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2021/22 Frank Lampard

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BigDuncTributeBand said:
Hopefully he ditches the back 3 pronto, terrible formation, we’ve not got the players.

As has been said before, these players have failed under numerous managers. Huge chunks of the squad need moved on and replaced. Difference between him and the last guy is, happy enough with Frank being involved in that moving on/replacing - reckon he’ll at least want us to sign players to try to play football.
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He probably wants to play 3 centre halves to make up for how bad they all are but it just ends up having someone else useless on the pitch.
 
Feel for him tonight. Forced into 2 early changes meaning he was limited by what he could do later on, and he needed to take gomes off at that point.

At the time, I think it was right not to bring DCL on for gray as it would have meant changing the system he was playing and, despite us not being great, we had been the better side for most of the first half.
 
Harsh to criticise the manager today.

Was completely railroaded by the two injuries. We were well in the game (had 62% possession when we scored the goal) until that point.

He has lost his starting CBs and our best attacking player of the season in 5 days as well as losing our only LB on matchday.

My only issue is that when he brought VDB on, I think he should have gone to four at the back and brought off Townsend. We were unable to control the ball in midfield for most of the match, and an extra body in there with Allan sitting would have better protected the back four and allowed us to play through the lines better.

I am confident Frank and his staff have what it takes to turn the ship.
 

Dwight K Schrute said:
Don't be starting that nonesense mate. Today's defeat is nothing to do with trying to get on the ball and everything to do with our pathetic players not keeping their heads and doing the basics.

Pickford set the tone from the off, trying to wind up their fans and being erratic in what he did. Gomes let people run off him too easily and after half an hour, the midfield stopped pressing in packs like they did against Brentford and Allan was being dragged all over the place. Holgate and Keane were consistently losing their men and diving in erratically. No one was wise to the fact that Newcastle kept taking the same kind of corner. Keane and Gomes switched off to allow Newcastle to equalise straight away when we'd actually somehow managed to get in front.

The players weren't being brave enough to try and slip the ball in front of Richarlison. Playing it to feet or up in the air doesn't suit him. Coleman made so many poor decisions it beggars belief. Townsend was horrible and because we weren't moving effectively in groups, every time the ball moved towards Townsend, he was in a position where he needed pace he didn't have to get beyond them.

Throw in injuries to Gray and Mina and the recipe for disaster is there. It was a shambles and if I am honest, if these injuries are bad, I really do struggle to see us staying up. And it has nothing to do with Lampard and his set-up.
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My point still stands.

I'm not saying Frank's tactics are wrong.

I also want to see us play put from the back.

I'm judging if it's right to attempt to do it at this point in the season with incompetent players.
 
Saturday is the litmus test IMO. I'm not in any way excusing tonight - it was unacceptable - but I dont think he was majorly to blame.

If he doesn't get a reaction at home on Saturday in another big game, having now witnessed how appalling some of this lot are, then we really are up the creek.
 

Dwight K Schrute said:
Don't be starting that nonesense mate. Today's defeat is nothing to do with trying to get on the ball and everything to do with our pathetic players not keeping their heads and doing the basics.

Pickford set the tone from the off, trying to wind up their fans and being erratic in what he did. Gomes let people run off him too easily and after half an hour, the midfield stopped pressing in packs like they did against Brentford and Allan was being dragged all over the place. Holgate and Keane were consistently losing their men and diving in erratically. No one was wise to the fact that Newcastle kept taking the same kind of corner. Keane and Gomes switched off to allow Newcastle to equalise straight away when we'd actually somehow managed to get in front.

The players weren't being brave enough to try and slip the ball in front of Richarlison. Playing it to feet or up in the air doesn't suit him. Coleman made so many poor decisions it beggars belief. Townsend was horrible and because we weren't moving effectively in groups, every time the ball moved towards Townsend, he was in a position where he needed pace he didn't have to get beyond them.

Throw in injuries to Gray and Mina and the recipe for disaster is there. It was a shambles and if I am honest, if these injuries are bad, I really do struggle to see us staying up. And it has nothing to do with Lampard and his set-up.
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What did pickford do to wind then up?
 
One good thing about tonight. Frank found out how reliable a number of his players are when they are in a battle. I think he will see that perhaps trying to play with a back 3 and a 2 man midfield won't work for us against teams that, like Newcastle, are as desperate for points as we are. Our lads, for the most part, are just not battlers.

I think we need to go back to a flat back 4 and Get VDB Allan and either Gomes or Oneyango in a midfield 3, I'm not sure how much stomach for a fight Dele has, I think perhaps he should be a bench option for now, bring him on as an impact sub for the last 20 minutes if we need to.

I worry about us on Saturday, because Leeds have just the kind of playing style that we are likely to struggle against. I'm sure Frank is well aware of that by now, let's hope he can come up with a one off system to get us the points against Leeds and lift our spirits.
 
Can’t plan for injuries and I thought the Gray injury left us really lacking pace with Richarlison in a central position.

But surely it had to be Gomes off, DCL on instead of VDB to try and get Rich & Gordon to stretch them
 

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