joey_big_nose

We've been absolutely mullered second half. So lucky to still be ahead.

I'd be fine with one of Szmodics or Dolan and let them play up with Brereton, but he's brought both on and guess what they've hardly touched the ball. Indeed Rovers hardly have collectively.

Reverted back to 343... Don't really get why. Would have thought bringing on Garrett for the energy and sticking with the 352... So now massively outgunned in midfield again.

I agree Gallagher with a proper forward partner playing narrow, fed by a number 10 in behind and wing backs sending it in is perfect for him. He's someone who is always going to struggle tightly marked or expected to carry the ball, but give him the support and let him play through the middle onto through balls and crosses and he will do well.

VAR would probably still have been yellow. Didn't look forceful enough on the replay for a red imo. And if he went off probably Travis would have too for raising his hands.

Great half where we did everything really well except the last minute of the half. Combination of several individual errors... not closing, Phillips and Brittain not picking up their man. Annoying as we have really restricted Boro till that point. Need to just stick with it, we should be able to maintain our dominance. We'll get a lot of chances on the counter.

He's having a fabulous game.

Yeah I agree. 352 has been an obvious change we needed to do for at least six weeks... It's better for Gallagher, Brereton, Morton, Travis, Brittain, Pickering

That's the best pass Gallagher has played in his career.

Our best run last season that got us to second was 343 Lenihan, Van Hecke and Wharton across the back and Travis, Rothwell in the middle and Buckley as false 9. So he didp get three CB to work very well for a while but then it fell apart in Jan/Feb for unclear reasons.

As an aside is this the first time ever Brereton and Gallagher have played as a two? Think we'd have to go back to Rhodes and Gestede for the last time we played a two. Though just had a horrible feeling Wharton is going to end up playing false nine with Gally and Brereton wide. Say it ain't so!

Woohoo they've done 352! I hope it works or I'm going to look a right plum.

I want to see the following formation please. Three at the back, two wing backs, three in midfied, two up front. As soon as we do it I am sure we will see a big improvement. Such a simple change... Dack plays in midfield and number 10 areas, not as a "false 9" and Gally and BBD look to play through the middle mostly, not run the wings. Britain and Pickering are expected to provide the width. Ayala out due to injury. Kaminski Carter Hyam Wharton Brittain Travis Dack Morton Pickering Gallagher Brereton

Disagree personally... I think if we'd gone four at the back we would have had the keystone cops passing it around the back and being sliced open with ease as happened at Cardiff. What's funny about our current approach of 1) playing lots of forwards pushed up very high, 2) liking conversely to pass it out from the back, is when we do pass it round the back it's very hard to find someone in midfield to actually pass it to. Not such a problem when you have three CB as at least you can pass it along the line and we did that okay (except for Morton huge individual error). But when we have two CB like Cardiff it's absolute carnage.

Agreed though I'd go 352 - don't think a physical player is a requirement to be honest (though obviously would be better to have one) the most important thing is to have an extra body in the centre to able to create the options so you can pass through the middle.

Just to expand on the above us not really being interested in the midfield battle is a big part of the not being able to recover from a losing position. If you get ahead with the approach of bypassing the midfield it's great because the other side opens up a bit and you can go direct into the forwards and they have a lot of room and lots of opportunities can be made on the counter. But if we go behind and the opposition close up then knocking long to three forwards strung across the back line is just meat and drink to the defenders.

Yeah I agree with this... he doesn't seem to value winning a midfield battle, and that is really what the Championship is all about. It seems the idea is we can just bypass midfield by playing long into the channels, or breaking quickly and directly from defence. Part of it is the recruitment... we've brought in a lot of forwards but few midfielders, and that creates pressure for JDT to play 3 or 4 forwards every game as otherwise it makes the recruitment (which I am sure he was closely consulted on) look daft. But.... still he's the manager and we have Dack, Adam Wharton, Buckley on the bench or out of the squad. He could play one of them and leave out a forward no problem. It feels a bit ideological - like they've come in with the philosophy of playing loads of forwards will definitely be successful, and feel it's just a matter of time until it "clicks". I don;t think it will. Poor sides like Wigan were totally untroubled by us, and strong side like Norwich will eat us alive.

No he wasn't....

Thought defensively it was a much better performance than Cardiff. We were pretty unlucky to concede - there was a push and pull in the build up. One other big chance for Wigan in the first half. But apart from that kept them pretty quiet. Offensively though still a real mess. Balance remains all wrong... what team plays three forwards if you can only generate two shots on target in 70 mins? It's mad. We go into game after game making the same mistakes... There's just no point playing loads of forwards if you can't create opportunities. All the space was in the 10 role in front of the Wigan back three, but we didn't put anyone in there till the last 20 mins of the game.

I really really really don;t understand why we insist on having three forwards who we can barely get the ball to, so they end up dropping deep anyway. Why not just play a bloody extra midfielder so we can actually pass it through the middle and the wingbacks push up. We only need two up front.

Thanks for this comprehensive and thought out post. However - we played 4231 at Cardiff and were absolutely dreadful. Surely sticking with a back three, who would be good at heading out anyway if Wigan are mainly direct, and then having the option to change to a 4231 if needed would be the way to go? I just fear if we go 4231 we will have the same challenges - not able to get the ball out of defence, and out competed in midfield.

Don't think we can play 12 players?

After banging on about how average Szmodics looks and how he was about sixth or seventh choice on the forward roles, his excellent showing on Saturday has led me a complete 180 and can see how he could be a devastating partner for BBD. For this one Id go 352 - quel surprise - keep Hedges at RWB as he had a very good game on Saturday. As others have said let's give Ayala a rest. Team for me : . Kaminski Carter. Hyam. Wharton Hedges. Travis. Morton. Pickering . Dack . Szmodics. BBD

Agree with this. We had a good game today but a bit like when we beat Blackpool there is a feeling Rotherham maybe helped us out a bit by standing off. Will watch Wigan with interest.

First time I've been impressed with Szmodics. Nice range of passing and good pace. Is vaguely reminiscent of Bellamy as I think someone else mentioned. Morton also has been superb.