Without a fully fit squad.. we just can't play 4231..

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outoftown

Well-known member
Even the first half hour tonight was better than the last two games in terms of playing out from the back options.
Yes we had little of the ball , but there were glimmers of over laps / counter attacks etc.

And most importantly . When we lost it, we didn't look immediately out numbered.
If the Engel inside passes fk ups first 20 min happen with a 4231 , we'd of been wrecked.
 
We were awful until the sending off. It's not fair to single out Engel and a few loose passes, we were terrible and couldn't get anything cohesive going.
I said earlier that it looked like we didn't have an idea what would happen beyond the next pass, probably summed up when Forss had space and time to play it into LL and he never got his head up.
At least when they went down to 10 we started to look like we had a plan on how to build an attack.
 
outoftown said:
Even the first half hour tonight was better than the last two games in terms of playing out from the back options.
Yes we had little of the ball , but there were glimmers of over laps / counter attacks etc.

And most importantly . When we lost it, we didn't look immediately out numbered.
If the Engel inside passes fk ups first 20 min happen with a 4231 , we'd of been wrecked.
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Honestly, we looked terrible until the sending off. 541 or 4231 or 554 or anything else!
 
dooderooni said:
We were awful until the sending off. It's not fair to single out Engel and a few loose passes, we were terrible and couldn't get anything cohesive going.
I said earlier that it looked like we didn't have an idea what would happen beyond the next pass, probably summed up when Forss had space and time to play it into LL and he never got his head up.
At least when they went down to 10 we started to look like we had a plan on how to build an attack.
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I'm not picking on him , far from it.
It was just an example of how ' not ' having that rigid 4231 was beneficial.
Having a bit extra cover inside , and someone actually in front of him means he can offer genuine threat forward, and balance.

I've said for weeks that 3/5 at the back would benefit Dieng, Ayling, Clarke, Engel, O'Brien, Mcgree, Barlaser, Howson .. still feel that way

I agree with the Forss example ..
But it came out of them pushing up , and us having the bodies to break up their play / a few supporting to maraud forward without the usual holes behind.
( Obviously a look up and switch would of been perfect)
 
I'd disagree that Engel had any support in front of him and that has been issue going back to last season when it was possible to get in behind Giles.
The right fullback always gets better support, either from Forss or Jones, but whoever plays out on the left always leaves their fullback exposed.
It's our inability to stretch the game and not end up in a 10 to 20 yard clump that leads to turnovers more often than not. When we allow ourselves to get pushed back towards our goal then it becomes that congested that we'll inevitably play ourselves into trouble. I don't think the formation makes a difference to that.
We need to braver and quicker when playing the ball and not let the opposition have the time to push up onto us. An extra bit of zip on the pass or even making one pass instead of two will help tremendously. If you saw the Ipswich game last night, the football wasn't Cityesque, but it was played at a pace that gave Bristol something to think about rather than being able to maintain their shape and press Ipswich into a mistake.
 
outoftown said:
I thought we looked less brittle ..

Far from great obviously.. but better than formulaic obviousness of against Plymouth etc.
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I thought we looked woeful. We were wide open across the pitch and for me it was a matter of time before they scored again.

Our defence, even with an extra centre back, were stretched too easily.
 
Not sure its all about the formation. We didn’t have a shot that I could recall before the sending off and could have been 2 down, but for Diengs save. Up until that point we looked as lost as any display we had under Woodgate. I am going to take the win and hope confidence improves and we are able to stabilise a bit. Dont see any reason to get all dramatic about the season. Improvement needed obviously but with better luck with injuries and a good transfer window I am expecting much better things next season.
 
dooderooni said:
I'd disagree that Engel had any support in front of him and that has been issue going back to last season when it was possible to get in behind Giles.
The right fullback always gets better support, either from Forss or Jones, but whoever plays out on the left always leaves their fullback exposed.
It's our inability to stretch the game and not end up in a 10 to 20 yard clump that leads to turnovers more often than not. When we allow ourselves to get pushed back towards our goal then it becomes that congested that we'll inevitably play ourselves into trouble. I don't think the formation makes a difference to that.
We need to braver and quicker when playing the ball and not let the opposition have the time to push up onto us. An extra bit of zip on the pass or even making one pass instead of two will help tremendously. If you saw the Ipswich game last night, the football wasn't Cityesque, but it was played at a pace that gave Bristol something to think about rather than being able to maintain their shape and press Ipswich into a mistake.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more regards our LB being hung out to dry normally.
It's been a dogs job playing LB this year.
I'd love us to play more ' Ipswichy ' , and maybe with our true 11 we could .
That one touch , first time with zip stuff is the best we played last year, this year against Leicester on the counter, etc
But without having Bangura, Coburn, Jones , Hackney it's very difficult to have the option to do that.

I struggle to see a 4 2 3 1 with who's available to play between now and of the end of season to do that .

Last thing I want to see between now and the end of the season is Jones come back in, everyone relying on him to provide the impetus going forward, and Engel getting slated for not being Kyle Walker / John stones
 
It looked like a 2 or 3 nil loss until the sending off but we still looked quite a bit better than we did Saturday
All immaterial now...
 
We were dreadful before the goal and were on our way to a comfortable defeat.
I don't think the system has anything to do it with, the reason we are underperforming recently is confidence and belief.
 
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