Substitutions ?!?!?!?

[summitclaret]

I think it may all unfold next Saturday if he picks a team of midgets against SU. If he plays Vitineo at rb, we will be under massive aerial assault at the back post.

Assuming we can right off Cork for whatever reason, then he's got to do something different. I think Ekdal has to start at cb. Weird as it sounds I would try Beyer at rb.

[superdimitri]

I can see his logic behind the substitutions.
The aim was the keep the ball, which is essentially our main defence against conceding. If you keep the ball, you cannot concede.

The issue was that we didn't keep the ball well, and panicked. The lack of threat as Koleosho went off invited West Ham forward since Zaroury did nothing.

West Ham also deserve credit, they saw we brought on Cullen and Zaroury and capitilised on our weaknesses when it mattered.

I said it before in a different thread, but the way this team tries to defend a lead has to be different from the Dyche era. We don't have the same squad where we can bring on tall players and put in a balls to the wall performance. We have to defend by keeping the ball and, on the front foot, scoring more.

[alwaysaclaret]

I think that that is what has upset even Kompany's staunchest supporters (of which I am one).
There's no hindsight here. Just about everyone on here and around us at the time, was gobsmacked when he brought Cullen on when we were likely to be under siege.
I'm guessing he kept Jayrod on because of his height to defend crosses, (when he had the option of a rapid Obafemi for the last 10 minutes), but if his logic was sound there, then the Cullen switch was even more baffling.

To keep momentum if he was going to make any subs it should have been larsen for gudmundson and obafemi for JRod, but irrespective of who he took off at that stage was ludicrous to bring Cullen on. And to take Koleosho off just took the threat away, even if he was knackered the mere fact he was on the pitch kept West ham pegged back 10-15 yards and in their own half.

[nil_desperandum]

I said it before in a different thread, but the way this team tries to defend a lead has to be different from the Dyche era. We don't have the same squad where we can bring on tall players and put in a balls to the wall performance. We have to defend by keeping the ball and, on the front foot, scoring more.

I can understand your logic, but we didn't have a dominant midfield player like Berge in Dyche's team.
I reckon if we have O'Shea, Beyer, Taylor, Berge and Rodriguez on the field (and bring on Ekdal rather than Cullen), then it's a pretty tall defensive line at set pieces.
What we do miss in these situations however is the organisation that an experienced goalkeeper, Mee and Tarkowski gave us.

[superdimitri]

I can understand your logic, but we didn't have a dominant midfield player like Berge in Dyche's team.
I reckon if we have O'Shea, Beyer, Taylor, Berge and Rodriguez on the field (and bring on Ekdal rather than Cullen), then it's a pretty tall defensive line at set pieces.
What we do miss in these situations however is the organisation that an experienced goalkeeper, Mee and Tarkowski gave us.

Yes, command of the area is much more than only coming out for crosses. Trafford needs to exert himself more, become more vocal and commanding. Our players need to know what he expects of them, and what they can expect from him.

The first goal we had about 4 players ball watching and none thought of running back into the box to defend a cross.
Second, more ball watching. No one tightly marking their man and everyone looking over their shoulder hoping someone else does the job.

But the way we play, and the players we have are all about creating chances rather than defending them. We should have put the game to bed and at the end of the game we should have kept the ball better.

The plan was to keep the ball. You cannot risk going balls to the wall with this team when you only have a 1 nil lead. We need to get better at controlling games.

[Clive 1960]

it's ok making substitutions but it weakened the team and we dropped to deep which led to more space for Prowse to deliver more crosses into our box . I always say the best line of defence is took attack.

[Alan Young]

Fickle bunch us football fans. A lot of comments about the substitutions but I’m struggling to see how they cost us the game.

Koleosho had run his race and it’s an area we’ve got plenty of options. Similarly, Ramsey offered fresh legs and perhaps less of a luxury than Amdouni with 10 minutes remaining.

JBG’s injury record always makes him a risk for the full 90+8. We could have gone like for like or even an extra CB but VK chose to add our defensive midfielder, to presumably help break things up. It’s not exactly an absurd decision and much more is being made of it because of the full time result.

Taylor allows the pull back for the first and Rodriguez loses Soucek for the second. Blaming the substitutions feels like looking for something to blame other than the obvious.

[Rileybobs]

Fickle bunch us football fans. A lot of comments about the substitutions but I’m struggling to see how they cost us the game.

Koleosho had run his race and it’s an area we’ve got plenty of options. Similarly, Ramsey offered fresh legs and perhaps less of a luxury than Amdouni with 10 minutes remaining.

JBG’s injury record always makes him a risk for the full 90+8. We could have gone like for like or even an extra CB but VK chose to add our defensive midfielder, to presumably help break things up. It’s not exactly an absurd decision and much more is being made of it because of the full time result.

Taylor allows the pull back for the first and Rodriguez loses Soucek for the second. Blaming the substitutions feels like looking for something to blame other than the obvious.

I pretty much agree with this, it is another example of people trying to find a simple explanation for an event that occurred for a multitude of reasons. That said, I can’t agree that moving Brownhill out of the centre of midfield to accommodate Cullen was in any way a good idea. I wouldn’t have been averse to Cullen coming on, but not to weaken the midfield.

[brexit]

I pretty much agree with this, it is another example of people trying to find a simple explanation for an event that occurred for a multitude of reasons. That said, I can’t agree that moving Brownhill out of the centre of midfield to accommodate Cullen was in any way a good idea. I wouldn’t have been averse to Cullen coming on, but not to weaken the midfield.

I do think we are focussing on the wrong aspect here. I think the issue we can't score goals at the moment and I for one don't know where our goal threat is. Last year we had goal threats tella, barnes and Benson this year we appear to have no one. This more than anything puts pressure on the defence. We can talk about squads and level of opposition all day but if we don't score goals we don't win matches.

[Rileybobs]

I do think we are focussing on the wrong aspect here. I think the issue we can't score goals at the moment and I for one don't know where our goal threat is. Last year we had goal threats tella, barnes and Benson this year we appear to have no one. This more than anything puts pressure on the defence. We can talk about squads and level of opposition all day but if we don't score goals we don't win matches.

Yep. We have played well in our last two home games and scored just one goal, a penalty. This team doesn’t look like keeping a clean sheet this season, so in games where we’re on top - like Palace and West Ham - we need to score two, and even that wouldn’t guarantee the three points.