Agreed but I don’t think the system used in the last two games will consistently produce positive results.
I’m sure Dodds would agree that you can’t control the result but you can control your own performance. I don’t think we’ve been good enough recently despite winning.
We are in a different place to when Ainsworth was manager. We just broke our transfer record twice on players who can’t even get in the squad. Expectations have rightly increased.
I agree on the PL. As for us, I think Dodds is suffering by being compared to the style he said he was not going to change (before completely changing it).
I don't think it was that good before MB left. Something changed. Fatigue? Teams figuring us out? Taylor and Morley leaving at the time they did?
Perhaps the dressing room members that have left - Taff, Hanlan - they were "Wycombised" members of our squad and likable characters. Who knows?
I think teams have just started to figure out how to play against us and improved themselves at the same time. We are still to play 4 of the current top 6 yet, so perhaps our position is a little false? Time will tell.
Why did we ‘accidentally’ win two games? And talking of context, it’s a hell of a lot easier to play free flowing football in the early months of the season when the pressure to avoid losing is nothing like as intense as it is now. Plus, Dodds said very clearly in his interview that he’s encouraging the players to ‘take the handbrake off’ but I sense a nervousness on their part to take risks.
And I think therein lies what I do find depressing.
We have a young, modern coach who is working to the currently fashionable trend of ‘control’ (which involves a lot of - in my view - faffing around in our own half).
I get that is the way most managers post-Pep want to play but personally I don’t find it that entertaining.
One of the unexpected delights in the first half of the season was that we had developed a way of playing that was both exciting to watch and successful.
Expressing regret for the loss of that in words on here does not remotely equate to wanting us to lose or Dodds not to succeed. Of course I want him to be successful with us.
i can also understand the safety-first, fear of losing, approach at this time of the season and I will not judge Dodds long term capabilities or strategies based on what he sees as the right thing to do to keep us in the automatic promotion hunt.
As a supporter however I do feel that I can legitimately bemoan the way of the football world in general and contrast the football we played a few months ago with the football we are playing now in particular.
The away game at Lincoln was one of the best games of football I have seen Wycombe play in for a long time. I walked the relatively short distance back to the car that day amongst Lincoln fans talking about how good we were as a team that afternoon. I can’t imagine there were many Lincoln supporters singing our praises walking back to their cars yesterday.
Fair enough, but between the end of the winning run and Blooms leaving we still averaged 1.55 goals per game, whereas Dodds averages 1.11. The "bad" Blooms run including a 3-0 away to a miserly Stevenage defence where we could easily have had 6 for 7 and were playing for the "Ole's" by the end.
In other words, the "bad period" of Blooms was still more potent than what we watch now.
If Dodds wins every game 1-0 and we go up, fantastic - it's how Wrexham have been finding success. Or if something clicks and we start scoring 2 per game again, also great. I haven't written Dodds off. But I am not going to drink the Kool-aid that his football is currently pleasing on the eye.
There is definitely an irony to the football being so negative, but being chided for being negative if you identify it as such!
Either way, no excuse not to score 3 or more at home to Shrewsbury. Absolute litmus test for being fearless.
Under Gaz we were told it was the (winning but direct) style of football that explained low gates, shocked the casual attender, embarrassed people who brought mates along who would never come again and bored the kids. I am shocked to find out that it's actually the thousands reading the Gasroom.
There is at least one poster on here who never gave GA a single benefit of the doubt for three seasons now telling the dimbos who find some of the present tactics a bit perplexing that boring football to win games is fine and its points not style that matters.
The "faffing around at the back" in the form of the passing along the back line not being quick and accurate enough to break the opposition's high press was mentioned by Dodds in the post-match interview as a feature of our play in the first half that needed to improve.
That particular shortcoming was a large part of why we struggled so much midway through last season, and why it we were so difficult to watch during that period. Dodds is right that it needs to improve, and when it does I'm pretty sure a lot of his critics will pipe down.
Dodds first few games he didn't change much from what went before but was also without Kone. We know without Kone we are not as potent.
I feel it's just a shame that now we have Kone back, we've moved to this very negative approach in the last two games for the first 65-70 minutes. I could understand doing this without Kone but with Kone it seems mad. Those last 25 minutes against Rotherham showed exactly what we could do with more mobile players.
At Rotherham, the whole game changed when McCleary and Kodua came on and started supporting Kone, getting beyond him, getting into pockets between their midfield and defence. If we have more positive players on the pitch, it didn't look too bad. I was really surprised that he went back to the starting XI at Rotherham that was so poor.
Only time will tell but I worry that if we continue with that starting XI and formation we do not win the majority of our remanining fixtures. Of course, we may well win the majority and get promoted.
