Parkinsons alleged style of play...

I keep hearing people saying, especially on here, that Parkinson can only play route one, or can only play with a big target man, or that he has no plan B... Or that our football, in the main is somehow boring or poor.

I would like to argue that most of the above is bollocks.

Discuss.

You said most of the above is bollocks. Which part of it, in your opinion, isn't bollocks?

Think it's more our team is only suited to one style of play, we have no ball playing midfielder and so struggle to play a passing game through the middle of the field.

Add this to the fact that we have had to chop and change the wingers with Ameobi, Clough, Henry, Morais, Taylor, Moxey and Wilson all employed as wingers or wing backs at some point this season with only Madine in the middle to challenge for any crosses and we end up continually lumping the ball forward.

Given the above we look most dangerous from set pieces as it's the only time we get numbers in the box, keep looking for a stat on how many goals we scored from set pieces reckon it must be a few.

Parky does favour long ball, there is no doubt about it. We have played some games and passed it better (probably when we had the likes of Clough and Ameobi) but in general we always resort to lumping it up to the carthorse Madine.

Our midfield doesn't help as when they try to string a few passes together they inevitably give it away The centre backs first thoughts are to go long as well which doesn't help.

Parky is very fixed in his style of play, he only changed to the back 3 because he had no other option and it did work for 2 games then he changed again. The problem i have is that we play 2 holding midfielders at home (away is fine as we need the extra protection) and it stifles any creativitiy we have and makes us too defensive.

I kinda agree with Pig on this one. 
It's not simply down to how we attack - how we defend is just as much the problem. 
It seems like Parky likes to have plenty of cover for the defence which would be fine if we had a more dynamic midfield that could support attacks and get back to defend when required but we don't. I think Prats has been a huge miss this season and there isn't anyone else with an engine like his although Vela tries when he gets the opportunity.
Without the pace and power we need in midfield we have to depend on quality to get forward and score - and we don't have enough of it as our goals scored stats show.

I think people easily forget how badly we played under previous managers where long ball really was order of the day.
In the recent past EVERY free kick, even deep in our own half was aimed long. Every throw was up the line. Every defensive corner had 11 men in the box. We never passed it short from the keeper, never a quick goal kick, never a pass sideways or back to a full back if long ball was an option.
Now I see a team thinking, working as one mind (allowing for the number of enforced changes which lead to inevitable mix ups or mistakes).
Our keepers now bowl it short if its on. We counter attack with quick long balls when our keeper catches a corner.
We take quick throws or long throws depending on the options. We attack down one wing with the ball on the floor and we stop and turn back, pass across the middle and then go down the other side waiting for the right moment.
I cant remember a season since relegation where we played as varied or interesting footbll.

Biggie wrote:I think people easily forget how badly we played under previous managers where long ball really was order of the day.
In the recent past EVERY free kick, even deep in our own half was aimed long. Every throw was up the line. Every defensive corner had 11 men in the box. We never passed it short from the keeper, never a quick goal kick, never a pass sideways or back to a full back if long ball was an option.
Now I see a team thinking, working as one mind (allowing for the number of enforced changes which lead to inevitable mix ups or mistakes).
Our keepers now bowl it short if its on. We counter attack with quick long balls when our keeper catches a corner.
We take quick throws or long throws depending on the options. We attack down one wing with the ball on the floor and we stop and turn back, pass across the middle and then go down the other side waiting for the right moment.
I cant remember a season since relegation where we played as varied or interesting footbll.

I have seen us try everything you say, however not enough and I think that is shown in the number of chances we have created in open play. The number of times I have seen Taylor getting forward as an option but not be used on the wing or more recently Morais running out following a set piece screaming for the ball only for Howard / Alnwick to hang on to it for too long.

And my main gripe is with the middle three, there is no balance, we don't get numbers up in support of Madine if the wingers do have the ball, usually it's only Vela.

Football is a simple game get the ball in the box with numbers and you'll create pressure, other than at set pieces I rarely see us have more than three men attacking the box at any one time.

I think with the lack of centre mids we need to try something different, I would like to see Morais or Henry play central, Morais moved inside against Bristol and I think his direct style of play could suit supporting Vela and Madine, however Parkinson is way to defensive to try something like that.

Suspect we will see 4-4-2 and vela drop back to central midfield where he has been much less effective than in his more attacking role this season.

Wabara looks like he has an error or two in him, one player we are really missing from early season is Wilson.

