central mid-fielders so we are very lucky.

sooner or later we will need an actually winger.

 

[Hazey]

Wheres the width? Michael Ricketts took it with him.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

I am quite happy with the line up in midfield but do worry that we will be overly reliant on Barney for goals. Walker and Revs have less than double figures for us, Doog aint getting any younger and has zero pace, and Laurent is still very unpredictable. Really need Moose and Macca to hit double figures.