Okay so the consensus on the Southend Grandstand seem to suggest the midfield are not creating enough chances for the County strikers to score from.

Given that any real change could only come from bringing in unattached players, which is unlikely due to the wage bill, anyone care to speculate how Flynn can utilise his current squad to effect a change in fortunes.

Personally think a change of formation is needed, midfield is always exposed, for me 4-1-4-1 with Dolan the holding midfielder and Maynard up front on his own, feel we sit back and don’t press enough. Need to press further up the pitch

I agree it can only be done by formation. The hoofball particularly in the first half was a waste as the gap was so big between midfield and attack that we could never pick up flick-ons or second balls. Also felt it would have been worth switching Gambin away from the right just to change things up without massively impacting our shape. I haven't got a clue what our shape was for the last 20 minutes.

I'd agree with you that perhaps a change in formation is required at least until the pitches improve. My suggestion would be to go to a 4-4-2 formation and to look to attack down the flanks. The problem though is whether we have two players that can play in a winger role. Gambin certainly can and I suspect Lewis Collins possibly can, otherwise you'd be looking at County's wing-backs playing further up the field with a more scatter-gun element to balls into the box.

I agree. Get Willmott back from Exeter and play him as a winger. Do you think Exeter will let us have him back ?

How about using Demetriou as left back in a flat back four, push Haynes up to midfield as left winger, after 80 mins use Ellison. Gambin on right wing for 70 mins then Collins on to keep shape. Labs as holding, Sheehan behind front two of Taylor and Maynard then Telford after 70 mins. Using wingers there has to be a target man.

Bedeck's suggestion is excellent: we must do something and strengthening the midfield is key. It has been for three years. A return of a well behaved Labadie so needed.

I don’t think Flynny rates Hartigan,he said it wasn’t the midfield I wanted to pick.He has took him off both games,he says that he vets players first to make sure they are the right fit,so he says.

Percy plunkett wrote:I don’t think Flynny rates Hartigan,he said it wasn’t the midfield I wanted to pick.He has took him off both games,he says that he vets players first to make sure they are the right fit,so he says.

He was singing his praises when he signed him saying it was a good signing for us to make.

bedeck wrote:How about using Demetriou as left back in a flat back four, push Haynes up to midfield as left winger, after 80 mins use Ellison. Gambin on right wing for 70 mins then Collins on to keep shape. Labs as holding, Sheehan behind front two of Taylor and Maynard then Telford after 70 mins. Using wingers there has to be a target man.

Is it me but I sense the perception is that Labs holds and Sheehan attacks but I think whenever they play together Labs is the one who plays further forward and Sheehan in front of back 3? The issue with is that Labs cannot score.
I think at home we should go to 442 but not sure who you would play wide apart from Gambin. Flynn style is not wingers he is a wing back fan which is great but we have two who can’t cross a decent ball with any consistency.

bedeck wrote:How about using Demetriou as left back in a flat back four, push Haynes up to midfield as left winger, after 80 mins use Ellison. Gambin on right wing for 70 mins then Collins on to keep shape. Labs as holding, Sheehan behind front two of Taylor and Maynard then Telford after 70 mins. Using wingers there has to be a target man.

So if Demetriou is left back then I'm guessing the rest of the back 4 are Shepherd, Farky and Longe-King. I can understand why you'd play Demetriou as left back, as out of the two wing-backs Haynes is the lesser defensive minded, but also out of the two Shepherd is possibly the better crosser. So there would be some sense of playing Gambin on the left flank and Shepherd (or Baker or Lewis) on the right with Farky (or Shepherd) as right back, Demetriou and LK CM's, Haynes left back. The rest of the midfield then is pick any two from Sheehan, Labs, Hartigan, Evans and Bennett. If Collins isn't played on the wing then he'd have to compete with the forwards for a spot or be an option off the bench. Dolan has shown to be too error-strewn in midfield and possibly isn't tall enough to play as a CB in a flat back four, but in fairness I would never have considered him as the meat in a three man defense sandwich so wouldn't rule out him being okay in a flat back four.

neilcork68 wrote:

Percy plunkett wrote:I don’t think Flynny rates Hartigan,he said it wasn’t the midfield I wanted to pick.He has took him off both games,he says that he vets players first to make sure they are the right fit,so he says.

He was singing his praises when he signed him saying it was a good signing for us to make.

On paper it seemed a fantastic signing. The bloke has played over 100 times in League One, so he must have been good. Lets be kind and say that he's still finding his feet at County.

wattsville_boy wrote:

neilcork68 wrote:

Percy plunkett wrote:I don’t think Flynny rates Hartigan,he said it wasn’t the midfield I wanted to pick.He has took him off both games,he says that he vets players first to make sure they are the right fit,so he says.

He was singing his praises when he signed him saying it was a good signing for us to make.

On paper it seemed a fantastic signing. The bloke has played over 100 times in League One, so he must have been good. Lets be kind and say that he's still finding his feet at County.

Got to give the lad a chance

I personally want to see someone run into the box with the ball more often.
Not just chip it in aimlessly and hope the defence miss it.
Twine wasn't afraid to do it.
I sense Sheehan gets a little shy around the box and needs to get more penetrative.
I can never understand why players don't attacked the box more, the fans always love them for it and don't moan as much when someone tries and fails.
Things happen when you get in the box with the ball at your feet, defenders get nervous, rebounds happen etc.

Fu Ming wrote:I personally want to see someone run into the box with the ball more often.
Not just chip it in aimlessly and hope the defence miss it.
Twine wasn't afraid to do it.
I sense Sheehan gets a little shy around the box and needs to get more penetrative.
I can never understand why players don't attacked the box more, the fans always love them for it and don't moan as much when someone tries and fails.
Things happen when you get in the box with the ball at your feet, defenders get nervous, rebounds happen etc.

Good observation. Would like to see more of it also, Suspect at present no-one has the confidence or belief to do so. Of course dribbling is not helped by the RP pitch, but we only play half our games there.
Another concern appears to me that we are seemingly being consistently outmuscled in Midfield. I know my memory is not what is was but I'm struggling to remember us winning any 50/50 balls of late. Hopefully Labadie's return will improve things, but suspect the recent spate of red cards may now be a factor to the commitment in the tackle.