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My worry is that in the friendlies so far I’m not seeing too many convincing wing backs.
Given we have potentially 3 left backs, 1 right back and 2 wingers on the books but the only one that’s looked promising in the position is Scales who is primarily a midfielder.
Appreciate Kelly yet to appear and Denton and Barrows (who I assume will be first choice) may get better with practice but I think goals might be hard to come by if those 2 are our wide attacking threats.
Of course we would score if you played Roberts and Law at wing back but the back 3 would be busy.
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At least this year we know it’s going to be one of our toughest games.
You would never have guessed Tamworth were going to p1ss the league either before or after last seasons opener.
Seems a bit harsh to be opening and closing the season with 2 long distance away games once again.
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If 3 at the back is the future will certainly be needing at least one more centre back.
To early to judge with one 45 minutes against Barton Town but Abraham worth another look or two. Burden took his goal well.
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Fair assessment WG. Abraham, Rowley and Hunter the pick of the trialists but Burden and Ferguson did OK.
Brogan looked decent and Carlton worked hard and has a bit of pace. Fishburn hasn’t got much pace and looked a bit lost but early days. 3 at the back introduces some interesting issues. Roberts played centre midfield – is that best use of arguably the leagues best winger?
Denton, Kelly and Barrows are decent full backs. Are they really wing backs? Scales looked good as right wing back but not really tested defensively.Still better to try formations in pre season training and friendlies than suddenly try it in 1 away game at Chester never to be seen again.
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We didn’t much play in the North East whichever day it was last season.
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I have long been a critic of Southgate’s tactical naivety and overly cautious approach.
Not enough to change my mind about his eight years but last night was the first time he has sent out a team to play as a genuine back three. Previous back threes have always been back fives with a sitting midfielder in front of them. Credit where credit is due.
If he had remembered to bring a fit left wing back to the tournament that would have been comfortably his most positive line up in an important game in his whole career.
He obviously did not spot that Trippier spent the last 3 or 4 months of the season dealing with injuries and poor form for Newcastle. He has been ineffective (by his usual high standards) when playing on the right so playing him on the left was high risk and has been a major factor in the lack of fluidity.
He also (as is usual) left his substitutions 15 or 20 minutes late.
He has however, stumbled on that number one quality that all tournament winning managers have. He is on a lucky streak.
Hope it lasts right through 2 more games. If it does I will be delighted to be proved to be wrong about Southgate for 8 years.
Probably best to see these lads play a game or two before we write them off.
Equally probably should try a pie or two before we judge the new head of catering and hospitality.
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Apart from the bozo away at Spennymoor the refereeing was incompetent and inconsistent rather than anything sinister.
Biggest issue for me is how easy it is to buy a free kick whilst at the same time deliberately disruptive petty fouls go unnoticed or unpunished.
This is why anti football tactics still work and are fairly widely used at this level whilst it’s much less prevalent in the EFL these days. In the Premier League it’s gone which is the biggest single benefit of VAR (arguably the only benefit).
At least part of the reason why quality alone isn’t guaranteed to bring success.
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The way I see it we lost an OK right back and have a replacement arguably more suited to the league we are in
(stronger in the air in both boxes).OK we have lost the best footballing midfielder in the division but he did struggle when man marked and pretty much stopped us playing with a high intensity in midfield.
Otherwise all other first choices are here.
We were no fitter last season than the part time teams. Butler seems determined to change that which will help greatly.
We also had a manager with little tactical nous. If Butler and Schofield have any idea then surely that will help. If a couple of our signings work out well my glass is half full.
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Is his nickname six?
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Seems churlish to criticise the referee when so many players performed poorly but he was comfortably the worst I have seen at the tournament.
Gave a raft of early cards for things that were barely fouls and then ignored some fairly naughty stuff because he didn’t have the balls to show a red card or three.
No half time subs. Has he been on the phone to Jimmy Dean?
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3 poor performances but 10 players start all 4 games.
It’s all down to getting the Kalvin Philips position right and all will be fine. No pressure Kobi.
Go England looking forward to Gareth making me eat humble pie.
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Jason Lee IronIronIron. As soon as you stop trying to remember a name you remember it.
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