Biggie wrote:I think people easily forget how badly we played under previous managers where long ball really was order of the day.
In the recent past EVERY free kick, even deep in our own half was aimed long. Every throw was up the line. Every defensive corner had 11 men in the box. We never passed it short from the keeper, never a quick goal kick, never a pass sideways or back to a full back if long ball was an option.
Now I see a team thinking, working as one mind (allowing for the number of enforced changes which lead to inevitable mix ups or mistakes).
Our keepers now bowl it short if its on. We counter attack with quick long balls when our keeper catches a corner.
We take quick throws or long throws depending on the options. We attack down one wing with the ball on the floor and we stop and turn back, pass across the middle and then go down the other side waiting for the right moment.
I cant remember a season since relegation where we played as varied or interesting footbll.

I'd love to know which one of the mods is behind this WUM account.

i think Biggie must be going to a different match and club than me 

Whether you think it's rubbish or good football, I'm not exactly sure what people are\were expecting this season. With the financial situation, back in summer I thought we'd be mid table at best. We have done well for the first half but then lost our best 2 attackers (by a country mile) and then our next best player is injured. All considering I'll be happy to finish in the play offs and think parky has done well overall.

We're not creating chances at the minute which is a worry but I think on the whole, the football has been ok.

Sorry Rusty i would disagree, we aimlessly lump it up to Madine and hope for the best as our midfield are incapable of stringing more than 3 passes together. Even when Madine is out we still lump it up which is even more useless

I think we have a combination of the two. We play well, and movement on and off the ball is good, but only for about 15-20 minutes. It seems that the players then take a mental step back, and play in a lower gear. The second half starts the same, but for a lesser period, up to about 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, this lets the other team in, and we are stuck in a mindset that no change in personnel or tactics can seem to shift. There's nothing more frustrating knowing they are capable of playing better, but nobody on the field seems to have the nous to work it out, and drive the team on.

RustyNail wrote:Whether you think it's rubbish or good football, I'm not exactly sure what people are\were expecting this season. With the financial situation, back in summer I thought we'd be mid table at best. We have done well for the first half but then lost our best 2 attackers (by a country mile) and then our next best player is injured. All considering I'll be happy to finish in the play offs and think parky has done well overall.

We're not creating chances at the minute which is a worry but I think on the whole, the football has been ok.

Happy clapper alert.

We are shit. The football is dire. Yet the squad is full of professional footballers being paid thousands to do a job most semi-pro players could do just as badly.

The fact that you think the shite on offer is acceptable says a lot about you as a person.

Early on in the season plenty of chances were being created and all of us were crying out for a goal scorer to finish them off.  Now it's lump it ..... I think due to the many injuries and loss of players etc.  Have we forgotten Mavis at the beginning of the season also.
My own pet peeve for donkey's years is players back passing to the keeper who then proceeds to just lump it up the field. Why can't the man on the ball lump it ....or better chip it up there at least in the vicinity of a white shirt. Also it is not against football rules to have the goalie roll it out and keep possession..... none of the top team teams lump it like that.

It's not that hard to build from the back.

For years at Burnden it went thusly:

1. Felgate / Rose catches it.

2. Felgate / Rose waves the other Bolton players up field (taking great care not to give an indirect free-kick away because of the STEPS! rule that we used to have back then before Sky changed it.)

3. Felgate / Rose rolls it out to Phil Brown on the right hand edge of the box.

4. He then takes a touch, looks up and then plays it 40 yards up the touchline to David Lee / Michael Brown / Stuart Storer / Random Interchangeable winger who then...

5. Runs like fuck for the corner flag and then at the last moment, swings it into the box.

Whereupon.....

6.  Tony Philliskirk / David Reeves / Fat Trev / Steve "Utterly Shit" Elliot / John Thomas, etc arrives late at the back stick and sllams it in the back of the net.

And we win.

Easy.

those were the day breaders 

I remember that was sunbeds stock pass, a lofted ball down the right wing and Cowdrill looking like bambi on ice on the other side

Happy days indeed, mate.

I'd go back tomorrow if I could.

I suppose this has taken over the "3 at the back" and similar threads for this, but I reckon Parky has started to answer some of the questions about his tactical ability that were posed earlier in the season when it was definitely one dimensional and predictable.
In fairness to Parky he switched to 3 at the back with mixed results at best - probably because he hadn't got the midfield engine he needed and was playing people out of position because of injury/lack of trust in certain players e.g. Dervite.
I've no idea what personal indignities KA had to endure in order to draft in Karacan, but with him on board and more importantly Prats back, the midfield engine issue may well be resolved for the time being. And in showing faith in Dervite he's got a proper back three for now at least. 
All of which adds up to being able to close down space which in theory at least should lead to better use of the pitch instead of hoofing straight up to Madine.

If they can play like they did on Saturday every week I'll be happy to give Parky the credit he deserves because I genuinely doubted he had a plan B earlier in the season and it's starting to look like he knows what he's doing.