It's not all Brian's fault...

[PhilGull]

It seems that a lot of people are putting the majority of the blame for our poor results at the feet (or just behind them as he gets caught out of position!) of Brian Saah. Whilst he has made a number of individual mistakes I feel there is a bigger problem than just the one centre half. That problem is the six players in front of the defence not retaining possession of the football. Having said that, I feel changes to the defence are needed.

I think Lingy is right not to go running in to the transfer market just yet. Regardless of performances for the reserves I do feel that there are other players within the squad who deserve an opportunity to have a go at changing our fortunes.

The problems as I see it are that Nicho is slow, Robbo is not a left-sided centre half, Saah has zero confidence left, Oastler isn't ruthless enough and the midfield is lacking any real bite.

The big problem for me is in the midfield. In my eyes you either have to have an out and out defensive midfielder to sit in front of the back four and allow the other one or two midfielders to roam forwards or you need two 'box to box' midfielders who can get forward and cover at the back in equal measure. We currently have O'Kane, a very cultured attacking midfielder not too adept at performing the defensive duties and Mansell also spending a lot of time getting forward (as proven by his billing as top scorer).

As a result I would like to see the following changes.
Nicho - Regardless of his lack of pace he does possess a great 'footballing brain' and is still lethal from dead ball situations, he stays.
Robbo - He is not a left-sided centre half. I would like to see him at right back.
Saah - So low on confidence I'm surprised he is able to get out of bed in the mornings. Needs a spell on the bench.
Oastler - I really like Joe and in a team playing well his footballing ability at full back would be great but I feel at the moment he would be better deployed in midfield.
That leaves two empty centre half slots. In to which I would deploy LRT and Ellis. Now I know a lot of people are going to pooh-pooh this idea but hear me out (please!)
LRT - The only player in the squad who has anywhere near a natural ability to play as a left-sided centre half, he is also the most athletic and quickest of all our defenders. He will be able to cover the left back position when Nicho inevitably gets caught up field.
Ellis - Not much needs saying here. Big, strong and deserving of an opportunity to prove himself and start to fullfill the potential that Big Sam saw in him all those years ago.

That leaves the midfield. As I said above I would move Oastler in here, to play along side Mansell, with O'Kane just in front of them, behind Howe. This I think (hope) would give the defence a little more protection. Mansell would be able to get forward still but Oastler would still be there to provide the defensive cover and O'Kane would have the freedom to roam.
I would then use Bodin and Atieno/Stevens/Macklin/McPhee to provide the width.

Any thoughts? (and apologies for the long post!)

[Southampton Gull]

Well thought out Phil. I wouldn't be against giving it a go and stranger things have happened so why not?

[royalgull]

Whilst i'd agree in theory with the system change, I'm not sure Howe has the mobility to play as lone front man. Even though for the main it worked with Bucks playing the 4 strikers in the side, we are now in a similar situation, with Atieno, Howe and Bodin starting if it goes wrong we look at the bech and there are no attacking changes there really. I always like an out and out striker on the bench minimum, ideally 2 but that's not always possible. It's all your eggs in one basket and ultimately any change you then make lessons your attacking threat. The bench should be there to change a game not weaken your position in it. This is why I'm so keen for us to sign another striker. I like Howe, I like Bodin, Atieno jury's out but I think he could be a useful impact sub.

With the defensive changes I half expect Oastler to be replaced by Robertson at right back with Ellis partnering Saah, rightly or wrongly.

It's too simple and wrong to say it's all Saah's fault, where he's going to struggle big time is he's last season's player of the year replacement. The impact Branston had from his first game to his last was immense, both on the team and other members of the team. People probably wrongly expected the same of Saah.

Where i've been disappointed with him is, he's done well in this league before, played at a higher level, is a good age yet he just doesn't look like a proper centre half. He doesn't bully forwards, heading the ball is a secondary thought to his primary aim and he stands off far too much. On the ball he's fine, better than Branston but ultimately the guts of defending is, head it, kick and stop the oppposition areas where I think overall he's been poor. But he's not alone and like you rightly say Phil is probably being made a scapegoat and it's masking others indifferent/poor form as well.

[SteveDeckchair]

Defensively, I would substitute Saah with Ellis and see what happens. Saah probably has the weight of expectation and poor form weighing heavily on his shoulders and just needs a few games out/substitute appearances to get his confidence back. We'd lose a bit of skill in there, but Robbo & Branno did alright last season!

Interesting that you mention Mansell being too forward thinking at the moment, as I feel exactly the same. yes he is a box to box midfielder, but we are despserately in need of someone to sit deep. Ling has said he loves the box to box element of Mansell's game, but I think he's got to take one for the team and allow O'Kane to work his magic until we get back on an even keel.

Alternatively, I was also thinking a 4-3-3 with Lathrope, Manse & O'kane in the middle would allow Manse & O'Kane the freedom to roam forwards. Bodin, Howe and Macklin/Atieno would cover all bases up top.

[cidergull]

Good post this. I think the problem with Saah and Robertson, although they are very similar in style, is that they are exposed by varying amounts of space in front of them. Mansell and O'Kane are both good players but tend to buzz around and are both drawn forward/wide too often. A good holding player with the ability to impose a "presence", to sit in infront of the back four I feel would tighten the whole team up.