The other thing is, with that starting XI it requires at least three changes to go more attacking and means we are so one dimensional. You cannot move that team easily to 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 because of how many "safe" players are in the team. I just worry that if we concede first against a better team, we are unlikely to get back into the game with that starting XI. Why would we limit ourselves so much.
Anyway, it's all about opinions. 3 points is 3 points and hopefully we can get three more tomorrow.
"Accidentally" because neither win came about thanks to the tactics. And I addressed the handbrake comment elsewhere, I find it a bizarre thing for him to say to a group of players that he's sent out in a 9-0-1 formation - the words don't match the actions.
I thought we looked apprehensive in the first half, cautious about taking chances in possession, but once we had scored the shackles came off and we looked more confident and dangerous.
Or, alternatively, we never looked like scoring until a very defendable channel ball from Leahy somehow resulted in their centre half slipping over and left Humphreys with only the keeper to beat. Winning in that manner is quite unusual. I called it a fluke and I stick by it.
If we set up as negatively again against Shrewsbury then we know that's the way we're playing for the rest of the season and probably until Dodds departs. I live in hope that he will play to our attacking strengths against the worst squad in the league. But the realist / cynic in me knows we won't. It'll be control all the way, we'll win 2-0, everyone will be delighted on here for a few days... Until we play the same at the weekend, lose against a better team and finally some of the more optimistic on here might concede that perhaps, just perhaps, if we weren't set up so negatively from the start we'd have a better chance of winning games.
@ReadingMarginalista just caught up with your comments. Only problem is are our back line capable of speeding it up as required by Doddy? This is my issue with play it out from the back possession/ control Pep ball. How often on highlights shows do you see defenders now trying to do what the coaching manual demands but their feet and brains can’t deliver. If they could they would be playing at a higher level. It’s a bit like asking an F1 mechanic to mend an old banger - pointless and possibly dangerous.
We should play to our strengths not what some skinny bloke at St George’s Park had put in a power point presentation.
I think MB managed to find the sweet spot between possession for possession sake and route one football. Morley could accurately hit targets 50 yards ahead of him before the opposition defence could get into their shape. Then we could mix it up by keeping possession for 10 minutes or so. The point is that we didn’t become predictable, which so often are now. But then I’ve mentioned the M word again. I would love to know the real truth of why we didn’t retain his services, a big mistake in my opinion.
I'm not sure it's 9-0-1 but I think you get the point he is making. Kone is so isolated. This piece of play in the Rotherham game really stuck out for me. @frequentstander took the original picture. From memory I'm not even sure there was another player more than 5M into the Rotherham half.
There is more than one way to win a game of football. I'm just not sure this way is going to get us enough points by the end of the season.
Can't stand the faffing around at the back as we are SO slow, in particular Norris, who effectively waits until his full page add in the BFP has been published then finally either kicks it out for a throw or rolls a perilous ball to Low or Taylor who then pass it back to him.....rinse and repeat. Isn't effective as it is too slow. It works when there's one touch play that spreads the ball from one side to the other in a second or two and stretches the other team giving us space.
Need to get away from the bollocks Pep ball and start playing to our strengths, run at players and attack.......there again what do I know....
We've definitely missed Morley but our current mixing it up with 50 yard balls involves Norris rolling the ball under his left peg for an eternity to then pump it long, nowhere near the target and allowing an inordinate amount of time for the opposition to regain their shape.
I would like to see Ravazolli return tomorrow night.
If I was to advise Dodds to do anything, it would be to speak to the Senior Pro's who were here under MB about the Pro's and Con's of the back three. Why it didn't work and why we moved to the way we were playing since January 2024. Clearly MB changed his philosophy once he realised it wasn't to work with the squad he had at his disposal. It would be good if Dodds can get there quicker than MB did, as we have a promotion on the line.
Really hope we go up, or the Bloomfield/Morley stuff is going to absolutely blow the new gasroom apart.
A Morley 93rd min Wembley winner against us, followed by revealing a t shirt saying "the data said I wasn't worth 750k" would literally end any gas ever
Comments
Agreed but I don’t think the system used in the last two games will consistently produce positive results.
I’m sure Dodds would agree that you can’t control the result but you can control your own performance. I don’t think we’ve been good enough recently despite winning.
We are in a different place to when Ainsworth was manager. We just broke our transfer record twice on players who can’t even get in the squad. Expectations have rightly increased.
I agree on the PL. As for us, I think Dodds is suffering by being compared to the style he said he was not going to change (before completely changing it).
Dodds was criticised for not winning, so he changed the style and got two wins. He's still being criticised.🤷♂️🤦♂️
I don't think it was that good before MB left. Something changed. Fatigue? Teams figuring us out? Taylor and Morley leaving at the time they did?
Perhaps the dressing room members that have left - Taff, Hanlan - they were "Wycombised" members of our squad and likable characters. Who knows?
