Blackman must never be played up front.

[Millsy]

[Ian Royal]

Made by Vydra from the sounds. Might not be scoring, but he's been involved in most our recent goals.

[Millsy]

Agree Ian. I'm a fan of Vydra. Blackman and Vydra up front please.

[Ian Royal]

Great example of showing patience. Keep it tight and keep plugging away. It works against us, lets make it work for us until we can get some proper fluency and confidence.

[Millsy]

True. Patience is key. Sticking with Vyds paid.

That... and moving our best striker into his preferred position.

[Basingstoke Royal]

Vydra did well to get the ball back after giving it away in a promising position. Great ball from Mcleary to Blackman - who does what he does when he is played in the right position.

Ady Williams "Blackman is not a striker".

Fair play to vydra for working his balls off but he should have scored at least one of the chances he had. Also missed at wolves when pit through. I hope he comes good.

[Lower West]

Ady Williams "Blackman is not a striker".

Back to goal very ineffective this season.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Ady Williams "Blackman is not a striker".

Back to goal very ineffective this season.

I'd say the very definition of a forward not a striker.

Noticed today even when played up front how little he likes to get in the box and get on the end of crosses, instead he likes to run into the box with the ball at his feet. Quite a few times McCleary etc got into a crossing position but there was pretty much no-one in the box to pass to, as each time Blackman just drops deep.

Blackman up front is a bit of a ponder

[tidus_mi2]

I think it would be great to stick with a front 3 of Vydra, Blackman and McCleary and just allow them to rotate since they all can pretty much play anywhere along the front.

[Snowball136]

NO WAY is Blackman a number 9

Cos have to take a battering all game, were down defenders so we get goal in the third third.

That isn't; Blackman's game. He is (kind of) a luxury player, but obviously, when he is scoring
we can carry that.

If he's wide right in a 442 he's a decent enough winger but will get some goals

As the front man in a 442? No way.

Maybe the best formation is 433 with Blackman right od f the top 3

[Snowball136]

I think it would be great to stick with a front 3 of Vydra, Blackman and McCleary and just allow them to rotate since they all can pretty much play anywhere along the front.

Agree with this. They all have qualities but are different.

With decent service they would rip a hole in this league

[Hoop Blah]

NO WAY is Blackman a number 9

Cos have to take a battering all game, were down defenders so we get goal in the third third.

That isn't; Blackman's game. He is (kind of) a luxury player, but obviously, when he is scoring
we can carry that.

If he's wide right in a 442 he's a decent enough winger but will get some goals

As the front man in a 442? No way.

Maybe the best formation is 433 with Blackman right od f the top 3

Yep, that's a pretty spot on summary to be fair.

McLeary is our best right winger though, both going forward and defending in partnership with his mate Gunter.

For me McDermott has to play McLeary down the right and that means only two of Vdrya, Sa and Blackman can start up tops if we're playing 4-4-2. For me the latter would probably start on the bench I'm afraid.

[Ian Royal]

Ady Williams "Blackman is not a striker".

Back to goal very ineffective this season.

I'd say the very definition of a forward not a striker.

Noticed today even when played up front how little he likes to get in the box and get on the end of crosses, instead he likes to run into the box with the ball at his feet. Quite a few times McCleary etc got into a crossing position but there was pretty much no-one in the box to pass to, as each time Blackman just drops deep.

Blackman up front is a bit of a ponder

Lot's of second strikers and number 10s, not much in the way of a number 9.

Vydra, HRK, Blackman, Piazon and even McCleary and maybe John can all play off a striker, either as the second or one of three. HRK is probably the only genuine competition for Sa leading the line and he's not great there.

I really don't see a front two of Vydra and Blackman paying off personally... but Vydra's at the heart of all our most dangerous play and Blackman's the guy who'll actually put it away if he's played as a forward. Which is the reason why I think we have to play 3 upfront. It plays to our strengths and limits our weaknesses.

It also lets us sub a midfielder or the forwards that's having the slowest game and bring on McCleary to go 4-4-2 and destroying already tired fullbacks, staying as attacking as before, if not more so...

[genome]

Cos have to take a battering all game, were down defenders so we get goal in the third third.

Agreed.

[bcubed]

NO WAY is Blackman a number 9

Cos have to take a battering all game, were down defenders so we get goal in the third third.

That isn't; Blackman's game. He is (kind of) a luxury player, but obviously, when he is scoring
we can carry that.

If he's wide right in a 442 he's a decent enough winger but will get some goals

As the front man in a 442? No way.

Maybe the best formation is 433 with Blackman right od f the top 3

Well NO WAY can he play wide right
No right foot and no suggestion that he might even try to beat his mean on the outside.
Every first touch brings him inside and narrows the play

Perhaps earlier in the season people didn't realise how he played, but now as a defender they just show him the outside - he will never take it

[Basingstoke Royal]

If he's wide right in a 442 he's a decent enough winger but will get some goals

He is not a winger which is why he has taken a hammering by some after the last few games. Some had suggested dropping him after playing out of position for the last few games and i agree that if he is played as a winger he might as well not be there at all.

Within 15 mins of bringing on a proper winger and blackman being pushed upfront he scores.

[Elm Park Kid]

I think we ended up with the right team at the end of the game yesterday.

4-4-2 with Vydra and Blackman upfront and HRK, Norwood, WIlliams, McCleary in midfield.

Not too bothered with the defence they're all pretty much 6/10 players.

[yappy]

The main difficulty I think we have is that I don't think we have a system that really suits both McCleary and Blackman. I think yesterday in particular showed that McCleary is more suited for the right midfield role. The problem we then had with Vydra and Blackman is that Gmac put some decent crosses into the box & neither of them were really there, however Sa is more of a striker to feed off those sort of chances.

The only actual game where I think we got the best out of both McCleary and Blackman was Bristol City away, and I think that was partially helped by them playing 3 at the back, giving us more of a chance to exploit the flanks.

[3points]

The only actual game where I think we got the best out of both McCleary and Blackman was Bristol City away, and I think that was partially helped by them playing 3 at the back, giving us more of a chance to exploit the flanks.

Same as yesterday - it made McCleary look like Ronaldo yesterday as he had so much time and space to operate in

[PistolPete]

There's a thread for this

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=128687