For what it's worth! Robson has been well documented in the Sunday press saying how we need to deliver better balls for Shearer etc etc, he said Solano did plenty of pretty things but was leass than effective. Drop him.

Lua-Lua seems to have made an impression so stick him on the left wing and make him stay there. Dyer for right wing and make him stay there, tell him he is the right winger for the next five years whether he likes it or not.

Speed in the middle with Rob Lee until Bassedas gets fit. Thats it for the midfield. Cort and Shearer is the combination whether we like it or not because when the chances come those two will put them away.

Defensively, well done to Goma for his attitude to the cause in the last few weeks and unlucky with the broken nose, he earned a lot of respect from Bobby on Saturday.

Griffin right back and Domi left back, pace and good attacking, overlapping the wingers would be nice.

We're in a bad patch but no worse than last year but the difference is that Bobby can get us out of it and he'll do the necessary. Players will now be playing for their place and they will know it. Players like Solano are not right for Orient on Tuesday and he'll be dropped.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Answers

Agree with all of that. Solano should be dropped, he's not looked the part all season and regular trips to Peru aren't going to help. When fit I'd go for Glass on the left though, ease Lua Lua into it as a sub initially.

Having reflected on the weekend, I think there's a general problem at Newcastle which assumes we will beat he likes of Charlton without much effort. We've a long way to go before we can do that. Many of the players didn't seem up for it, but a lot of the crowd were the same. Since the new stand opened the volume at SJP has actually gone DOWN! That is pathetic. 50,000 of us should be helping the team by going mental, not sitting quietly unless we score and then booing when we don't. It's not just the fault of those on the pitch, it HAS to include the rest of us.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

While Lua-Lua is still awe inspired by all that is around him I'd play him. By the sounds of it he introduced a bit of spark on Sat and according to some Colchester fans on their message board, he will work back in defence so use him while we can. Fair enough bring Glass in a few times but Glass has to be fit which appears to be out of his reach at the minute.

If I was able to be in the crowd I'd shout my head off for the lads and not against them I must say, booing them won't help in the long run. Spirit and courage will beat most teams in this league, wrongly or rightly. Class will beat teams in the top areas but to beat the likes of Southampton, Charlton and Bradford we will need to out fight them. At the minute our midfield couldn't fight its wasy out of.....yeh yeh you know the rest.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

I'm not as convinced that Solano is playing that badly (he's far from great at the minute!)....I think it's more the fact that we're playing a real powder puff midfield with Solano, Dyer, Cordon and Gallacher strung across the park with Speed as the only ball winner....we're getting over-run and just aren't able to win the ball back....Dyer isn't setting the world on fire...

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Gav, I don't think we can afford to have Solano and Dyer in the same side. They link together very well but both are lightweight. I'd go for Dyer because of his pace and tell him to get on that right wing.

Lee and Speed represented a lot of what was good about last season and I can see Bobby getting them back together. We need endeavour in the midfield as much as creativity to beat most premiership sides. I agree Dyer needs a kick up the arse.

Where did Lua-Lua play on Sat? Will he solve the left wing problem? 'Our square' meaning the two full backs and wingers should have pace in abundance, then we can afford to have some steel in the centre of midfield. Domi, Griffin, Dyer and Lua-Lua.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Lua (x2) played along the line behind the front 2. He was very keen to impress and had a good debut.

Dyer and Solano need a spell in the reserves I reckon. However, as someone else has said, we've no real competition for some positions so there's no choice but to play at least one if not both of them week in and out.

What concerns me is that the players don't react in the way we expect when going a goal down. Wadsworth said last weekend that the Soton goal knocked us back and not gave us a kick in the pants. This weekend, Mick rolled out the same line virtually word for word.

I wonder if YBR has the right men in the training ground? I know he hasn't the right men on the pitch.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

No cover for Dyer and Solano?

Give Gavilan a go on the right and give those two the kick up the arse they need.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

In fairness, we were talking about the telepathic understanding between those two (Dyer and Solano) a few games ago. Fickle? Us?

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Only some of us Dougal! Some of us have argued consistently, and for many months, that playing both Dyer and Solano makes us far too lightweight in midfield. Our relative success last season was based on a solid midfield that won the majority of the m/f battles, and the sooner we get back to that the better.

