False 9 17:11 - Feb 26 with 5755 views | Petros | An unsuccessful experiment, surely? No coincidence that Chair and Willock have had a couple of very poor games. Willock is not physical enough to play the role - all his best work is coming in from wide, in space. Chair looks lost. I'm no fan of Gray but he at least provided a target for SJ and Hendrick, who are both excellent passers. With a better touch from that SJ through ball, he would have given us an equaliser. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 18:36 - Feb 26 with 4057 views | daveB | We didn’t play a false 9, it was chair and willock as a front 2 | ![](/images/avatars/1922.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 18:54 - Feb 26 with 4018 views | Petros | Call it whatever, no-one leading the line, playing off the shoulder of the centre backs, running the channels, providing aerial threat etc etc. As a front two they were dismal. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 19:00 - Feb 26 with 4004 views | QPR_John |
False 9 on 18:36 - Feb 26 by daveB | We didn’t play a false 9, it was chair and willock as a front 2 |
OK false strikers | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 19:14 - Feb 26 with 3953 views | essextaxiboy |
False 9 on 18:54 - Feb 26 by Petros | Call it whatever, no-one leading the line, playing off the shoulder of the centre backs, running the channels, providing aerial threat etc etc. As a front two they were dismal. |
Against Blackpool it worked fine no red card and we run out easy winners . Away against a better team , maybe not so much . All 3 strikers have been ineffective in the last month , as a manager who likes to stick to his system even Warburton knew something had to change. | ![](/images/avatars/1443.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 19:15 - Feb 26 with 3949 views | daveB |
False 9 on 18:54 - Feb 26 by Petros | Call it whatever, no-one leading the line, playing off the shoulder of the centre backs, running the channels, providing aerial threat etc etc. As a front two they were dismal. |
Not suggesting they played well but formation was the same as it’s been for a while Gray, austin and Dykes have been no better recently | ![](/images/avatars/1922.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 22:02 - Feb 26 with 3796 views | Ned_Kennedys |
False 9 on 19:14 - Feb 26 by essextaxiboy | Against Blackpool it worked fine no red card and we run out easy winners . Away against a better team , maybe not so much . All 3 strikers have been ineffective in the last month , as a manager who likes to stick to his system even Warburton knew something had to change. |
It wasn’t working against Blackpool: our goal came from a set piece. | ![](/images/avatars/24226.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 22:59 - Feb 26 with 3673 views | Boston | Just to second a previous comment, Hendrick does have great passing ability. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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False 9 on 23:10 - Feb 26 with 3645 views | essextaxiboy |
False 9 on 22:02 - Feb 26 by Ned_Kennedys | It wasn’t working against Blackpool: our goal came from a set piece. |
I was there and watched it working ,we won the game because of the mobility of the front players . The second goal wasn't a set piece | ![](/images/avatars/1443.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) | Login to get fewer ads
False 9 on 23:19 - Feb 26 with 3619 views | wombat |
False 9 on 23:10 - Feb 26 by essextaxiboy | I was there and watched it working ,we won the game because of the mobility of the front players . The second goal wasn't a set piece |
Easy as a to why it failed today , was the passing was awful from start to finish, barbet was awful esp first half with his passing , once again I didn’t think Blackburn were that good we simply was worse , uncle poor again giving way to much space to his winger , dickie didn’t look like the rest did him much good , field run his arsenal off once again steff I though had a half decent game but it was the passing that let us down , grey come on had to h/Alf chances and elected to take a extra touch instead of hitting the ball early , tired legs and even more tired brains was our undoing today , it was being beaten by a better side | ![](/images/avatars/1321.gif) |
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False 9 on 23:35 - Feb 26 with 3595 views | LythamR |
False 9 on 23:19 - Feb 26 by wombat | Easy as a to why it failed today , was the passing was awful from start to finish, barbet was awful esp first half with his passing , once again I didn’t think Blackburn were that good we simply was worse , uncle poor again giving way to much space to his winger , dickie didn’t look like the rest did him much good , field run his arsenal off once again steff I though had a half decent game but it was the passing that let us down , grey come on had to h/Alf chances and elected to take a extra touch instead of hitting the ball early , tired legs and even more tired brains was our undoing today , it was being beaten by a better side |
also Blackburn are the third best home side in the division this season behind Fulham and Bournemouth | ![](/images/avatars/7718.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 23:38 - Feb 26 with 3582 views | wombat |
False 9 on 23:35 - Feb 26 by LythamR | also Blackburn are the third best home side in the division this season behind Fulham and Bournemouth |
