Team v QPR

[RVclaret]

Trafford

Roberts
Egan-Riley
Esteve
Humphreys

Cullen
Brownhill
Koleosho
Anthony

Flemming
Hountondji

More 4-4-2 / 4-2-3-1 (what we went to after the subs) than the 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 we’ve been playing. Flemming playing just off Hountondji - this is where he’s done his best work for Millwall and immediately last night. Yes I’d like Laurent in there too but with this shape I’d stick with Cullen and Brownhill.

[taio]

Trafford
Roberts Egan-Riley Esteve Pires
Cullen Laurent
Koleosho Brownhill Anthony
Flemming

[burnley007]

Cullen and Brownhill have been dreadful this season, only one of them should play, probably Brownhill, alongside Laurent.

If we persist with 3 defensive midfielders, this is going to be a long, painful season.

[CoolClaret]

----------Trafford
Roberts-CJ-Esteve-Pires
---------Cullen-Laurent
Sarmiento-Brownhill-Anthony
----------Flemming

If we go 4-4-2 you could even opt for Brownhill at RM (played there under Dyche to decent effect) coming infield with Roberts overlapping him.

[CoolClaret]

Cullen and Brownhill have been dreadful this season

Tough crowd.

Only scoring 1 in 2 from midfield.

[RVclaret]

----------Trafford
Roberts-CJ-Esteve-Pires
---------Cullen-Laurent
Sarmiento-Brownhill-Anthony
----------Flemming

If we go 4-4-2 you could even opt for Brownhill at RM (played there under Dyche to decent effect) coming infield with Roberts overlapping him.

Sarmiento didn’t make the squad last night, haven’t seen Parker’s comments but wouldn’t look good for a game in 2 days…

[CoolClaret]

Sarmiento didn’t make the squad last night, haven’t seen Parker’s comments but wouldn’t look good for a game in 2 days…

Could just be illness, I don't know too much about it tbh...

The RW spot remains a problem (said as much when the window concluded) - I think other than Agyei & Benson, all of our wingers play their best stuff off the left.

[RVclaret]

Could just be illness, I don't know too much about it tbh...

The RW spot remains a problem (said as much when the window concluded) - I think other than Agyei & Benson, all of our wingers play their best stuff off the left.

Agree - can understand why we tried for Rak-Sakyi now before he moved to Sheff Utd. And obv been unlucky (again) with Benson’s long term injury.

[willsclarets]

Cullen and Brownhill have not been awful by any stretch. I don't think we're getting the best out of Cullen in this system, but Brownhill I think is actually improving. He's getting into some really good positions, he brilliantly made the chance at the end for Anthony at the death last night for example. And he's scored some good goals, without which we'd have less points. If we're going to play 3 in midfield, I think Hannibal has to miss out. Brownhill has to be the furthest forward, and Laurent needs to be a box-to-box next to Cullen imo.

However I still think that compromises Flemming, and at home to QPR I'd lean more towards playing 2 of Cullen/Brownhill/Laurent with Flemming in a 10 and Jay up front in the 9. The question is who plays in the midfield pair, which is tricky, all 3 have different qualities. On balance, I'd go:

Trafford

Roberts
CJ
Esteve
Pires

Cullen
Brownhill
Sarmiento
Anthony

Flemming

Jay

I agree with others who say Koleosho needs a break. Awesome sub to bring on if we need a boost, but a watching brief wouldn't harm him I think. Tough on Laurent, who always looks good and gives us energy. But another good sub to have along with Hannibal, who increasingly looks less like an attacking CM to me. His pressing and ability to win the ball back is great, but he doesn't do enough going forward. If he goes anywhere in a 442 I'd say it's the right hand side (more of a dyche wide player)

[ElectroClaret]

Laurent must start, we look far stronger with him in.

[ArmchairDetective]

Brownhill bring dreadful so far must be in with a shout for post of the year.

I agree with Laurent coming into the team but not for Brownhill. Probably Cullen.

Traff
Roberts CJER Esteve Humph
Laurent Brownhill
Anthony Flemming Koleosho
Hountondji

I think we can afford to be more attacking and this lineup is a reflection of that.

