Scott Parker needs to give his head a wobble

[Lew200100]

After playing so well for the last few games why do we revert back to that system.

Left back - very poor definitely not Brazilian

Jay Rodriguez - Not had a good game for a long time. Rather see a young lad have a go than someone with no pace or fitness.

Koleosho- No effort and should have been taken off at half time as he doesn’t seem interested.

This system playing players who aren’t up to it drags the rest of the team down.

[beddie]

Baffling starting eleven. Foster instead of Jay would have been the better option and do 45 mins then Fleming does the second half. Koleosho caught in possession so many times with the odd end product. Humphrey’s far better than Pires. I fully understand about fitness and legs etc but that really was a poor management.

[TsarBomba]

There has to be rotation, certainly at this busy stage of the season. We have a squad for a reason, and it’s up to the players coming in to prove they are worthy of a start, which they didn’t do today.

[Vim Fuego]

Rest and rotation. It was correct by Scott Parker. We have a good sized squad. That starting 11 should have been enough, it just wasn't today. Cut the manager some slack

[Lew200100]

There has to be rotation, certainly at this busy stage of the season. We have a squad for a reason, and it’s up to the players coming in to prove they are worthy of a start, which they didn’t do today.

They haven’t performed full stop and not sure why so many players were rested. Sean Dyche never rested players and still doesn’t.

Hannibal should not have been rested and I am sure he wouldn’t have done what he did if the team wasn’t changed. It was pure frustration and yes stupidity but that was Parker’s fault.

[burnleymik]

Was hoping it was because he was saving the best squad for the Derby on Saturday. Obviously Hannibal have thrown a spanner in the works there.

[Lew200100]

I’ll say it again Sean Dyche never rested players and if you’re going to rest players surely it would be the engine room ie Brownhill or Cullen who put a shift in every game. Not a left back or left midfielder.

[TsarBomba]

They haven’t performed full stop and not sure why so many players were rested. Sean Dyche never rested players and still doesn’t.

Hannibal should not have been rested and I am sure he wouldn’t have done what he did if the team wasn’t changed. It was pure frustration and yes stupidity but that was Parker’s fault.

The tired decision making in the 2nd half against Boro was evidence there needed to be some rotation. How many players, and what positions, is obviously up for debate.

[agreenwood]

It wasn’t that baffling. He was resting players after a tough few away games in the past 5 days.

[warksclaret]

Said in another post Scott has a strange loyalty to certain players, namely Pires and Jay. Its as if he fears he will lose their trust and has to play them from time to time. Selection for Rovers will be be a significant influence. For me Humphreys, Laurent, Foster simply need to be amongst the starters. Would playt Anthony and Sarmiento wide, with Foster as the No 9 and Brownhill just behind

[BurnleyFC]

Wrong team and tactics today.

Hasn’t been the first time, either.

[matttheclaret]

They haven’t performed full stop and not sure why so many players were rested. Sean Dyche never rested players and still doesn’t.

Hannibal should not have been rested and I am sure he wouldn’t have done what he did if the team wasn’t changed. It was pure frustration and yes stupidity but that was Parker’s fault.

I think it's quite a reach to say that Hannibal deciding to stamp on someone is Parkers fault tbh

[CoolClaret]

You'd crucify him if we played the same XI and then rocked up to Deadwood looking leggy.

I don't think some fans realise how intense and demanding the modern game is for players. They cannot be flogged every 3 days or so.

[woody]

They haven’t performed full stop and not sure why so many players were rested. Sean Dyche never rested players and still doesn’t.

Hannibal should not have been rested and I am sure he wouldn’t have done what he did if the team wasn’t changed. It was pure frustration and yes stupidity but that was Parker’s fault.

Have you really just blamed Scott Parker for Hannibal being brainless?

[Darthlaw]

‘Rotating’ 3 of the front 4 was the mistake today, for me. Let alone putting J-Rod in ahead of Foster.

If Hannibal, Laurent, and Fleming can do 30 mins, they need to start and get us ahead before being substituted.

[TsarBomba]

It’s astonishing that some posters are not expecting rotation with 5 games in 14 days.

