Unless MM (the magic is suspended until he proves worthy of it) and Monty need to stop trying to fit square pegs into round holes, or we are done for.
As much as I like Rowles, he is simply being asked to do something that is just too far out of his comfort zone. He is a CB that could fill in at LB if really needed, so asking him to play at RB simply isn’t fair on him or the team.
Full back is a specialist position in the modern game and you can’t simply put someone there to ‘do a job’. With him playing there, we have no penetration down the right flank and the odd occasions when he does get forward, he is not confident enough on his right foot to even contemplate crossing the ball.
As others have said on this thread already, our opponents have already worked this out and are ready to take full advantage. Just watch yesterday’s game back and see how MVC pulled the players on our right side out of position one after the other and then utilised the space that created.
If the coaching staff are not prepared to give McGing or Millar a shot at RB, then move Tommy there, rather than leave him out of the team altogether. From what I read, he played more than 40 games in that position in Dutchyland, so he must understand the requirements well enough.
To drop Tom for error-prone Melling was a huge mistake imo and as my wife will attest, I called out his appalling passing before kick off, so that was no real surprise (anyone remember the Jest game last season?).
MM needs to sort out horses for courses and stick with a solid basic structure that can be tweaked over time to improve our ability to affect the contest, without leaving things woefully exposed. Shape and structure are so vital to the modern game, that ignoring them can only lead to one outcome.
As much as I like Rowles, he is simply being asked to do something that is just too far out of his comfort zone. He is a CB that could fill in at LB if really needed, so asking him to play at RB simply isn’t fair on him or the team.
Full back is a specialist position in the modern game and you can’t simply put someone there to ‘do a job’. With him playing there, we have no penetration down the right flank and the odd occasions when he does get forward, he is not confident enough on his right foot to even contemplate crossing the ball.
As others have said on this thread already, our opponents have already worked this out and are ready to take full advantage. Just watch yesterday’s game back and see how MVC pulled the players on our right side out of position one after the other and then utilised the space that created.
If the coaching staff are not prepared to give McGing or Millar a shot at RB, then move Tommy there, rather than leave him out of the team altogether. From what I read, he played more than 40 games in that position in Dutchyland, so he must understand the requirements well enough.
To drop Tom for error-prone Melling was a huge mistake imo and as my wife will attest, I called out his appalling passing before kick off, so that was no real surprise (anyone remember the Jest game last season?).
MM needs to sort out horses for courses and stick with a solid basic structure that can be tweaked over time to improve our ability to affect the contest, without leaving things woefully exposed. Shape and structure are so vital to the modern game, that ignoring them can only lead to one outcome.
