Swindon Town v Mansfield matchday thread

[Bob's Orange]

I think we need the RSPCA involved now.

Along with the Panda from the Advisory Board zoo.

[Peter Venkman]

                  Mahoney

Dokes    Brewitt   Minturn   FBT

Hutton   Khan      Kinsella   Kokolo
     
                     Kemp

                    Young

I would go with this too but feel we will stay with 3 at the back and persist with the out of form Austin.

If we did try 4 at the back then I would play McEachran and not Kinsella.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

I'd love us to try something different in this game.

Hutton wide of a front three for example.

                                               Mahoney

                   UGM               Brewitt       FBT             Kokolo

                                      Khan             McEachran

                                                 Kemp

                            Hutton                                Young
                                               
                                                  Austin


Something like that.

Or we do the usual and get pumped 2-5.

Agree with this.

Something different or sleep walk to the inevitable.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

                  Mahoney

Dokes    Brewitt   Minturn   FBT

Hutton   Khan      Kinsella   Kokolo
     
                     Kemp

                    Young

I like this as well.

Either would be something different we need.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Flynn strikes me as a stubborn cuss. Can’t see him changing a thing.

I still don’t know if he set out to play the way we are or whether it was all he could fashion out of the players available.

They’ve sold out their allocation of 604 - which seems a strange number.

[Mooneyraker]

Flynn strikes me as a stubborn cuss. Can’t see him changing a thing.

I still don’t know if he set out to play the way we are or whether it was all he could fashion out of the players available.

They’ve sold out their allocation of 604 - which seems a strange number.

What's odd is that there are other formations available to him with round-ish pegs in round-ish holes, as shown above.

Clearly we are not managers and he is on the training ground every day but it does seem odd.

At least Morris tried to mix it up, albeit with the ludicrous Wakeling at LWB experiment and so on.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

I mean, if he does sign a CB or 2 in Jan I very much doubt they’ll be better than FBT or Dokes if he insists on continuing with the marauding CBs. If they are more in the mould of hairy-arsed L2 CBs then the present ‘system’ goes out the window.

Will he just sign ‘more of the same’ to bring numbers up?

[Wobbly Bob]

Suspect that adding some physicality to midfield will be a priority.
A battle scarred CB option from the bench to help see out of games would be a nice to have.
Use all of the loans slots. Could be 4 available.

Lost the last 4 home games in all comps. Not good.
Difficult to see beyond a defeat but aim for an early goal or two & see what happens.
A draw would be fine, better than a defeat but a win is always preferable. 

[Pericardinho]

Will never take a draw at home to anybody in this league. Irrespective of form or league position. Just doesn't feel right.

[Riddick]

Suspect that adding some physicality to midfield will be a priority.
A battle scarred CB option from the bench to help see out of games would be a nice to have.
Use all of the loans slots. Could be 4 available.

I actually think midfield is a greater problem for us defensilvely than the CB's are.

The way we play then its difficult to improve on UGM/FBT. I'd like a more experience Central CB thats better defensively than what we have.

However the challenges i think we have are that Khan and McEachran get muscled off the ball, or caught up field and rarely offer any line of defense when we lose the ball in transition.

It doesn't help that Kemp presses so high up (a good thing generally) because he has to do Austins work. Which means we rarely have 3 in midfield defensively, especially on transition. Austin sometimes trys and works back there but he doesn't have the legs.

So currently we are asking a lot of Kemp/Young to press high up and track back as the 3rd body in midfield. And the two deeper midfielders we have are pretty lightweight and poor defensively. I like McEachran but he is better winning the ball higher up as well when he nips in and grabs the ball.

So if we continue with this 3 at the back with attacking CB's, which seems to be the Flynn model, then for me we need to look at replacing Austin (who's goal contribution has been poor anyway), upgrading the central CB, and looking to get at least one proper defensive physical midfielder. I'm not sure Kinsella quite performs that midfield role.

Of course its complicated if/when Young and Kemp are recalled anyway!

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Pushing Dokes and FBT to Full back or wingback positions is something I've been after for a while.

The outside CBs going for a wander in a three is fine when you're scoring 3 to 5 goals every week but right now its suicide.

[Nemo]

I do wonder if *one* of Dokes and FBT staying at CB is fine, it's just having both of them going roaming which causes issues. If we had two Brewitt-type solid CBs and one of the roaming types, we might retain a bit of attacking threat whilst being more solid than we have been.

[Mooneyraker]

I think that most of the problems come from a lack of a proper DM (Grant/Douglas type) who just sits in front of Brewitt and can drop in, and the WBs not offering anything defensively in this set up.

It is suicidal. If they turn us over and skip through Khan and McEachran it is Brewitt left scrambling on his own with 2 or more players left to mark.

[Bob's Orange]

Riddick beat me to it and Mooney has also touched on some similar thoughts I had earlier. (as I was daydreaming in the gym)

I do agree with pretty much what both have said, in that I think our midfield is a problem. Stockport showed that by dominating proceedings against us and enjoying the time and space their talented players had. We attack in numbers and when the ball is turned over we leave ourselves exposed with massive gaps in the middle of the pitch. I know he's been dismissed as being unable to do this but would we be better of anchoring Kinsella in that DM position? Walsall fans described him as being a good reader of the ball and tigerish in the tackle, but about as creative as a 'kick me' sign in a 90's comprehensive. So why not have him playing just in front of the back 3?

 I also agree that Charlie is wasting energy in midfield due to the issues, I actually think he's shattered, as more often than not after doing good work in winning the ball back he then plays a 'lazy' pass, or hits the ball out of play or whatever. It's a shame Cain is injured as I think Flynn may have been able to try something a bit different. We really don't have the personnel and it's really beginning to tell.

[Mooneyraker]

Agreed. Even try Brewitt at DM with Minturn behind him perhaps? We need bite and Khan and McEachran don't have that in their game.