melonhead ref the OP- i was very pleased at how solid and effective guthrie and mcanuff were in the middle on their own. been so used to two CDMs it came as a bit of a surprise. really put west brom on the back foot.
think jobi is better than HRK and mcleary tbf.
yeah he has the quiet games offensively, but those quiet game is when the other team put two players to nullify each wingers, and he still works harder than the other two, gets back, covers his full back, whereas the other two rarely do.& hes still our highest assister
easily worth his place.imo
as for people moaning that kebe and Mcanuff dont go knock it past their man as often as they did in the championship.
you rarely see wingers do that in the prem.
im as frustrated as anyone when kebe stops and passes back/inside, but its clearly a tactical thing, and keeps possession/builds attacks/brings others into the game which is more important than flinging a random cross in to our one striker.
if you attaemp to go past a FB, and he knicks the ball, you are out of position, the FB and the winger double up on your FB and they end up scoring a goal.
On average it seems a Premier League side makes between 14 and 15 crosses per game. I’d argue Reading are not doing that – either lacking in cross quality or failing to put them in at all.
The one person who seems to put a cross in more than most, is McCleary. I think that is fairly important to remember considering we seem to convert our crosses into goals rather successfully.
Of course some creativity should come from the middle, and you’d expect at least one central midfielder, especially in a 4-5-1 model, to get into the box for the cross (though this is also a winger responsibility!), but the primary source of creativity with our system (always has been, always will be) is the wide players, whether that’s crossing, cutting inside, slotting it through, or setting up the central midfielder with a ball to shoot or thread it himself.
Seems to be 99% of the time we are doing the latter, which is odd considering Jem, Legs and Tabb should be told to never, under any circumstances, shoot for goal. And, as illustrated by the last couple of game, it's "flinging crosses in" and positive attacking play by the wingers which get us our goals:
1-2 WB = McCleary cross, Kebe in the box, scored
2-2 WB = Kebe chasing into the box wins the penalty
1-1 CT = HRK cross, McCleary header back in, Le Fondre goal
1-2 CT = McCleary cross, Hunt goal
I’m not advocating a complete dependence on wing play, I’m suggesting that with our system the liability of creativity mainly falls with them and they should be entertaining the cross far more than they currently are.
It’s their timidity which is costing our creativity most.
