MATCHWATCH : Swansea City (a) sponsored by Andy Legg & Jason Bowen

[NewCorkSeth]

Got the impression Puscas didn’t exist from listening to that. Missed a golden opportunity early on then his mentions seemed to get less and less as the game wore on. This is a worry, how can a player terrorise Spain yet fail to deliver consistently against some real average opposition? Is he overrated or is the system he’s in the problem?

Then there’s Joao. Seems to spend games playing rather deep instead of where you’d expect a striker to be, think that needs to change.

The commentators really struggled to spot the (rather obvious imo) formation in the second half. We were lined up as follows:

-------------------Rafael
Yiadom--Morisson--Moore--Obita
--------------Swift---Rinomhota
Ejaria------------Joao------------Barrett
------------------Puscas

This was why Joao was so deep (which I didnt like) and why Puscas was so isolated (he also had a very heavy touch today which didnt help his cause).

[Zip]

Got the impression Puscas didn’t exist from listening to that. Missed a golden opportunity early on then his mentions seemed to get less and less as the game wore on. This is a worry, how can a player terrorise Spain yet fail to deliver consistently against some real average opposition? Is he overrated or is the system he’s in the problem?

Then there’s Joao. Seems to spend games playing rather deep instead of where you’d expect a striker to be, think that needs to change.

Once we get these two worked out properly Reading should only be heading upwards.

I’m not convinced. What does Puscas offer? He can’t control the ball, he is poor in the air, hold up play poor. Maybe a better bet off the bench. He has been miserable for us this month.

[URZZZZ]

Got the impression Puscas didn’t exist from listening to that. Missed a golden opportunity early on then his mentions seemed to get less and less as the game wore on. This is a worry, how can a player terrorise Spain yet fail to deliver consistently against some real average opposition? Is he overrated or is the system he’s in the problem?

Then there’s Joao. Seems to spend games playing rather deep instead of where you’d expect a striker to be, think that needs to change.

Once we get these two worked out properly Reading should only be heading upwards.

I’m not convinced. What does Puscas offer? He can’t control the ball, he is poor in the air, hold up play poor. Maybe a better bet off the bench. He has been miserable for us this month.

Ejaria gets a lot of free passes on here too, awful today and last week. Him and Puscas need the bench on Tuesday

[URZZZZ]

Rafael 6 - not much to do

Yiadom 8 - v.good apart from one shocking piece of defending in the second half. Looked better with less impetus on doing all the attacking on the right side
Morrison 6- defended OK, some poor passes out
Moore 7 - better but absolutely woeful for their goal
Blackett 5- poor defending for their goal but Moore was more culpable. Injury actually helped indirectly
Obita 6 - pressed up well second half but there’s a lack of quality at the moment

Rino 8 - don’t want Gomes to go yet. If he’s dropped Tuesday, I’ll very quickly change my mind
Ejaria 4 - turn, turn, turn, turn, lose, repeat. Bench please
Swift 8 - our best player once again. Got between the lines and was always moving

Puscas 3 - just hopeless unfortunately. As bad as Joao last week without all the throwing himself down
Boye 5 - was actually very lively and at the heart of all our first half moves. But some real horrendous pieces of play

Joao 5- saved himself with his assist. So poor in the air and so slow on the ball
Barrett 7 - added structure and discipline and was always looking for the ball. Impressed

[Zip]

Rafael 6 - not much to do

Yiadom 8 - v.good apart from one shocking piece of defending in the second half. Looked better with less impetus on doing all the attacking on the right side
Morrison 6- defended OK, some poor passes out
Moore 7 - better but absolutely woeful for their goal
Blackett 5- poor defending for their goal but Moore was more culpable. Injury actually helped indirectly
Obita 6 - pressed up well second half but there’s a lack of quality at the moment

Rino 8 - don’t want Gomes to go yet. If he’s dropped Tuesday, I’ll very quickly change my mind
Ejaria 4 - turn, turn, turn, turn, lose, repeat. Bench please
Swift 8 - our best player once again. Got between the lines and was always moving

Puscas 3 - just hopeless unfortunately. As bad as Joao last week without all the throwing himself down
Boye 5 - was actually very lively and at the heart of all our first half moves. But some real horrendous pieces of play

Joao 5- saved himself with his assist. So poor in the air and so slow on the ball
Barrett 7 - added structure and discipline and was always looking for the ball. Impressed

So what would be your starting line up and formation for Tuesday night?