I think teams have just started to figure out how to play against us and improved themselves at the same time. We are still to play 4 of the current top 6 yet, so perhaps our position is a little false? Time will tell.
Why did we ‘accidentally’ win two games? And talking of context, it’s a hell of a lot easier to play free flowing football in the early months of the season when the pressure to avoid losing is nothing like as intense as it is now. Plus, Dodds said very clearly in his interview that he’s encouraging the players to ‘take the handbrake off’ but I sense a nervousness on their part to take risks.
And I think therein lies what I do find depressing.
We have a young, modern coach who is working to the currently fashionable trend of ‘control’ (which involves a lot of - in my view - faffing around in our own half).
I get that is the way most managers post-Pep want to play but personally I don’t find it that entertaining.
One of the unexpected delights in the first half of the season was that we had developed a way of playing that was both exciting to watch and successful.
Expressing regret for the loss of that in words on here does not remotely equate to wanting us to lose or Dodds not to succeed. Of course I want him to be successful with us.
i can also understand the safety-first, fear of losing, approach at this time of the season and I will not judge Dodds long term capabilities or strategies based on what he sees as the right thing to do to keep us in the automatic promotion hunt.
As a supporter however I do feel that I can legitimately bemoan the way of the football world in general and contrast the football we played a few months ago with the football we are playing now in particular.
The away game at Lincoln was one of the best games of football I have seen Wycombe play in for a long time. I walked the relatively short distance back to the car that day amongst Lincoln fans talking about how good we were as a team that afternoon. I can’t imagine there were many Lincoln supporters singing our praises walking back to their cars yesterday.
Fair enough, but between the end of the winning run and Blooms leaving we still averaged 1.55 goals per game, whereas Dodds averages 1.11. The "bad" Blooms run including a 3-0 away to a miserly Stevenage defence where we could easily have had 6 for 7 and were playing for the "Ole's" by the end.
In other words, the "bad period" of Blooms was still more potent than what we watch now.
If Dodds wins every game 1-0 and we go up, fantastic - it's how Wrexham have been finding success. Or if something clicks and we start scoring 2 per game again, also great. I haven't written Dodds off. But I am not going to drink the Kool-aid that his football is currently pleasing on the eye.
There is definitely an irony to the football being so negative, but being chided for being negative if you identify it as such!
Either way, no excuse not to score 3 or more at home to Shrewsbury. Absolute litmus test for being fearless.
Under Gaz we were told it was the (winning but direct) style of football that explained low gates, shocked the casual attender, embarrassed people who brought mates along who would never come again and bored the kids. I am shocked to find out that it's actually the thousands reading the Gasroom.
There is at least one poster on here who never gave GA a single benefit of the doubt for three seasons now telling the dimbos who find some of the present tactics a bit perplexing that boring football to win games is fine and its points not style that matters.
You can’t argue with the two wins but the starting formation has not been fluent at all and to me and many others is a real concern.
Beat Shrewsbury and we put pressure on the chasing pack. Reading will also be desperate to keep in touch of the Playoffs on Saturday.
What a great run in we’ve got with some critical games for both teams.
You think the players aren't prepared to take risks? That's interesting, why do you say that?
I still believe that Gaz wouldn't have gone to QPR if it wasn't for the the 'Masons who don't like long hair' brigade
With regard to your last paragraph, does this criticism include @glasshalffull?
The best period of Saturday's game was the slightly hectic 2 or 3 mins after we scored.
It all went slightly off the control game plan and we were romping forward and it was all a little exciting.
Quickly calmed down though.
The "faffing around at the back" in the form of the passing along the back line not being quick and accurate enough to break the opposition's high press was mentioned by Dodds in the post-match interview as a feature of our play in the first half that needed to improve.
That particular shortcoming was a large part of why we struggled so much midway through last season, and why it we were so difficult to watch during that period. Dodds is right that it needs to improve, and when it does I'm pretty sure a lot of his critics will pipe down.
Dodds first few games he didn't change much from what went before but was also without Kone. We know without Kone we are not as potent.
I feel it's just a shame that now we have Kone back, we've moved to this very negative approach in the last two games for the first 65-70 minutes. I could understand doing this without Kone but with Kone it seems mad. Those last 25 minutes against Rotherham showed exactly what we could do with more mobile players.
At Rotherham, the whole game changed when McCleary and Kodua came on and started supporting Kone, getting beyond him, getting into pockets between their midfield and defence. If we have more positive players on the pitch, it didn't look too bad. I was really surprised that he went back to the starting XI at Rotherham that was so poor.
Only time will tell but I worry that if we continue with that starting XI and formation we do not win the majority of our remanining fixtures. Of course, we may well win the majority and get promoted.
