What has caused this bad run of results.......

[Wycombe Royal]

Oddly the only common factor thorugh this bad run of results is that Gunnarsson has not been in the midfield. His last midfield appareance for us was against West Ham on Boxing Day, and since then he has only made one appearance in central defence against Villa.

Now the general consensus is that he was playing crap, including me, but are we now missing his defensive qualities in there?

Should Harper be given a rest when Gunnarsson is back and then we can see if Matejovsky and Gunnarsson work well together, or maybe move Cisse back to the midfield?

[Huntley & Palmer]

For me, it's the organisation at the back. We look completely at sea in defence and lose far too many players through poor marking, add in the sloppy clearances and passing and it all adds up to our current scenario. We have lost a lot of bite in midfield and the abillity to tackle higher up the pitch, with or without Gunnar.

[Row Z Royal]

Should Harper be given a rest when Gunnarsson is back and then we can see if Matejovsky and Gunnarsson work well together?

I asked this question this morning but I wasn't brave enough to post it on here. Good luck to you

[Tails]

Its a conundrum for me.....

Marek deserves his place in the midfield (I know I know, only played x amount of games for us)

If we move CIsse in midfield then there will be balance in the centre of the park but we would be relying on Sonko or Doobs to be as good as Cisse at centre-back for it to work.

If we put Gunner in then it may still fail because Gunner is far too slow for premiership football.

Think its make or break time, we have to trust that sonks/doobs can step up...Cisse and Marek would theoretically make up a good partnership. Whenever you filled a gap, another seems to appear.

That, for me, would leave only one problem...the width. We really need to see improvement on the winger in respect of supply to the front two. As soon as these are fixed then goals wil rain down again (for us, not the opposition...)

[Platypuss]

Oddly the only common factor thorugh this bad run of results is that Gunnarsson has not been in the midfield. His last midfield appareance for us was against West Ham on Boxing Day, and since then he has only made one appearance in central defence against Villa.

Now the general consensus is that he was playing crap, including me, but are we now missing his defensive qualities in there?

Should Harper be given a rest when Gunnarsson is back and then we can see if Matejovsky and Gunnarsson work well together, or maybe move Cisse back to the midfield?

It's certainly apparent that picking 4 from Convey/Hunt/Harper/Marek/Doyle/Oster is short and lightweight whichever way you slice it and is prone to be bullied/muscled out of games unless the opposition give us time and space.

Gunnar may be slow, but his positives could well outshine the negatives. We definitely appear to be lacking an energetic, biggish tackler in midfield. They wouldn't necessarily have to be ginger.

[Hoop Blah]

Why are people talking about playing Cisse in midfield?

Every time he's played there he's looked out of his depth.

Every time he's played in the centre of the defence he's looked pretty handy. We're losing one of our fit centre backs for the next game and so Cisse has to play in the back four.

[brendywendy]

maybe its time to ditch the wingers-theyve been the source of all our creation for the last few years, but the middle of the park is starting to look wide open, could we play with hunt and fae tucked in?

[Blue Blooded]

I don't think that the problem lies so much with the ability of the players. It is more to do with the clubs statements and intentions serving to demotivate and undermine the confidence of the players.

We do not want the UEFA Cup - How hollow does that seem now? No doubt people will throw back at me the evidence of how close we came but that is to miss the point. The club had shown a distinct lack of any ambition with this. Yes we have had the likes of Ipswich and Norwich struggle, however for Norwich there will always be Jeremy Goss in Munich. The prospect of playing in Europe may have helped Sidwell make the right decision and also we may have been a more attractive prospect to any other newcomers.

oxf*rd up Rating 6/10 (If taken on it's own)

We punched above our weight last season - If we go down, no doubt we will have the soundbite of well the table never lies. It doesn't! Didn't last season either. After the achievement last season - the players may have been on a high and whilst it maybe important to keep them on a level - is it really good to knock the stuffing out of them and steal their thunder. Perhaps this was bourne out of the desire of Mr Mad to keep wages at a 'sensible' level.

oxf*rd up Rating 8/10 (Bigger crime than the UEFA Cup scenerio)

Second Season Syndrome - Instead of not talking seriously about European Football - the club has paid far too much lip-service to this view. Needs to be banned from all communications both in and out of the club. Self fulfilling prophecy anyone?

[Focher]

for me the problem has been the same all season.

Centre back are fine
Centre midfield is fine
Centre forwards are fine

Right and left back are dreadful
Wingers are dreadful

I exclude Hunt from being 'dreadful', the reason nothing comes from the left is because he finds himself constantly looking after Shorey, who has been nothing short of woeful this season. Im sure we have delivered the least amount of crosses than any team last season by some way.

The defensive problems stem from the full backs, and our attacking problems stem from the wingers. For some reason i felt more confident this season with the cup reserve team.

Rosenior right back, De La Cruz left back, and as for right midfield god knows.

Still optimistic, but changes need to be made pretty quickly.

[Wycombe Royal]

Every time he's played in the centre of the defence he's looked pretty handy.

However he made little challenge when Davies headed the ball on for Nolan to score. I doubt Sonko or even Ingimarsson would have lost out so easily.

[Wycombe Royal]

I don't think that the problem lies so much with the ability of the players. It is more to do with the clubs statements and intentions serving to demotivate and undermine the confidence of the players.