[jedi_master]

Trafford
Roberts Egan-Riley Esteve Humphreys
Laurent Cullen
Sarmiento Brownhill Anthony
Flemming

(if Sarmiento is not fit, I would go with Koleosho, but I really think he needs a rest)

[claretonthecoast1882]

This beats QPR

Trafford
Egan Riley Esteve Humphreys
Laurent Cullen
Koleosho Brownhill Anthony
Hountondji Flemming

Easy this management game

[Boss Hogg]

----------Trafford
Roberts-CJ-Esteve-Pires
---------Cullen-Laurent
Sarmiento-Brownhill-Anthony
----------Flemming

If we go 4-4-2 you could even opt for Brownhill at RM (played there under Dyche to decent effect) coming infield with Roberts overlapping him.

This team for me.

[claretspice]

-----------Trafford
Roberts Egan Riley Esteve Pires
-------Cullen Laurent/Mejbri
Koleosho Brownhill Anthony
-----------Flemming.

I suspect Hannibal ultimately going to be best as a sitting midfielder who plays simple and tidies up, rather than an attacking midfielder or even a box-to-box midfielder. At present, whilst he is good technically and comfortable receiving the ball, he just doesn't appear to have the subtlety or attacking instinct to play in those roles. He can play alongside Cullen, as a double pivot, but this idea of him playing as a 10, or even the more advanced of two 8s, isn't working and Brownhill needs to assume that role. But because of his greater range of comfort on the ball in tight areas, Cullen is the first name on the team sheet other than possibly Esteve. I think alongside Cullen you therefore have a choice between Hannibal who is a slightly better technically and more comfortable on the half turn, and Laurent who is a bit more purposeful in driving the team forwards. The other option is to play neither, and play Flemming behind an out and out striker, but Jay and Flemming are too similar and it'd be a bit call to play Hountondji from the start and drop one of Hannibal and Laurent.

I'd retain Anthony and Koleosho for now - particularly if Sarmiento is unavailable for any reason - but I'd like to see them both swap wings more. Koleosho looks like hes trying too hard (as is often the way with young players who are suddenly find things more difficult) and given he's produced his best form playing from the left, it might just help him to play from that position more often. Long term, he ought to be the sort of player who is comfortable on either flank, but for now he's clearly not quite there and more fluidity between him and Anthony might help.

[summitclaret]

Spot on Spice. Don't understand the reluctance to swop wings in game. Brownhill the more advanced in cm is a total no brainer. No doubt I'll be called a negative moaner by the usual suspects/happy clappers.

[Dark Cloud]

I definitely think if we don't put two up front from the start against strugglers like QPR then we're ridiculously risk averse. But, in order to play Houtondji up top with Flemming as number 10, you'd probably need to drop Koleosho. Tough call.
What isn't (or shouldn't be) a tough call, is dropping Hannibal to play Laurent. No brainer I'd say.

[claretspice]

I definitely think if we don't put two up front from the start against strugglers like QPR then we're ridiculously risk averse. But, in order to play Houtondji up top with Flemming as number 10, you'd probably need to drop Koleosho. Tough call.
What isn't (or shouldn't be) a tough call, is dropping Hannibal to play Laurent. No brainer I'd say.

I don't think we need to play 2 up front. We rarely if ever started in with 2 up two seasons ago and we averaged almost two goals a game. More important is that the team as a whole is set up to get men in the box. That involves the wide players getting into more goalscoring positions than is currently the case, and freeing up Brownhill to attack the box.

That's especially the case with Flemming the lone striker. He can provide a focal point if he can drop deeper in the knowledge the wide players and Brownhill will attack the space behind him (much as Liverpool did for years with Firmino the central striker). But currently (and certainly last night) those runs are a bit sporadic. My understanding is that Brownhill did it effectively from a more liberated position at Sheffield Wednesday.

[bumba]

Trafford

Roberts Egan-Riley Esteve Pires

Laurent Cullen

Anthony Brownhill Koleosho

Flemming

I only saw him play at Wolves but I'd be tempted.to put McDermott on the bench as an option in the 10, he looked to have something about him and can't be any worse than the other options we've had in a 10 this season.

Flemming would be perfect but we just don't have an option good enough up front.

[Goliath]

I don't think we need to play 2 up front. We rarely if ever started in with 2 up two seasons ago and we averaged almost two goals a game. More important is that the team as a whole is set up to get men in the box. That involves the wide players getting into more goalscoring positions than is currently the case, and freeing up Brownhill to attack the box.

That's especially the case with Flemming the lone striker. He can provide a focal point if he can drop deeper in the knowledge the wide players and Brownhill will attack the space behind him (much as Liverpool did for years with Firmino the central striker). But currently (and certainly last night) those runs are a bit sporadic. My understanding is that Brownhill did it effectively from a more liberated position at Sheffield Wednesday.

