Formation today

[SheepRanger]

Funny that many have been saying that 352 doesn't work and we want 442, but on another site they can't agree what formation we played in the first half today. 352 seemed to be shading It? All experts but cant see the basics of the line up

[Greyhound]

It was a weird formation, but definitely 4 at the back, although Robinson was pushed forward into no man's land, with Chief and Lynch in the centre and Perch on the right. Cousins and Scowen played mostly in the centre, with Freeman starting on the left but roaming around, Pawel on the right, and Washington and Smith up front. The right hand side seemed a fairly conventional fb / rw pairing, but the left seemed to be either Robinson on his own, or Washington, Freeman and Cousins all taking a third share in the advanced position. Whatever, it was a mess, and we were lucky to get a result today.

[dm]

I saw it as a lopsided 352. If you look at a heat map of the game much of the action took place on our right and their left so Robinson dropped back quite a bit making it look like a 4.

Formations are always flexible depending on game situation.

[ANDREW1302]

The number of times our player looked up to Robinson's side of the pitch looking for an out and was confronted by a large patch of grass was incredible. There simply was noone there. The tactics were simple. Hoof it up to Smith hope for a knockdown or for Freeman to do something. Frankly Holloway and tactics should not be mentioned in the same breath. Yesterday in my view was dire. I really do not think our players are as bad as Holloway's lack of tactics make us seem. This was against one of the worst sides in the league and we were no better than them at any point.

[222gers]

Tactics indeed. Whilst we all agree this team is of limited ability I'm sure we would be a bit more successful if we weren't constrained by Holloways tactics. Certainly we would be easier on the eye and better to watch. Maybe if and when we are safe he may play a different system. That said, when he shuffled things around at the back end of last season it nearly got us relegated - perhaps that's on his mind.

[old pauline]

The number of times our player looked up to Robinson's side of the pitch looking for an out and was confronted by a large patch of grass was incredible. There simply was noone there. The tactics were simple. Hoof it up to Smith hope for a knockdown or for Freeman to do something. Frankly Holloway and tactics should not be mentioned in the same breath. Yesterday in my view was dire. I really do not think our players are as bad as Holloway's lack of tactics make us seem. This was against one of the worst sides in the league and we were no better than them at any point.

To be fair to Ollie we tried playing football with two smaller strikers in our previous home game and it didn't get us very far. So I can completely understand the inclusion of Smith, which is always going to result in him being used as a target man. For the moment we only really have one ball player (Freeman). Especially with Luongo absent. I think Bright Samuel will come good but we need to get the foundations right before we worry about the penthouse suites.

[Devonranger]

Think the fact that we have the three in midfield seems to limit what Holloway is willing to consider tactic wise.

3-5-2 will only be effective with decent wing back personnel - Furlong might be n option but not Perch and neither Bidwell or Robinson are suited to the role left side - we also waste the likes of BOS.

4-5-1 might work but we lack strikers to play the lone role.

4-3-3 seems something Holloway won't risk.

[Systemsguy]

Sitting in R block, I tend to watch our left defence in the first half and right attack in the second...

Robinson never got much going forward in the first half as he was superbly shackled by Moncur tracking back....

Was really impressed with him going forward as well... If we stay up and Barnsley go down someone to look at in the summer to strengthen the team?

Second half, was great watching Pawel playing as a WINGER... Got forward and gave their defence some trouble...

Got annoyed watching him wait for a pass in space on my side of the pitch while we kept trying to go narrow down the left with not much success...

Even down to 10 men he gave us an out....

[Devonranger]

Love watching Pawel play - remember watching one of his early games vs Birmingham when UGH was manager - was a real threat down that side of the pitch and some great skills and wing play.

[SM]

It was nice seeing Pawel play in a more advanced role on Saturday... A lot of us have been crying out for it for weeks.

Second half was much better, but that first half was absolutely terrible. Will be interested to see what we do on Saturday, presuming Luongo is back.

[T-Block]

Again I have to laugh at the opinions that Tactics and Holloway do not mix.Compared to previous managers Holloway 's midfield do play some nice possession football on both wings trying to work the ball behind the left and right back with short passes.It simply staggers me that people cannot see that happening in every game.Yes there is the occassional long ball to smith,when he plays, for knock-downs but is does vary.People see what their biases want to see.

Good point about Moncur.

One point about Pawel. Yes he can run with the ball,i.e. dribble,but once he stops his ball control appears poor.No drag back or apparent change of direction.Basically if he stops the likely hood is he loses the ball or passes backward.Watch next time he plays.I have nicked this criticism off a young coach who came with me on Saturday and I think he might be right.

P.s. He also said Freeman is the type of ball-player who you can get besotted with.Appears very skilful but does not pass quickly enough-I mentioned the number of assists.-Freeman is a very dificult player to judge.

He thought Barnsley were a good side well organised,but Rangers had better players

[old pauline]

Thought Barnsley were quite good up until the points when we went 1-0 up and then down to ten. They needed to change things at those points but didn't. At times they had four at the back when we only had one up front.

They will go down if they persist in being so predictable when 1-0 down.

I agree with all your points about us.