I'm not criticising any of the above named players or suggesting there natural style of play is reined in but more the balance of the side which is exposed increasingly as teams exert pressure especially as the game opens up in the latter stages. In the last couple of home games the opposition have broken forward at speed into such space a goal resulting is almost inevitable. Also in general play prior to the play opening up , when the opposition have the ball in our half the centre halfs are able to be pulled forward much too easily which was well illustrated against Gillingham.

The worry is that if such defeats continue this situation will get worse as confidence slides. I do though agree with Martin Ling that we shouldn't panic yet and we have the players in place so perhaps Lathrope is the man to shut up this space

[YellowMurphy]

Interesting. I don't really like Oastler in midfield, last season he looked lost there, maybe this was because he was under strict instructions from Buckle not to leave the centre circle. The holding midfielder idea seems good, could work, I don't think Lathrope or Oastler provide what we need, but Mansell does. We would miss his box-to-box running though. If we're still losing under Ellis, people will still prefer Ellis, even if he's worse than Saah. It's stupid, next few home games should be interesting.

[stevegull]

Howe COULD work as a lone front-man. But for this to work out we would HAVE to get bodies breaking past him. So for this system we would probably need the likes of Danny and Macklin out wide to push past Howe and stretch the defence. However, the full backs would then be exposed. I am a big fan of Nico but i wouldn't be playing Robbo at RB, he just doesn't seem good enough on the ball for that for me.

I also don't blame Saah for EVERYTHING that has gone wrong with the world, for example i don't think he can do alot about world poverty by himself. However, i do think a spell on the bench could be the best possible thing for him. Put him on the bench and have him TRY and get some confidence back, maybe with some fleeting bench appearances in front of the back four at first.

[Regiment]

i have a message from Brian's mum - she says "he's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy". as a result, Ellis will play saturday, as Brian is not allowed out to play.

[royalgull]

I agree with most of your post there Steve, I wouldn't put Robbo at right back either but it wouldnt' surprise me if that happened. I've long championed Macklin for a run in the first team, he's quick offers 1million x more goal threat than the others, and given time and confidence his final ball would hopefully improve like Carayol's did. You don't need to be Ronaldo or David Beckham to be effective in League 2 and Macklin has the raw traits.

Your lone front man still needs to be mobile to get around and support. Howe is by far our best striker. The best footballer and is capable of linking play and i am convinced if we actually made the guy 2 or 3 decent chances a game he would definitely score 1 of them, would he suit the lone man I'm not sure. Only one way to find out I suppose, it may keep him around the box more so hopefully we could get decent balls to him and maybe with someone like Macklin or even Atieno out wide with their pace could pick up the scraps.

[yellowforever]

Sensible post, and yes I too believe that the blame does not all lie at Brian's feet.

I also like the idea of LRT at centre half, I always thought he looked good covering there in the brief cameo's we've seen him play in. Besides, he's raring to go and prove he can hold down a first team place, and it doesn't look like he'll be able to dislodge Nicholson at left back.

[hector]

I also agree that Saah is being unfairly singled out for abuse and criticism. However, I cannot agree with promoting LRT to the centre of defence. Putting him and Ellis in the centre of defence would be like asking a couple of Scouse kids to mind your hub-caps.

Ellis has masses of potential but needs a guiding hand alongside him in my view - not the liability that LRT is.

The fact that Branston went to Rotherham, when I had it on fairly good authority, that he actually approached TUFC about coming back, is an opportunity missed in developing all our centre-backs.

Saah, it must be remembered, is still fairly young and perhaps was set-up a bit by Ling with the captaincy issue and perhaps would have been better left just to concentrate on settling in and his football.

[SteveDeckchair]

I can't see Howe working as a lone striker, irrespective of whether he gets players going past him or not.

A lone striker needs to be quick and chase the ball down across the whole back four. When the ball comes out, the defenders need to be hassled and not given time on the ball. Else it comes straight back. We've seen this time and time again, failing to find a yellow shirt when clearing our lines.

Howe likes to come short and get the ball to feet (linking up play nicely) but he does not have the pace or stamina to work the back four. We will always need someone to play off the last defender with Howe in the side.

[Plymouth Gull]

The fact that Branston went to Rotherham, when I had it on fairly good authority, that he actually approached TUFC about coming back, is an opportunity missed in developing all our centre-backs.

Ffs.

[RussianGull]

Saying no to Branno may prove costly.

[Regiment]

much as we, as fans, would love to have had the big fella back here, i can see a bunch of possible reasons the club said no. unfortunately, his current form is nowhere near the standard of last season (if it was, he'd be in the Bradford side), we don't know the exact reason he left in the first place (may seem like biting off your nose by the board, but it could be a case of "you chose to leave, so we don't want you back"), or may be as simple as Ling didn't want to bring him in because of the huge impact he would have had amongst the fans, and in the dressing room. Ling has tried to stick by Saah (rightly or wrongly), so bringing back the bloke that Saah was meant to replace, would no doubt upset the "club captain".

personally i'd have loved to see him back here, if for nothing more than to raise the spirits in the changing room and on the training ground, although i'm sure he would've contributed on the pitch as well.