Solano needs a spell out of the first team - he's struggling both with Peru and the Toon, and I suspect all the travelling he's doing is a major factor.

I feel Dyer has a problem inside his head - at the moment his attitude is not right. Ideally, Bobby needs to bring him down to earth with a bump by dropping him to the Reserves for a spell. Unfortunately, I doubt we can afford to leave out both Dyer and Solano right now, so I'd play Dyer wide right with either Glass or Lua Lua on the left - or on the left with Gavilan on the right.

With regard to the crowd. Firstly, I didn't think the atomsphere was that bad on Saturday - especially considering the cr@p being served up on the pitch - and was actually quite good in the 2nd half once the entirely obvious and necessary substitutions had been made, albeit too late.
That fewer people attending matches are prepared to "shout & bawl" for 90 minutes, and "sing their hearts out for the lads", is a fact of modern football attendance, and I'm afraid we better get used to it - IMO it's a by-product of all-seater stadiums which doesn't recreate the anomymity and crowd mentality of standing shoulder to shoulder with the associated absence of self-consciousness.

With regard to booing - while personally I would never, ever indulge in it and risk further affecting the moral and confidence of the team, I can certainly understand the sentiment being expressed. This is perceived by those indulging as being the only way of expressing dissatisfaction with the teams apparent attitude, commitment and performance.
Let's be quite clear, there was NO booing whatsoever during the course of the game, which would be of much greater concern.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

I agree with almost all of this, Clarky. What saddened me (and that is the right word) was being outplayed and outgutted by a side who are our inferior by a country mile. Personally, I tremeble at the thought of Man City next weekend. With their crowd and "gotta stay up" mentality, and our general wussiness, I'd be sad but not surprised if we lost about 4-0.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

After a lot of reflection Dougal, I'm less convinced now than I was on Saturday night about a general "lack of commitment" being the problem.
Softie's observations about Laurent Charvet on another thread started me thinking about this. If I think about each individual player and their contribution and effort, I've concluded that we're doing the individual players something of a disservice to say all the problems were down to a lack of effort, or guts, or fight, or .....
I'm on record as saying Solano should be rested - I think all his transatlantic travelling and background problems with Peru have affected him. I believe Dyer has a attitude problem that is materially affecting his form, but don't know the background or reason. Ideally he should be dropped and brought down to earth, but we probably don't have that luxury right now.
Beyond that I feel our team formation and tactics for the Charlton game were wrong, and that for once BR must shoulder a good share of the responsibility - unfortunately, he is squarely blaming the players!
We played with no holding m/f player until RL came on, and IMO transformed things for the second game running. Why Gary Speed wasn't playing the holding role, or whether he was supposed to do so and just didn't, I don't understand, but on numerous occasions YKD was the most defensive of our m/f - and he can't bloody tackle! We effectively played with 4 defenders and six attackers and NOBODY linking the two.
In addition, Cordone seemed entirely clueless as to his role and where he should be playing - language/communication problem? - and isn't a wide m/f player anyway.
In this situation, Charlton's two strong m/f players Jensen (a player we should have considered buying from Bolton) and Kinsella bossed the game, well supported by wide men Stewart and Robinson, until we changed things around.
That's where I am anyway, for what it's worth....

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

we should ditch the idea of playing people like Cordone and Dyer 'floating just behind the strikers'. No good to anyone and can only confuse team-mates.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Clarky

Agree with the vast majority of your comment

but

The crowd did boo during the game...at the ref ;-)

De B

The 'floating' player role suited Lua Lua very well indeed. Far from confusing his team mates, I think he gave some much needed attack mindedness and vigour to our efforts. After all, he gave us Cort's disallowed goal and caused mayhem in the Charlton pen area.

Dyer and Cordone were ineffective because of the Don's distance from the attacking area (looked confused as to his role) and Dyer's simple lacklustre performance.

Both have what it takes, but they need to remind themselves and us of this fact.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Hmmm, for what it is worth I think the players are rather confused as to their roles... I mean last season we played a consistent 4-3-1-2 with Lee,Speed, Solano behind Dyer behind 2 strikers.

