Diamonds aren't forever?

Sorry for lack of recent blogs, I felt like I didn't know what I was talking about when the diamond was working so well at Boro and West Ham and against an out of form Brighton but it seems to have gone the way I predicted against Coventry - so unfortunately, as it gives me no pleasure to see Town lose, we are seriously struggling and dropping down the table like a lead weight.


The diamond is a dated formation and far too easy to play against. The only width it gives is through full backs, and if the opposition play high wingers, as Portsmouth, Palace, Millwall and now Doncaster have - we will always struggle.


The mistakes that happen in the formation are not generally down to individual mistakes but a complete lack of shape. When one of the 4 central midfielders gives the ball away, it is more likely that it happens because there isn't an easy out ball to play, i.e. a winger in space, and it is too congested and they can't pass the ball as well as Xavi or Iniesta in tight spaces....!


My main criticism of Jewell is that he seems too arrogant to change this shape because we had a few good results previously with it, and when he makes changes in the game it is generally too late. Against Southampton, Millwall and again yesterday, he has waited for us to go 2-0 down before making a change - we are then left with a mountain to climb. It was clear yesterday from the fact that we hadn't been in their half in first 10 minutes that the shape wasn't working, but yet he persisted until 2 goals went in.


Another major criticism of Jewell is that when he realises the formation isn't working and changes it, he still doesn't go through with it fully. Last week at Millwall, Leadbitter was shifted to left midfield, then back across to right midfield - square pegs, round roles. Yesterday Leadbitter was again shifted out to the right hand side and doesn't know how to play this role as it isn't natural to him - so drifts inside and we are still left with no width. If Jewell is changing to 442 he has to have the conviction to do it properly and not half-heartedly, as it does no one any favours.


Jewell needs to take some responsibility and stop blaming individual errors and take a long, hard look in the mirror. The defence are hopelessly exposed, Jimmy Bullard is hardly a Makelele sitting in front of them - and to claim the goals are happening due to their individual errors is grossly unfair - you attack, and more importantly defend as a team - whereas we seem to do it as a group of individuals.


We concede far too many goals, and from next match I would like to see us work from the back forwards. A back 4 with 2 midfielders sitting in front of them, Keith Andrews does this job for Ireland and I think Leadbitter should be able to act as the second player. This should give us a solid base and make us difficult to break down, conceding goals is our main problem at the moment and needs to be solved before we can even think of anything else.


I would then personally start with a front 3 of Chopra as the central prong, and 2 of either Martin, Carson or JE-T - most probably the former 2 as they are more willing to work hard and track their full backs and drop in as wide midfielders when we don't have the ball.


This leaves one further player, at home I would be tempted to play JE-T as a second striker/trequartista, trying to pick out balls to the front 3 - but away from home I would play Jimmy Bullard. He has been poor in recent weeks and the fact him being caught in possession seems to have become a habit means that he should be played in a position where when he is getting caught it doesn't lead to a direct line to our goal.


The diamond is a dated formation, and formations evolve over time - 15 years ago 352 was the in vogue formation, but teams then started playing only 1 genuine striker so that there were 2 spare defenders and the team with 1 up had an extra man in a more important area of the pitch. There is a reason why no-one plays the diamond any more - and the last 3 (arguably 4) games have shown how better players in a worse system will lose to worse individuals in a good system.


Paul Jewell, in the minute chance that you read this here is my message to you.......'You have assembled a good squad, are a good man manager and seem a good bloke and want to be in it for the long term - but I implore you to try and work on a shape that is from 2011 and not 1996 in the international break!'


COYB!

Blackpool 2 - 0 Ipswich Town

After taking advantage of the free coach to Blackpool I was looking forward to a tough game against a side with recent Premiership experience. We had also added Danny Collins to our squad to shore up our leaking back line. Blackpool play a fluent brand of football and Paul Jewell had stated in his pre match press conferences that he wished for us to 'quieten' the crowd in the first half and slowly get on top.

First half
Again when I saw the team I was disappointed with the line up picked by Paul Jewell, he had started 4 central midfielders with Bullard, Bowyer, Leadbitter and Andrews playing, this had proven unsuccessful against both Southampton and Leeds and led to changes in formation during the first half which resulted in us looking more fluid.