[URZZZZ]

Rafael 6 - not much to do

Yiadom 8 - v.good apart from one shocking piece of defending in the second half. Looked better with less impetus on doing all the attacking on the right side
Morrison 6- defended OK, some poor passes out
Moore 7 - better but absolutely woeful for their goal
Blackett 5- poor defending for their goal but Moore was more culpable. Injury actually helped indirectly
Obita 6 - pressed up well second half but there’s a lack of quality at the moment

Rino 8 - don’t want Gomes to go yet. If he’s dropped Tuesday, I’ll very quickly change my mind
Ejaria 4 - turn, turn, turn, turn, lose, repeat. Bench please
Swift 8 - our best player once again. Got between the lines and was always moving

Puscas 3 - just hopeless unfortunately. As bad as Joao last week without all the throwing himself down
Boye 5 - was actually very lively and at the heart of all our first half moves. But some real horrendous pieces of play

Joao 5- saved himself with his assist. So poor in the air and so slow on the ball
Barrett 7 - added structure and discipline and was always looking for the ball. Impressed

So what would be your starting line up and formation for Tuesday night?

Posted it in the Fulham one. 4-2-3-1 definitely. Baldock in. When was the last time a striker scored for us? I’d give Meite a go against Bryan but only on the wing, wouldn’t be against Boye playing somewhere too if Meite is still unavailable

Really not impressed by Joao. Puscas is missing sitter after sitter. Meite and Boye aren’t lone strikers. Let’s give Baldock a run

[Hound]

I’d definitely want to bring Baldock back into the fold, but chucking straight into the first 11 wouldn’t help him

We have to give Joao and Puscas a run imo. I don’t think Puscas has been terrible - he has just missed some good chances - he makes the runs and often gets on the end of the pass. Him and Swift seem to have a bit of an understanding.

The chopping and changing up front every single bloody match cannot be helping. Stick with Joao and Puscas for 3 or 4 games and they’ll come good. Or Meite - but whoever just give them a run. What successful team keeps changing their front 2? No one does it

[Snowflake Royal]

I’d definitely want to bring Baldock back into the fold, but chucking straight into the first 11 wouldn’t help him

We have to give Joao and Puscas a run imo. I don’t think Puscas has been terrible - he has just missed some good chances - he makes the runs and often gets on the end of the pass. Him and Swift seem to have a bit of an understanding.

The chopping and changing up front every single bloody match cannot be helping. Stick with Joao and Puscas for 3 or 4 games and they’ll come good. Or Meite - but whoever just give them a run. What successful team keeps changing their front 2? No one does it

Joao's work rate is just too substandard.

less than 2 minutes of highlights for the game and there's still at least one clip of him throwing his arms in the air and sulking for no reason.

[URZZZZ]

Interestingly enough, we’ve played 5 away games and Boye has started 5. We’ve played four home games and Boye has started zero. Not sure if it’s just a coincidence but found it strange

I agree that consistency is the key to success so within that, he needs to choose one or two and get on with it. But I don’t want to watch any striker, regardless of how good they are, just throw themselves to the floor at any point. Both Joao and Puscas are terrible for it. I could visibly see Gomes getting frustrated today at the amount of times Puscas tried to hold it up, lost it and ended up on the floor. Their striker, Borja, was an example of how to hold the ball up

[Zip]

Got to say Blackett has to do a lot more to try and stop Ayew’s cross. He gave up.Moore and Morrison in no man’s land and an unmarked Bastón heads home.

[Westwood52]

Go back to 4 3 3 deffo
If Miazga not fit:

Rafael
Yids Moore Morrison Richards
Rino
Swift Ejaria
Meite Jao Baldock

[windermereROYAL]

I’d definitely want to bring Baldock back into the fold, but chucking straight into the first 11 wouldn’t help him

We have to give Joao and Puscas a run imo. I don’t think Puscas has been terrible - he has just missed some good chances - he makes the runs and often gets on the end of the pass. Him and Swift seem to have a bit of an understanding.

The chopping and changing up front every single bloody match cannot be helping. Stick with Joao and Puscas for 3 or 4 games and they’ll come good. Or Meite - but whoever just give them a run. What successful team keeps changing their front 2? No one does it

Joao's work rate is just too substandard.

less than 2 minutes of highlights for the game and there's still at least one clip of him throwing his arms in the air and sulking for no reason.

With respect if you are judging his work rate in this game on 2 minute highlights then I assume you were not there, he actually put in a good shift yesterday and an assist for our goal. I saw a stat on twitter earlier today that we are top of the championship for winning ariel challenges at 71% obviously though most of them would be defensive headers.

[Snowflake Royal]

I’d definitely want to bring Baldock back into the fold, but chucking straight into the first 11 wouldn’t help him

We have to give Joao and Puscas a run imo. I don’t think Puscas has been terrible - he has just missed some good chances - he makes the runs and often gets on the end of the pass. Him and Swift seem to have a bit of an understanding.

The chopping and changing up front every single bloody match cannot be helping. Stick with Joao and Puscas for 3 or 4 games and they’ll come good. Or Meite - but whoever just give them a run. What successful team keeps changing their front 2? No one does it

Joao's work rate is just too substandard.

less than 2 minutes of highlights for the game and there's still at least one clip of him throwing his arms in the air and sulking for no reason.

