Rotherham United v Torquay United - 15/9/12

[Jeff]

As I said elsewhere, what else can we have? Go 4-4-2? Bodin isn't a striker. I think Jarvis is rubbish (never rated him), Stevens? Nope. Macklin? I'd be surprised.

I agree entirely. At present we haven't got the personnel to adequately pull off anything other than 4-5-1. Ling has effectively built the squad around that shape. I'd go as far as to say that we'd need 3 new players to make something like a 4-4-2 work.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I think if we continued to play the same formation AND tactics but broke quicker with more men getting in advance of Howe who holds the ball up then our game plan could work a lot better. Like at Vale where Morris seized on the opportunity to get ahead of Howe who did amazingly well in bamboozling the defenders, holding up the play and laying him off to finish. Breaking quicker and in numbers would give us more attacking potency without having to compromise formation or tactics. We are just so lethargic and slow to support that when Howe gets the ball he has to hold it for about 12 years until one of our boys offers support. Often then he gets dispossessed and increasingly frustrated. We have the pace in Thompson, Bodin and Stevens and we should be using it properly. Mansell also is a shadow of his former self in terms of getting into dangerous attacking positions. He doesn't really do it anymore although his overall game is excellent. What do you guys think?

[Chris B]

As I said elsewhere, what else can we have? Go 4-4-2? Bodin isn't a striker.

No, but I also don't think he's a winger. I've never seen him put in a good performance on the wing, all of his best work has come from finding himself in the middle. Most importantly, I don't think Bodin has the pace to play on the wing, or the will to track back. He is, though, dangerous in and around the box. As I say, I'd like to see him given a free role off the currently isolated Rene.

[Plymouth Gull]

Bodin played on the wing all last year during his loan spell? Didn't you see him play well at all then?

[Jeff]

Perhaps Mansell's lack of bombing forward in recent games is allied to Lathrope's absence? Aware that he has to be more defensively minded, as Craig doesn't really strike me as being strong enough (physically or in the tackle) to truly fulfill that role

[Dave]

As I said elsewhere, what else can we have? Go 4-4-2? Bodin isn't a striker. I think Jarvis is rubbish (never rated him), Stevens? Nope. Macklin? I'd be surprised.

Whilst I fully respect yours and Jeffs opinions on this I can't agree, Billy Bodin played for 3 clubs last season and scored regularly for us and Swindon, not sure if he scored for Crewe, so why can't he play as a striker or off Rene Howe as Suggested by others, Billy Bodin can finish therefore can play as a striker.

I think also Jarvis is finding himself in a similar position to McPhee, never really given a chance to play in a position that suits him, Jarvis allways comes on as a wide player in a front three, or a loan strker, he is suited to niether position.Jarvis came on in second half away to Hereford in a 4-4-2 scored and played well in my opinion in fact after being stuffed in the first half , went on to blow Hereford to bits in a game we should have won from being 3.0 behind, go 4-4-2 and the boy a chance.

As stated I seriously think we have become far to predictable we need a change, try something new it might just work.

[Chris B]

Bodin played on the wing all last year during his loan spell? Didn't you see him play well at all then?

My point is not that Bodin never played well, but rather where he was when he looked at his best (i.e. not on the wing). For me, he's far more at home in and around the box centrally, unlike a Niall Thompson-type player who excels at hugging the touchline and getting to the byline. To put it another way, I see Billy more as a scorer than a provider, and I think he could link really well close to Howe.

[Southampton Gull]

Perhaps Mansell's lack of bombing forward in recent games is allied to Lathrope's absence? Aware that he has to be more defensively minded, as Craig doesn't really strike me as being strong enough (physically or in the tackle) to truly fulfill that role

I think that's exactly what's been happening, Jeff.

[Jeff]

Whilst I fully respect yours and Jeffs opinions on this I can't agree, Billy Bodin played for 3 clubs last season and scored regularly for us and Swindon, not sure if he scored for Crewe, so why can't he play as a striker or off Rene Howe as Suggested by others, Billy Bodin can finish therefore can play as a striker.

I think also Jarvis is finding himself in a similar position to McPhee, never really given a chance to play in a position that suits him, Jarvis allways comes on as a wide player in a front three, or a loan strker, he is suited to niether position.Jarvis came on in second half away to Hereford in a 4-4-2 scored and played well in my opinion in fact after being stuffed in the first half , went on to blow Hereford to bits in a game we should have won from being 3.0 behind, go 4-4-2 and the boy a chance.

As stated I seriously think we have become far to predictable we need a change, try something new it might just work.

Probably sounds like I'm backtracking, but I never said Bodin couldn't play as a striker. I remember his debut for us away at Dagenham last season where he did exactly that, played well and won the penalty that won us a point. But just because he can finish doesn't necessarily mean he's going to be suited to playing as a striker, there is more too it than that. He might "do" for a couple of games, but I'm not sure its a long-term option.

Likewise, if we did play Bodin up front who would play out wide? We then go back to losing our only naturally wide-left player again, and we're into a square-peg, round hole situation making do with somebody filling in.

It kind of takes me back to my original point that the squad of players we have is too geared towards playing 4-5-1, and without changing that we're back to playing players out of position.

[Plymouth Gull]

I think we should see how it goes for another 2/3 games. We have Easton returning soon so he will no doubt take his place in the holding role again (Does it well enough, from what I saw vs Rochdale anyway). AFCW (A), Burton (H) and Chesterfield (A) are slightly easier games than our recent ones, on paper. Stick with it until the end of the month when we have players back but realistically we need at least 5 points from these.

[Chris B]

if we did play Bodin up front who would play out wide? We then go back to losing our only naturally wide-left player again, and we're into a square-peg, round hole situation making do with somebody filling in.

Stevens on the left, where he’s always been at his best, and one of Macklin/Thompson on the right, with the other ready to come off the bench?

[stevegull]

Is everyone forgetting Morris? He's a left midfielder my trade, and would certainly perform better when told to play deeper. He just doesn't suit playing wide in a 4-3-3 as he ends up 1 on 1 too often and simply doesn't have the pace to threaten. Play him deeper and we'll all see a more effective Morris. But at what cost for the team?

[royalgull]

Perhaps Mansell's lack of bombing forward in recent games is allied to Lathrope's absence? Aware that he has to be more defensively minded, as Craig doesn't really strike me as being strong enough (physically or in the tackle) to truly fulfill that role

Would definitely be a factor but what I would add is last season was almost certainly a one off for Manse in terms of goalscoring. Granted he played 2 years of it at RB but he's never got as many goals as he did last season before.

I don't think we can be relying on Manse to get 9/10 goals a season, if he does or gets near then it's a massive bonus.