This formation was even stranger, Edwards, was almost playing as a wing back of a back 4, Leadbitter was a nominal right midfielder, Murphy was playing pinned to the left hand touchline and Andrews was in an advanced role. Overall the formation was nearly a very good 433 which worked so well vs Bristol City, but was let down by the personnel, square pegs in round holes sums it up.

Leadbitter was the right winger, but as he is a natural central midfield player tended to drift inside very often. This meant Edwards overlapped and we actually had a bit of success down this right hand side with Edwards in support. However, with Edwards bombing forward at every opportunity, there was a big space that Brett Ormerod lingered in and almost made us pay with a good chance in the first half.

Murphy played very wide and this left Chopra isolated and there were still too many long balls sent in Chopra's direction which Evatt and Cathcart dealt with easily. Andrews did his best to support but isn't creative enough to make things happen in the hole, he also committed a few needless fouls which broke the game down.

However, that all said it was a very even first half with few clear cut chances for either team and 0-0 was a fair score at half time.

Second half

As has been the habit in recent weeks, sloppy defending allowed Blackpool to go in front. They ran the ball through Town's left hand side after a couple of half hearted tackles from Murphy and then the ball fell to Billy Clarke in the box who scuffed his shot, fortunately straight to Taylor-Fletcher who couldn't miss.

This goal really seemed to knock the stuffing out of Ipswich and all energy levels seemed zapped. This may be because of lack of match fitness of a number of players but Bullard and Murphy especially seemed to suffer. Bullard was not the same player as last year where he demanded the ball every time we were in possession and tried to make things happen; he looked disinterested and like he wanted one too many touches at all times. A tell tale sign he wasn't his usual self is that he was even let other players take free kicks and corners which surprised me.

A second Blackpool goal wasn't too long in coming, another scrappy goal following a run down our left resulted in Barry Ferguson/Grant Leadbitter beating Stockdale, and effectively winning the match.

Not long after this Jewell made 2 changes, JE-T and Scotland replacing Leadbitter and Bowyer. We then moved to an attacking 424 formation, with JET and Murphy as the widemen.

The game opened up at this point and there were a few chances at each end, with Ipswich creating 3 good chances. 2 of these were completely fluffed by Murphy. Twice he shanked the ball wide when he really should have tested the keeper, this was not good enough. Bullard also should have done better after Scotland set him away and we had men over and he opted to shoot and dragged his shot wide.

The final whistle came not long afterwards to end a disappointing second half, we allowed 2 sloppy goals and couldn't capitalise on any chances we created.

Positives

Collins made an assured debut and looks to be an astute signing. Scotland again looked sharp when he came on. Andrews looks to be the teams driving force and a good player.

Negatives
Bullard and Murphy don't look fit, perhaps not unsurprising but disappointing after an international break. We struggled to create chances until going to a 424 formation. Edwards was caught out of position a few times and needs to be playing behind an out and out winger so he isn't forced forward too often.

Overall
Paul Jewell needs to make some difficult decisions, he currently seems to be picking his 11 best players and trying to make a team out of them. We have no defined shape and by playing people out of position, especially Leadbitter, it is creating weaknesses across the pitch, i.e Edwards getting exploited. He needs to decide on a shape and get the team playing that way, if he opts to use Leadbitter as a right winger, he needs to shout and bawl at him to ensure he stays in that position.

While tactically analysing the last few games I am really disappointed in Jewell, nobody could argue that he hasn't improved the squad with some quality additions, but until he settles on a formation and drops some of the players that appear undroppable we are going nowhere fast. We need to have 2 genuine widemen and either play 424 or 451/433, until we start doing this we will not start picking up points consistently.

Up next
Our next game is at home on Monday against Coventry, we can't be any worse than when we were last on Sky and hopefully Jewell makes the tough decisions that face him next week. I hope we start with the same back 5, with Bullard (if fit) and Andrews (captain) anchoring the midfield. 2 from Murphy, JE-T and Carson on the flanks and Scotland has done enough in his last 2 cameo's to earn himself a start alongside Michael Chopra up front.