[agreenwood]

It’s astonishing that some posters are not expecting rotation with 5 games in 14 days.

Yup. I’m sure he’d have preferred to keep the same XI.

Today was more about the lack of quality in reserve than anything else.

[bobinho]

I’ll say it again Sean Dyche never rested players and if you’re going to rest players surely it would be the engine room ie Brownhill or Cullen who put a shift in every game. Not a left back or left midfielder.

You can say it as many times as you like, doesn’t make him untouchable. How are his unrested Everton team doing? Exactly…

If that team today was selected and played with one eye on Saturday, then fair enough. It means he gets how BIG that game is. Not losing it is the most important thing right now. Quite simply, it defines our season. Lose it and we could still go up, but the whole place will absolutely STINK after defeat to them…

[ecc]

After playing so well for the last few games why do we revert back to that system.

Left back - very poor definitely not Brazilian

Jay Rodriguez - Not had a good game for a long time. Rather see a young lad have a go than someone with no pace or fitness.

Koleosho- No effort and should have been taken off at half time as he doesn’t seem interested.

This system playing players who aren’t up to it drags the rest of the team down.

Re. Koleosho. I'm sorry but I can't agree with the "no effort" comment. That he's struggling is clear although I felt he played better after the break.

[TheFamilyCat]

Shifting Anthony off the right wing where he's been playing well and forming a really good partnership with Roberts was crazy.

[bobinho]

Have you really just blamed Scott Parker for Hannibal being brainless?

I believe he has…

I know. Bizarre eh?

[Let'sChaseTheDragon]

You'd crucify him if we played the same XI and then rocked up to Deadwood looking leggy.

I don't think some fans realise how intense and demanding the modern game is for players. They cannot be flogged every 3 days or so.

This

[BabylonClaret]

Biggest issue really (aside from Jay being too deep and effectively leading to a lot of congestion in the .middle. akinh it harder for Sarmiento to make a difference) is not starting Laurent cos he allows Brownhill to play further forward which is when we case more problems

[BabylonClaret]

Re. Koleosho. I'm sorry but I can't agree with the "no effort" comment. That he's struggling is clear although I felt he played better after the break.

He did. First half was really poor though

[ArmchairDetective]

Shifting Anthony off the right wing where he's been playing well and forming a really good partnership with Roberts was crazy.

This I agree with. Koleosho is wasted on the right and Anthony played very well on the right in the last match. So why swap them today is beyond me.

Those above claiming we shouldn't rotate our team after 5 games in 2 weeks just because Sean Dyche didn't, I cannot agree with. Maybe Sean could be criticised for not knowing how to use his full squad effectively.

[Let'sChaseTheDragon]

‘Rotating’ 3 of the front 4 was the mistake today, for me. Let alone putting J-Rod in ahead of Foster.

If Hannibal, Laurent, and Fleming can do 30 mins, they need to start and get us ahead before being substituted.

That common tactic used by top coaches?

[bfcjg]

All for rotation however Stoke have some very tall players and just dominated the ball, Laurent should have started,likewise Humphries just for more height in the middle and back, maybe start Hountondji to see what he can do starting a game. The players who should have been rested Esteve and Egan Riley weren't we have good cover there so I don't completely buy any excuses about Jay Rod etc started.

[Lew200100]

I have yes. Hannibal love him or hate him is incredibly passionate and yes what he did was stupid and deserved a red card.

But if we approach this game with the winning formula Scott Parker finally got why change it back to the dire rubbish we have witnessed most of the first half of the season.

The players he put in all got took off and rightly so. They should not have started the game.

[Vim Fuego]

If we win on Saturday then all is well, and Scott called this right. If we draw then its disappointing and two dropped points. If we lose, then Scott still has called it right today

[Stayingup]

Re. Koleosho. I'm sorry but I can't agree with the "no effort" comment. That he's struggling is clear although I felt he played better after the break.

He did because he actually went on the outside of the defender instead of turning inside and into traffic.

What puzzled me when Foster came in was why he played behind Flemming.