Now we have something I cannot describe with Shearer and Cort in front of Dyer and Cordone (both trying to play in the hole) and Solano and Speed (both of whom are attacking midfielders) trying to hold the midfield AND support the strikers. As Clarky says - 6 attackers and 4 defenders. Where is the consistency in the tactics? Arsenal and ManU rarely change their tactics - why should we?

Either play the 4-3-1-2 we had last season (and were the 2nd highest scorers in the league!) or switch to a 4-4-2 (that Bobby says he prefers) with 2 consistent wingers and a strong central midfield.

I still believe in YBR but I don't understand why he left Lee out on Saturday. He is the steel in the side (especially without Barton and Dabizas) and the playmaker who can pull the strings in midfield. His pace isn't brilliant but he reads the game and tackles back better than anyone else in the squad.

I'm not happy, not especially with the results but with the tactics and performance.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

YBR said he left out Lee because he felt the four he sent out had the necessary balanced look about them. We can't see it but he must have.

He must have thought Speed was going to carry the majority of the defensive burden, so do we blame Speed for not hanging back and linking thedefence to attack? After all it has been mentioned by Steph on another thread that Cordone was hugging the left touchline but the passes weren't going his way, no wonder he came inside looking for the ball.

Dyer and Solano are so effective when they interlink down the right but if Dyer goes on the wing and leaves Nobby in the middle he can't tackle for toffee.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

IMHO I agree that Dyer and Nobby are a luxury we can't afford at the minute. Too lightweight and unable to really cover back effectively. Nobby needs a rest (or some tablets). I agree with De Builder that Lua Lua could do with a run in a fixed position as could Dyer. I think that Dyer looks more effective when Bob Lee is in the team, but the same could be said of a few others. Cordone suffered on Saturday from standing on his own in acres waiting for someone to realise that there was more to the game than Charvet-Nobby-Dyer-oops we've lost possesion again. Bez said on the radio that he thought that YBR may have it wrong, and I agree. From my seat in the clouds (and just infront of the man who is Softie) the right wing combination of Barton-Dyer-Lee looks much more productive and Barton is a much better crosser of the ball than Charvet and links up with Shearer more effectively. The left wing combo of Domi-Lua Lua -Speed might well be worth looking at. Still think Hughes is playing well but could benefit from someone with a bit more experience. All of this is, of course, self evident to everyone but I felt like writing something. By the way I also think Shearers work rate is excellent despite everything. Never mind, blind faith isn't a waste of faith, it just needs its eyes testing from time to time.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

I don't think it is a coincidence that things have started to decline since Barton was injured. This is in no way a criticism of Charvet, who was my MotM against Chelsea when Barton played at LB. One thing Braton does bring to the team is a big gob. He is constantly at his team mates - something which I have commented on elsewhere which is lacking from the present side.

IMHO, we should appoint Barton as team captain, "elevating" Shearer to club captain. In reality, that may not be the politic thing to do. But as an informal arrangement, I think it would work extremely well. We have a number of different nationalities (most of whom have a "basic" understanding of English) trying to blend into a team. They need a rollicking now and then (more often than not at times!). They aren't getting it right now. Barton would do that, reminding them of their responsibilities and lifting heads when they go down.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

I agree re Bartinho (although we had our first away win in ages without him). Also, think that Domi and Dyer are great supersubs.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000

Dyer is a complete enigma at the moment. There are periods in games when he gets really focused and passes and tackles well (not so much tackle as harry, really, but he certainly puts them off their stride and has avoided getting booked for it). Then you get performances like Saturday where Bobby must have tossed a coin to decide which one of Dyer and Nobby to take off.

I imagine that with his record YBR knows what he is doing. Is this some sort of tough love where he isn't prepared to give Dyer an easy out: he's told him he expects 10 goals from him this season and is making him stay in the centre of the park where 50,000 people tell him what they think of people who duck out of challenges or dribble from one side of the pitch to the other when there's a man free and defenders tracking back.

I worry, though: he still can't seem to hit a barn door unless it's a cheeky lob or a cunning pass between someone's legs, his habit of trying to be too clever by half loses posession far too often and he seems to need to get angry before he fancies trying to win the ball back. God only knows how he's going to react to the fact that Lua Lua appears to have better ball control in his little toe than Kieron has in both legs, but either the shock therapy will work and he'll become player of the season, or he'll be on the transfer list come the Summer.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2000