The other thing is, with that starting XI it requires at least three changes to go more attacking and means we are so one dimensional. You cannot move that team easily to 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 because of how many "safe" players are in the team. I just worry that if we concede first against a better team, we are unlikely to get back into the game with that starting XI. Why would we limit ourselves so much.
Anyway, it's all about opinions. 3 points is 3 points and hopefully we can get three more tomorrow.
"Accidentally" because neither win came about thanks to the tactics. And I addressed the handbrake comment elsewhere, I find it a bizarre thing for him to say to a group of players that he's sent out in a 9-0-1 formation - the words don't match the actions.
I thought we looked apprehensive in the first half, cautious about taking chances in possession, but once we had scored the shackles came off and we looked more confident and dangerous.
Or, alternatively, we never looked like scoring until a very defendable channel ball from Leahy somehow resulted in their centre half slipping over and left Humphreys with only the keeper to beat. Winning in that manner is quite unusual. I called it a fluke and I stick by it.
If we set up as negatively again against Shrewsbury then we know that's the way we're playing for the rest of the season and probably until Dodds departs. I live in hope that he will play to our attacking strengths against the worst squad in the league. But the realist / cynic in me knows we won't. It'll be control all the way, we'll win 2-0, everyone will be delighted on here for a few days... Until we play the same at the weekend, lose against a better team and finally some of the more optimistic on here might concede that perhaps, just perhaps, if we weren't set up so negatively from the start we'd have a better chance of winning games.
you're sticking with 9-0-1 formation and want us to take this as a serious analysis of the game yeah?
Yeah. Given how Kone is regularly the only player in the opposition half, even when he's on the edge of their box.
@ReadingMarginalista just caught up with your comments. Only problem is are our back line capable of speeding it up as required by Doddy? This is my issue with play it out from the back possession/ control Pep ball. How often on highlights shows do you see defenders now trying to do what the coaching manual demands but their feet and brains can’t deliver. If they could they would be playing at a higher level. It’s a bit like asking an F1 mechanic to mend an old banger - pointless and possibly dangerous.
We should play to our strengths not what some skinny bloke at St George’s Park had put in a power point presentation.
I think MB managed to find the sweet spot between possession for possession sake and route one football. Morley could accurately hit targets 50 yards ahead of him before the opposition defence could get into their shape. Then we could mix it up by keeping possession for 10 minutes or so. The point is that we didn’t become predictable, which so often are now. But then I’ve mentioned the M word again. I would love to know the real truth of why we didn’t retain his services, a big mistake in my opinion.
I'm not sure it's 9-0-1 but I think you get the point he is making. Kone is so isolated. This piece of play in the Rotherham game really stuck out for me. @frequentstander took the original picture. From memory I'm not even sure there was another player more than 5M into the Rotherham half.
There is more than one way to win a game of football. I'm just not sure this way is going to get us enough points by the end of the season.
Can't stand the faffing around at the back as we are SO slow, in particular Norris, who effectively waits until his full page add in the BFP has been published then finally either kicks it out for a throw or rolls a perilous ball to Low or Taylor who then pass it back to him.....rinse and repeat. Isn't effective as it is too slow. It works when there's one touch play that spreads the ball from one side to the other in a second or two and stretches the other team giving us space.
Need to get away from the bollocks Pep ball and start playing to our strengths, run at players and attack.......there again what do I know....
We've definitely missed Morley but our current mixing it up with 50 yard balls involves Norris rolling the ball under his left peg for an eternity to then pump it long, nowhere near the target and allowing an inordinate amount of time for the opposition to regain their shape.
I would like to see Ravazolli return tomorrow night.
If I was to advise Dodds to do anything, it would be to speak to the Senior Pro's who were here under MB about the Pro's and Con's of the back three. Why it didn't work and why we moved to the way we were playing since January 2024. Clearly MB changed his philosophy once he realised it wasn't to work with the squad he had at his disposal. It would be good if Dodds can get there quicker than MB did, as we have a promotion on the line.
Technically, we're playing a back 5 rather than 3 aren't we? Neither of the fullbacks gets forward at all so they're not wingbacks.
Which is why Fred should be playing there.
Really hope we go up, or the Bloomfield/Morley stuff is going to absolutely blow the new gasroom apart.
A Morley 93rd min Wembley winner against us, followed by revealing a t shirt saying "the data said I wasn't worth 750k" would literally end any gas ever
It feels like Doddy really values the extra qualities Leahy and Grimmer bring beyond their playing abilities.
Leahy left wing back is something no-one would ever go with otherwise. Not when Reach would surely be ideal there.
When you have 4 wingers and even Lowry who could play the current Reach role. Plus Lubala and Udoh when they're back.
Assume Pattenden is injured again as surely he'd be a fit on the right too.
Oh well, we'll see if tomorrow is similar or all change.