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Unrefreshing tactics

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Our uninspiring start to the season has prompted some questions about our tactics amongst Brentford supporters already


Whilst Beesotted are too long in the tooth to hit the panic button just yet – as they say ‘it’s not how you start the season but how you finish’ which is often most important – there do appear some tactics which already aren’t working.


Top of the irritation chart is the continued use of Clayton Donaldson to take long throws. His throws are OK but rarely beat the front post and we are quite apparently then denied the services of a striker in the box should a subsequent melee occur.


Another tactic that we heard questioned aby several people on the Ealing Road last night was the decision to take all players back to defend corners. Yes this makes us reasonably safe at the set piece but it simply hands possession straight back to the oppostion once the ball breaks, creating more pressure. In Donaldson we have a striker with the pace to get onto a loose ball and the skill and strength to hold it up – so why not leave him in the centre circle to give our opponents something to worry about?


Uwe has already held his hands up to making a tactical error last night when changing the shape of the team to go for the win – a change which had the direct opposite to the desired effect. It’s refreshing to see a manager admit his mistakes (a contrast to the Andy Scott era) but quite why anyone would have changed things to such an extent when Brentford had all the momentum is beyond us. The central figure in our momentum appeared to us to be Toumani Diagouraga – who set up our equaliser with a driving run – yet he was one of the players substituted.


At Bury it was also a tactical change – the replacement of Forshaw with O’Connor and a subsequent change in attacking endeavour from the team – which handed the impetus to our opponents. The change in personnel was admittedly partly dictated by Forshaw cramping up – but is our manager tinkering too much?


One further question remains unanswered. Uwe has set out a gameplan involving a narrow midfield diamond this season and yet we have widened our pitch. Yeovil used this space to pull us about last night whilst our fullbacks – pushed wider than ever before – had little to aim at down the channels and frequently lost possession. Ultimately this cost us the second and third goals.


Without doubt there is more to come from this team – and Rosler couldn’t have accounted for some of the basic individual errors from experienced players last night – but if we are to improve on our league position from last season then some if not all of the issues above need to be addressed pronto.

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