With respect if you are judging his work rate in this game on 2 minute highlights then I assume you were not there, he actually put in a good shift yesterday and an assist for our goal. I saw a stat on twitter earlier today that we are top of the championship for winning ariel challenges at 71% obviously though most of them would be defensive headers.

I'm judging his work rate on the games I've seen and all the feedback from Wednesday fans which is he frequently goes missing and doesn't put the effort in.

All game against Charlton he was throwing his arms in the air in a sulk and shaking his head. He was wandering around doing his own thing and lazy on the high press.

The fact that there's a clip of him doing the same thing in a highlights package is typical of what I've seen of his workrate and attitude.

[URZZZZ]

Go back to 4 3 3 deffo
If Miazga not fit:

Rafael
Yids Moore Morrison Richards
Rino
Swift Ejaria
Meite Jao Baldock

Going to bite. We do not play 4-3-3 under Gomes. It is a 4-2-3-1. It is completely different. Why so many people cannot get their head around that is bewildering

[SCIAG]

Go back to 4 3 3 deffo
If Miazga not fit:

Rafael
Yids Moore Morrison Richards
Rino
Swift Ejaria
Meite Jao Baldock

Going to bite. We do not play 4-3-3 under Gomes. It is a 4-2-3-1. It is completely different. Why so many people cannot get their head around that is bewildering

We have used both. This season we've mostly used 3-5-2 which is more similar to 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1, so it would make more sense to use 4-3-3. Swift and Ejaria both look better as central midfielders than attacking midfielders, while Pele is our only defensive midfielder. We're much better set up for 4-3-3.

[Snowflake Royal]

Go back to 4 3 3 deffo
If Miazga not fit:

Rafael
Yids Moore Morrison Richards
Rino
Swift Ejaria
Meite Jao Baldock

Going to bite. We do not play 4-3-3 under Gomes. It is a 4-2-3-1. It is completely different. Why so many people cannot get their head around that is bewildering

We have used both. This season we've mostly used 3-5-2 which is more similar to 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1, so it would make more sense to use 4-3-3. Swift and Ejaria both look better as central midfielders than attacking midfielders, while Pele is our only defensive midfielder. We're much better set up for 4-3-3.

There's really not a lot of difference between the two.

[URZZZZ]

Going to bite. We do not play 4-3-3 under Gomes. It is a 4-2-3-1. It is completely different. Why so many people cannot get their head around that is bewildering

We have used both. This season we've mostly used 3-5-2 which is more similar to 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1, so it would make more sense to use 4-3-3. Swift and Ejaria both look better as central midfielders than attacking midfielders, while Pele is our only defensive midfielder. We're much better set up for 4-3-3.

There's really not a lot of difference between the two.

Well, in general terms a 4-3-3 has a defensive midfielder rather than an attacking midfielder. And a 4-3-3 generally implies a lot more width than a 4-2-3-1. So I think there is quite a big difference between them

[Snowflake Royal]

We have used both. This season we've mostly used 3-5-2 which is more similar to 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1, so it would make more sense to use 4-3-3. Swift and Ejaria both look better as central midfielders than attacking midfielders, while Pele is our only defensive midfielder. We're much better set up for 4-3-3.

There's really not a lot of difference between the two.

Well, in general terms a 4-3-3 has a defensive midfielder rather than an attacking midfielder. And a 4-3-3 generally implies a lot more width than a 4-2-3-1. So I think there is quite a big difference between them

I think that's Tommy rot tbh.

[URZZZZ]

There's really not a lot of difference between the two.

Well, in general terms a 4-3-3 has a defensive midfielder rather than an attacking midfielder. And a 4-3-3 generally implies a lot more width than a 4-2-3-1. So I think there is quite a big difference between them

I think that's Tommy rot tbh.

So you think a 4-3-3 like Stam’s is similar to a 4-2-3-1 like Gomes’

[Snowflake Royal]

Well, in general terms a 4-3-3 has a defensive midfielder rather than an attacking midfielder. And a 4-3-3 generally implies a lot more width than a 4-2-3-1. So I think there is quite a big difference between them

I think that's Tommy rot tbh.

So you think a 4-3-3 like Stam’s is similar to a 4-2-3-1 like Gomes’

In shape? Broadly to the point it doesn't really make any difference. Yeah.

Shift your midfielders around a bit within a broadly confined area, do the same with your wide forwards in terms of a touch wider or narrower. Bang. You've still got 4 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 forwards

Nothing like the difference that exists between 4-3-3, 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 which all work structurally very differently.

*puts voice on* well actually Tarquinn, I think you'll find he operates a 2-3-1-2-2 formation.