[billyhamilton82]

This was actually a decent result, if not performance as we rested a good number of players.

Parker did what he had to do, the main issue is the lack of striking options and that was obvious today.

Foster isn't fit enough to start a game currently and he doesn't trust Hountondji, Jay Rod shouldn't be on the bench never mind starting games.

We will hopefully reap the benefits of resting key players on Saturday.

Stoke are a side on the up, they beat Sunderland last game and are also on a new manager bounce. They will cause our rivals problems, they play Leeds & Sheff Utd in game weeks 44 & 45, in fact with Robins at the helm might be an outside shout for the play offs.

[claretspice]

I thought the team selection today was fine. It's a busy period and we need to keep things fresh, so changes today were inevitable - and whilst the team selected in the past three games has worked, it's worked in games where we've played teams who have been willing to attack us so there's been space to exploit. The last time we played a team like Stoke, it was the Derby game and playing Brownhill in the 10 role and Flemming up front didn't work because we lacked creativity and technical ability in tight spaces. It made sense to learn from that.

Ironically, in the first half our biggest problem was that the six outfield players retained from the previous games had poor games, and in particular the centre backs, right back and central midfielders moved the ball far too slowly. We underhit almost every pass and too many forced attackers to check to collect the ball, stymying momentum. Roberts was a particular culprit and it made me wonder if the grass was longer than normal due to the weather. I also thought it was odd that Koleosho played on the right when Roberts and Anthony have worked so well together and Koleosho prefers the left, and I didn't understand why we didn't try swapping them over at any point.

The logic of the second half substitutions, though, I struggled with. Flemming for Jay was logical enough - although Flemming has struggled as a number 9 against deep defences at home - but Laurent for Koleosho was odd. Leaving aside the debate about Koleosho's effectiveness, it was a defensive midfielder who is not known for unlocking tight defences for an attacker who had the pace to force Stoke back a bit, and I thought Stoke stepped up a yard after that change and had their best spell as a result. It also meant Sarmiento going to the left, which left Pires (who generally did fine) exposed. That seemed to prompt a flurry of changes down our left which resulted in us losing yet more attacking craft as Sarmiento departed, and a more attack minded left back departing in favour of a steadier defender. Unsurprisingly, that made us still less effective going forwards.

Finally, Foster came on and we went to something approaching a 4-4-2, but rather than Flemming dropping into the role he played and made his name in at Millwall (a sort of Sheringham role), it appeared Foster at least initially played off Flemming, which again just seemed to confuse things. Finally, following the sending off, Foster moved to the left side of a front three with licence to attack space and we looked more balanced.

Sometimes, Parker just needs to simplify things, put square pegs in square holes and allow us to get more men in the box. All those changes seemed reactive and overcomplex. Perhaps Foster wasn't fit enough for more than 15-20 minutes, but making the team increasingly set up for counter-punching on a day when the onus was on us to throw the first punches never looked likely to succeed and all it did was to ramp up frustrations - which ultimately boiled over when Hannibal lost the plot. I'm not blaming Parker for Hannibal's stupidity, but I don't think it helped.

[Swizzlestick]

Switching Anthony back to the left was baffling as was playing Foster in the 10 with Flemming up top when you’d have thought the opposite made more sense. Foster should have been on much earlier.

No problem with the rotation, but some of SP’s tactical decisions baffle.

[ksrclaret]

I'm glad that others have raised the strange decision to play Foster behind Flemming. Not the first time this season, I'm just sat in the stadium scratching my head and wondering why things always have to be so overly complicated.

[Murger]

Parker trying to be clever for the sake of being clever. Just play people in their proper positions.

[Silkyskills1]

Stoke are a side on the up, they beat Sunderland last game and are also on a new manager bounce. They will cause our rivals problems, they play Leeds & Sheff Utd in game weeks 44 & 45, in fact with Robins at the helm might be an outside shout for the play offs.

Just had to re-read that.

[billyhamilton82]

Judging by his pre match comments Wilder is losing it, still on about the free kick against us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xl0H6z ... ldUnitedFC

Can't wait for his post match