This isn't quite true. Kompany regularly played with 2 up in reality even if on paper it didn't look like it.
In fact at times he would leave the widen high so it was closer to 4 up.

There's a reason that team scored so many and this team has one of the lowest xg's in the division. One of them is just pure numbers. Then there's a lack of fluidity of movement and individual quality on top of that.

[KlyBfc]

Trafford

Roberts Egan Riley. Esteve. Humphreys

Cullen. Laurent

Brownhill. Flemming. Anthony
Haountonji

[claretspice]

This isn't quite true. Kompany regularly played with 2 up in reality even if on paper it didn't look like it.
In fact at times he would leave the widen high so it was closer to 4 up.

There's a reason that team scored so many and this team has one of the lowest xg's in the division. One of them is just pure numbers. Then there's a lack of fluidity of movement and individual quality on top of that.

Well agreed but that's precisely what I'm saying, isn't it? We don't need to play 2 recognised out and out strikers, but we need the 3 who are nominally behind the striker to get beyond the striker to make a front 4 more frequently. The reason that works and was so effective two years ago is that those same three players can play deeper in the build up phase to help you have complete control in midfield before springing into those forward positions. At the moment we're not doing that "springing" bit often or well enough: too many people are either behind or alongside the ball when we work the ball into dangerous areas (which we broadly did well last night, give or take some sloppy individual moments when we gave possession away in bad areas). I'd rather we focused on doing that, than playing Hountondji as an extra attacker. We have a real strength at present that we can basically control midfield in games at will (ironically given that Cullen's contributions aren't necessarily being appreciated) and to only play 2 of Cullen, Brownhill, Hannibal and Laurent would seem to involve weakening a strength in an attempt to solve a weakness. I don't think we need to do that.

[Goliath]

Well agreed but that's precisely what I'm saying, isn't it? We don't need to play 2 recognised out and out strikers, but we need the 3 who are nominally behind the striker to get beyond the striker to make a front 4 more frequently. The reason that works and was so effective two years ago is that those same three players can play deeper in the build up phase to help you have complete control in midfield before springing into those forward positions. At the moment we're not doing that "springing" bit often or well enough: too many people are either behind or alongside the ball when we work the ball into dangerous areas (which we broadly did well last night, give or take some sloppy individual moments when we gave possession away in bad areas). I'd rather we focused on doing that, than playing Hountondji as an extra attacker. We have a real strength at present that we can basically control midfield in games at will (ironically given that Cullen's contributions aren't necessarily being appreciated) and to only play 2 of Cullen, Brownhill, Hannibal and Laurent would seem to involve weakening a strength in an attempt to solve a weakness. I don't think we need to do that.

Fair enough. I think we need to recognise the difference Roberts makes in controlling the midfield as well. He's become a really effective inverted full back so at times he's sat alongside Cullen which like you say should give even more freedom for the other midfielders to get forward, which in turn should bring out the best in both Brownhill and Laurent.
It's a shame Redmond isn't fit really because we also don't have a winger making those diagonal out to in runs like Tellan Cornet and JBL did which made them big goal threats. Unfortunately Koleosho is a bit clueless in that sense.

[Stonehouse]

Cullen and Brownhill have been dreadful this season, only one of them should play, probably Brownhill, alongside Laurent.

If we persist with 3 defensive midfielders, this is going to be a long, painful season.

Not a fan of Brownhill who seems to disappear in games however he’s one of the Championships leading scorers so we need to play him further up the pitch.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Trafford
Roberts, Egan, Esteve, Pires
Laurent, Cullen
Koleosho, Flemming, Anthony
Houtondji

[CryerBFC]

Trafford
Roberts CJER Esteve Pires
Laurent Brownhill
Sarmiento Anthony
Flemming Hountondji

Could almost be a front 5 when in possession, with Brownhill making the run from deep, or Laurent who is more than capable as long as Brownhill sits when he does so. Then drop to more of a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 if we’re up against it.

I don’t imagine QPR will do anything other than park the bus so we have to go for an early goal to open the game up.

As much as I like Cullen in certain games I think he can slow down our build up and we need to be firing on all cylinders from the first minute.

[Alan Young]

Numerous calls for Hountondji’s inclusion. I’m going back to bed.