Ipswich 2-1 Leeds

I decided to give last weeks game vs Peterborough a miss, it wouldn't have helped my mental anguish to try and put down in words exactly went wrong last week, sorry if anybody was expecting anything...!

First half

On to yesterday's game v Leeds, we again lined up with a formation that I didn't think suited the personnel playing. We started again with a 4132 formation, where I felt we would be loading the central midfield with Kennedy, Leadbitter and Andrews, while allowing JET and Murphy to act as 2 widemen support strikers. However, Murphy started up front with Chopra and JET seemed to be playing on the right of a midfield 3.



In the first half we again struggled to get the ball down and play and create chances, with no genuine width we struggled to keep hold of the ball. The 2 widemen from Leeds were allowed too much freedom, and Snodgrass twice was shown inside and allowed to pick out Ross McCormack with far too much ease. Leadbitter didn't get close enough to him, and was left exposed by Jewell sticking him out in a wider position than he's used to, and the second time, after Stockdale had saved his blushes first time, we were punished and went 1-0 down.

As per the Southampton game, when we went behind, Jewell shifted the formation to a more orthodox 442, with JET on the right side and Kennedy on the left side:

This seemed to stop the threat from Leeds 2 widemen. Gradel still caused Edwards problems, but that is to be expected from one of the best wingers in the division, against Edwards who is still liable to positioning errors and gets caught out too often. However Kennedy and Cresswell seemed to stop the threat coming from Snodgrass.



Second half

At the start of the second half, before the game had had a chance to settle down (i.e. before I'd worked out how we were playing!) a long ball went over the top to JET, who outmuscled White before being dragged down. White was sent off and JET was (eventually) taken off injured. Leadbitter was also replaced at this time as a double change saw Carson and Bullard on.

By this point, Kennedy was holding in front of the back 4, Bullard was buzzing around and getting on the ball and trying to make things happen. Andrews was playing in a slightly more advanced role and Murphy was helping Cresswell on the left hand side while also supporting Chopra. Carson was being used as an out and out wide man, hugging the touchline in order to keep the game spread and utilise our extra man advantage.

From here on in the game was relatively even, McCormack had been replaced by O'Brien and Leeds lined up in a 441 formation, Gradel was still a relatively advanced winger and became their only outlet to attack through. However we still were not really creating any chances.

Jason Scotland then came on for Kennedy and went up front with Chopra, this led to us playing a very attacking 442/424 formation. When you look at the starting positions being taken up by the wingers at the end of the game as opposed to the 442 employed when we were 1-0 down, it is clear that Murphy and Carson where given far more attacking licence by Jewell than JET and Kennedy were in the first half.

For the last 20 minutes we were chasing the game, and Leeds naturally began to drop deeper and deeper but we finished the game for the first time with 4 out and out attacking players on the pitch and this showed towards the end as we managed to create more chances. And eventually the chances and then goals came.

Overall

I think Jewell again started with the wrong formation here with regards to the personnel selected, we again lined up with only 3 genuine attacking players in starting line up and one of these (JET) was not played in an attacking position. I think in order to get the crowds back to Portman Road and bring back the excitement we need at least 4 attacking players to play, including 2 genuine wide players so that we have spare men and out balls when we receive it, this will lead to us looking less solid but it should allow us to, or at least try to anyway, outscore the opposition.

Individual players

The good - Jason Scotland will take the plaudits with his goal and assist, and the return and impact of Bullard can not be underestimated but to me Keith Andrews was the MoM, he played in a few different roles and had to adapt his game, destroyed well, used the ball well and came up with the goal.

The bad - Grant Leadbitter seems like he is being shoehorned into the side at the moment, he was struggling in his role on the left hand side and twice showed Snodgrass inside to line up a cross. He may have the captains armband but his place in the team must be severely under threat from the arrival of Bullard.

Up next

Blackpool (a) - this will be a very tough game against a side that aren't afraid of attacking. We will need to ensure we remain solid in this game and I would be tempted to play a 4141 formation, the wide players would be Murphy and JET but with extensive defensive repsonibilities and a midfield 3 of Andrews, Bowyer and Bullard which should allow us to suitably destroy and break up their attacks. We will be playing negatively and trying to hit them on the break for the game, or using some of Bullard's quality set pieces to try and nick a goal. Prediction 1-1.