We do not want the UEFA Cup - How hollow does that seem now? No doubt people will throw back at me the evidence of how close we came but that is to miss the point. The club had shown a distinct lack of any ambition with this. Yes we have had the likes of Ipswich and Norwich struggle, however for Norwich there will always be Jeremy Goss in Munich. The prospect of playing in Europe may have helped Sidwell make the right decision and also we may have been a more attractive prospect to any other newcomers.

oxf*rd up Rating 6/10 (If taken on it's own)

We punched above our weight last season - If we go down, no doubt we will have the soundbite of well the table never lies. It doesn't! Didn't last season either. After the achievement last season - the players may have been on a high and whilst it maybe important to keep them on a level - is it really good to knock the stuffing out of them and steal their thunder. Perhaps this was bourne out of the desire of Mr Mad to keep wages at a 'sensible' level.

oxf*rd up Rating 8/10 (Bigger crime than the UEFA Cup scenerio)

Second Season Syndrome - Instead of not talking seriously about European Football - the club has paid far too much lip-service to this view. Needs to be banned from all communications both in and out of the club. Self fulfilling prophecy anyone?

So all that has only affected the recent run of results (which is what this topic is about)?

[Platypuss]

Every time he's played in the centre of the defence he's looked pretty handy.

However he may little challenge when Davies headed the ball on for Nolan to score. I doubt Sonko or even Ingimarsson would have lost out so easily.

I doubt Taylor would have missed a second time though.

[Wycombe Royal]

I exclude Hunt from being 'dreadful', the reason nothing comes from the left is because he finds himself constantly looking after Shorey, who has been nothing short of woeful this season. Im sure we have delivered the least amount of crosses than any team last season by some way.

Shorey has 9 assists this season which is more than double that of ANY of defender in the Premiership. I don't think Shorey is the problem, but I do think Murty needs a break. We have two other potentially very good right backs and one of them needs to be given a run of games in that position.

[Wycombe Royal]

Every time he's played in the centre of the defence he's looked pretty handy.

However he may little challenge when Davies headed the ball on for Nolan to score. I doubt Sonko or even Ingimarsson would have lost out so easily.

I doubt Taylor would have missed a second time though.

[West Stand Man]

For me, it's the organisation at the back. We look completely at sea in defence and lose far too many players through poor marking, add in the sloppy clearances and passing and it all adds up to our current scenario. We have lost a lot of bite in midfield and the abillity to tackle higher up the pitch, with or without Gunnar.

The difference is that your post is opinion and the original one sticks to fact. While the poor run and G's absence may or may not be related - it is an interesting and noteworthy fact. Is there any other common factor? I can't think of one.

[Blue Blooded]

Tell you what Wycombe - lets argue about the merits of particular players and formations. Let's hope the players are reading that this one is not good enough - this formation doesn't work etc.

Bad run of results - When did that start Wycombe? We were not too clever at the start of the season and there isn't the time to deal with the question of whether to base our approach on Kitson or on Marek (Which to me is a bit too radical right now).

I am of the opinion that what seperates the weak from the strong in football is largely based on confidence (True greats are rarer then the media selling to us would really suggest).

[Man Friday]

I predict that, for the first time, this Saturday will see Coppell make dramatic changes to the team, formation, way we play, etc.

I think there'll be two or three surprises in team selection and a less entertaining style of play (not that our style of play V Bolton was entertaining).

I don't know who'll be dropped but I think it could be someone like Murty, Doyle, Harper, USA. I may well be wrong (and I'm not necessarily advocating changes) but I think Steve is starting to act very un-Coppell like and anything's now possible.

[Focher]

I exclude Hunt from being 'dreadful', the reason nothing comes from the left is because he finds himself constantly looking after Shorey, who has been nothing short of woeful this season. Im sure we have delivered the least amount of crosses than any team last season by some way.

Shorey has 9 assists this season which is more than double that of ANY of defender in the Premiership. I don't think Shorey is the problem, but I do think Murty needs a break. We have two other potentially very good right backs and one of them needs to be given a run of games in that position.

ok Shorey has been ok going forward, but defensively this season he has been absolute rubbish.

On a seroius note, i wonder if Coppell has considered Hunt on the right, Shorey left midfield, and De La Cruz left back?

[Hoop Blah]

Every time he's played in the centre of the defence he's looked pretty handy.

However he may little challenge when Davies headed the ball on for Nolan to score. I doubt Sonko or even Ingimarsson would have lost out so easily.

Agreed.

I certainly don't think he's the finished article at centre back, I'm not convinced he's better than Ivar, however we now only have Sonko, Cisse, Bennett and Pearce available for Everton and so I just can't see why anyone would want to move Cisse from a position he's looked comfortable in, and more effective than our other options, into one where he's looked pretty poor so far.

[BR2]

FWIW I don't think it is just a case of personnel and who would have believed 3 months ago that we might be crying out for Bryn to play and for Oster to return?
Last season we allowed teams to come at us to some extent but with the energy of Harper and Sidwell centrally we got away with it.
This season we have tended to sit deeper and deeper inviting teams on but there is no Sidwell tracking back.
I think we need to deny other sides space and get amongst them more,stopping them playing much as we did for the previous two seasons when we capitalised on mistakes made by the opposition.
Watching the Chelsea game on Football first last week the gap between our front two and the rest was enormous and it looked as though we just let Makelele play and do so at his own pace.
Cisse or Bryn just have to play either in front of a back 4 or as part of a midfield 3 or 4 otherwise teams will continue doing what they have been doing,driving straight through the middle especially as our midfield is so physically weak when neither of those two play.

We do also have to pray that Sonko steps out from the shadow where he has been this season and for him to assert himself as he did last season or pray that Duberry is fit enough to play and the other option is that Bikey has learned how to concentrate following his time in Ghana.