[warksclaret]

Having got a feel of Parkers team selections I just dont see Hountondji starting v QPR. Laurent was a major surprise by ommission v Hull, but what I saw against Wednesday, and when he came on at Hull, he is very good at making strong runs into the opponents penalty area. So I expect him to support Fleming alongside Brownhill

Trafford
Roberts Esteve ER Humphreys
Cullen
Koleosho Brownhill Laurent Anthony
Fleming

[BigChaCha]

burnley007 » Thu Oct 24, 2024 9:54 am

If we persist with 3 defensive midfielders, this is going to be a long, painful season.

We played our best and most productive football under Kompany in the Championship doing just that so the concept works very well if applied properly... In fact, most fans in here were calling for us to go back to that formation last season

[JohnMac]

As long we get straight onto the front foot and inject some pace into our play we really should be looking to score goals against QPR. Can the ponderous build up stuff and get to it!

Trafford

Roberts
CJ E-R
Esteve
Humphreys

Cullen
Laurent
Brownhill

Anthony
Koleosho
Flemming

[ecc]

Cullen and Brownhill have been dreadful this season, only one of them should play, probably Brownhill, alongside Laurent.

If we persist with 3 defensive midfielders, this is going to be a long, painful season.

Cullen dreadful?

[Elizabeth]

Expecting Laurent back for Hannibal. Will be interested whether Humphreys and Hountondji start for Pires and Koleosho.

[BleedingClaret]

Numerous calls for Hountondji’s inclusion. I’m going back to bed.

And most of those teams don’t include Laurent

I don’t think that they’ve been paying attention

[BleedingClaret]

We played our best and most productive football under Kompany in the Championship doing just that so the concept works very well if applied properly... In fact, most fans in here were calling for us to go back to that formation last season

We were lacking a forward player with Cork and Cullen both in front of the back four
I think Cork got injured and we became more attacking just because of the players available (No criticism of Cork)

In the Prem we needed to be more defensive minded

[BleedingClaret]

Trafford

Roberts
CJR
Steve
Humphries

Cullen
Brownhill

Anthony
Laurent
Koleosho

Flemming

[Spike]

On course for 92 points , not lost in weeks yet some folk think we are dreadful

We are not the finished article and have a few injuries so hopefully we can better “ than dreadful”

Question is when we “ Free Tella” on New Years Day will he go straight into the team for the trip to Evilwood?

[Cirrus_Minor]

Interesting how many people have dropped Brownhill from 'their' team or even said he's been 'dreadfull'. Even more interesting is how dropping this dreadfull player, who happens also to be our leading goalscorer, is going to help us score more goals.

[Robbie_painter]

Interesting how many people have dropped Brownhill from 'their' team or even said he's been 'dreadfull'. Even more interesting is how dropping this dreadfull player, who happens also to be our leading goalscorer, is going to help us score more goals.

They have to have a whipping boy,it usually fades but for some reason even though he’s our captain and top scorer they’ve stuck at it with Josh.Baffles me.

[Roosterbooster]

We played our best and most productive football under Kompany in the Championship doing just that so the concept works very well if applied properly... In fact, most fans in here were calling for us to go back to that formation last season

3 "defensive midfielders", in a team that presses so high up the pitch that occasionally all 11 players are in the opposition half, is very different to 3 "defensive midfielders" in a team that rarely gets into the opposition box

Edit:
Having read this back, I think I'm agreeing with you

[Wile E Coyote]

Cullen and Brownhill have been dreadful this season, only one of them should play, probably Brownhill, alongside Laurent.

If we persist with 3 defensive midfielders, this is going to be a long, painful season.

??? brownhill is one of the reasons we are where we are in this division. you are deluded to the point of insanity.

[Clive 1960]

whatever the team Parker puts out just get behind them as i for one didn't think we would be in this position now after pre season but we can only get better and have players to come back from injury. UTC...

[Hbclaret007]

How about?

Trafford

Roberts
Humphrys
Esteve
Pires

Hannibal
Laurent

Brownhill
Flemming

Anthony
J'Rod

Cullen hasn't been great.
Can Hannibal play the defensive role?

Push Brownhill alongside Flemming with Anthony and J'Rod up front.

[LTUK89]

Trafford
Roberts Egan-Riley Steve Pires (only because QPR as the lad is iffy at the back)
Koleosho Brownhill Laurent Anthony
Flemming
Houdini

[Culmclaret]

whatever the team Parker puts out just get behind them as i for one didn't think we would be in this position now after pre season but we can only get better and have players to come back from injury. UTC...

Well said. We can all see where we need to improve but there is a lot to build on. We continue to accumulate points and look a good bet for a top six finish.

[IanMcL]

Winning