Benson, Ritchie and Rooney

[LittleRed]

Just think that beacuse Benson has been such a good target man for us that we are becomming a little bit too predictable, much that same way Everton were with duncan ferguson and that we are more frequently mssing our midfeild out. Benson would be my first striker on the team sheet as he is a good target man, good in the six yard box and has collected a decent amount of goals for himself, just sometimes get the impression that he is an easy option for the other players and their first thought of what to do with the ball making us a liitle bit too predictable.

Also think that the idea of playing our wide boys on the wrong side so that they can cut in has blown a bit. Everytime ritchie or rooney have the ball the oppositions full back is showing them outside and covering the cutting in option as both rooney and ritchie are not great with their other foot.

Also I never realised how important caddis was to ritchie as since he has been injured ritchie has certainly missed him and been below par.

I dont have any answers and I will leave that too DiCanio but just thought I would mention a few of my observations over the last month or so.

[DV]

My observation is we're going up as fucking champions and one defeat doesn't mean all of a sudden our game doesn't work.

We won a bigger game only last Tuesday.

[Spud]

Ritchie was below par even before Caddis got injured.

[LittleRed]

No reference was made to the last defeat and this was not the reason we got beat either. It was an observation I had made over the last month or two. I was certainly not pushing the "We're Doomed Button". Yes we are going up as champions as the opposition in this league is cerainly nothing to trouble us. I just think swindon are a better team that can play though the midfield as they have done more so in the past. With the success of Benson it just seemed that we were using this tactic more and more.

[Spud]

We're lacking a pacey poacher type that can play off Benson. Like Austin did with Paynter.

[LittleRed]

We're lacking a pacey poacher type that can play off Benson. Like Austin did with Paynter.

Im hoping we have some room to manouver in the transfer market in the summer and we can pick off some of the better players from teams that miss out on promotion. Much like swindon almost certainly loosing Ritche if we dont get promoted. Even though as a whole the opposition in this league is poor there are a few decent players that would be worth picking off, pack of cheltenham being an example.

[Sippo]

We're top of the league for fucks sake. All these comments about getting new players etc, playing them in different positions is really pissing me off. Why change it after losing one game? It hasn't done us any harm in the league...

[Peter Venkman]

My observation is we're going up as fucking champions and one defeat doesn't mean all of a sudden our game doesn't work.

We won a bigger game only last Tuesday.

I have to agree with that totally.

[Dozno9]

Ritchie was below par even before Caddis got injured.

He's been off his game for a few months now. He started the season so well but has not been the same player since January and although he still adds something I wouldn't be too gutted if he left.

[Benzel]

If he gets another 2 assists on Saturday as he did vs Torquay then he's doing alright by me.

[Dozno9]

As long as he doesn't play like he did against Oxford on Saturday he'll do alright by me.

[Arriba]

The times Richie struggles is when the opposition play him as they should. Even then he still has the ability of pulling something out of the bag. He still creates and i don't buy into him having lost form.
He was reluctant to outside of his man on sunday and it is the biggest flaw in his game and why he isn't playing in the championship.
Still a potent weapon for us and i like him playing on the right. Fortunately, most of the time he is far better than the defender he is up against.
Deffo needs a full back with him who can bomb on and fire in crosses with their natural right foot to get the best out of the right hand side of the pitch.

I remember DV saying that wingers shouldn't play on the opposite wing of their natural foot. And being critical of that system.

[Batch]

Ritchie is still the key man. He hasn't been as effective going forward recently but don't underestimate the amount of work he does for the team.

It's no surprise that he gets double and even triple marked at times. But while they worry about him it gives Rooney or Holmes a better chance.

[DRS]

Our main issue lately imo has been our fullbacks.I think it's easy to sometimes not realise that Caddis acts as a 5th midfielder and with teams doubling up on Ritchie on the right and Rooney/Holmes on the left it usually allows us to take teams apart.

[Benzel]

Which is why in the other thread I said I would have Macca at RB, he's more likely to get forward than Devera is.