We did make it easy for them though , passing let us down so many times when we di have the ball so no service to willock and chair , chair also guilty of holding onto the ball for to long when a easy pass was Aval , | ![](/images/avatars/1321.gif) |
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False 9 on 23:46 - Feb 26 with 3567 views | CliveWilsonSaid |
False 9 on 23:35 - Feb 26 by LythamR | also Blackburn are the third best home side in the division this season behind Fulham and Bournemouth |
Also Blackburn is a bad ground for us. I thought we were unlucky with their goal. If it was a foul it was a soft one by McCalum. Marshall would have saved the freekick another day. It looked like he got in a bit of a muddle in the replay. | ![](/images/avatars/21669.gif) |
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False 9 on 00:41 - Feb 27 with 3482 views | bob566 | Only saw the first half. Thought jojo and dickie were poor along with Albert. Dunne was superb. Got the latter two out of trouble on more than a few occasions. He's a real find. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 00:48 - Feb 27 with 3477 views | VancouverHoop | We looked really tired as a team today. It was understandable. Two matches less than 72 hours apart, one with ten men for best part of the second half. And an untried system requiring more mobility from everyone than would ordinarily be the case. We did OK getting three points out of six, better than OK probably. We only have one mid-week game this coming month. All other things being equal, at the end of March we should be feeling much better than we do today. [Post edited 27 Feb 2022 0:48]
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False 9 on 08:52 - Feb 27 with 3289 views | Burnleyhoop | The issue was another performance littered with scores of 4’s, 5’s and 6’s. We needed energy and tenacity across the pitch and got a passive, laboured, tired effort. The inability to control the ball and make incisive passes was stark. Apart from the last ten minutes of the first half and after conceding, we didn’t lay a glove on them. Regardless of formation and personnel, if no one is playing well, which is happening regularly now, we cannot expect to win games. This team is very capable, but we have lost our early season form and zest. Is the pressure of our position affecting them? Ironic really, as I did expect an uplift in performance following the the return of a full squad. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 09:23 - Feb 27 with 3237 views | MancR |
False 9 on 08:52 - Feb 27 by Burnleyhoop | The issue was another performance littered with scores of 4’s, 5’s and 6’s. We needed energy and tenacity across the pitch and got a passive, laboured, tired effort. The inability to control the ball and make incisive passes was stark. Apart from the last ten minutes of the first half and after conceding, we didn’t lay a glove on them. Regardless of formation and personnel, if no one is playing well, which is happening regularly now, we cannot expect to win games. This team is very capable, but we have lost our early season form and zest. Is the pressure of our position affecting them? Ironic really, as I did expect an uplift in performance following the the return of a full squad. |
Spot on | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 09:27 - Feb 27 with 3226 views | dmm |
False 9 on 08:52 - Feb 27 by Burnleyhoop | The issue was another performance littered with scores of 4’s, 5’s and 6’s. We needed energy and tenacity across the pitch and got a passive, laboured, tired effort. The inability to control the ball and make incisive passes was stark. Apart from the last ten minutes of the first half and after conceding, we didn’t lay a glove on them. Regardless of formation and personnel, if no one is playing well, which is happening regularly now, we cannot expect to win games. This team is very capable, but we have lost our early season form and zest. Is the pressure of our position affecting them? Ironic really, as I did expect an uplift in performance following the the return of a full squad. |
Fair comments really. I too thought we'd start to return to form but we haven't, yet. What is the problem or problems? I'm sure Warburton and his team have some insight but, as in all sports, there are some things that are difficult to fix. I'm thinking of the spark that's there when a team is playing well. The confidence, the 'flow', the 'click', you could almost say, the luck. The kind of stuff that Blackie was able to engender in a team. We're at the business end of the season. This is where Warburton must really earn his corn, and I still back him to do so. | ![](/images/avatars/28176.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 10:30 - Feb 27 with 3120 views | BrianMcCarthy |
False 9 on 18:36 - Feb 26 by daveB | We didn’t play a false 9, it was chair and willock as a front 2 |
That's how I saw it too. I thought the main reason that we lost yesterday was not so much the system as the poor passing in the midfield area. We struggled to keep the ball for more than two or three passes on far, far too many occasions. When you do that, it then raises the question of whether it's a good idea to have two players as effective and creative in positions where they become ineffective due to poor service. | ![](/images/avatars/1570.gif) |
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False 9 on 10:35 - Feb 27 with 3116 views | CFW | I can understand why Warbs went down this route and for the odd game against some teams or if the availability of players dictate selection it is fine. I am not sure it works in a longer term. Against Blackpool our passing and movement was good and with 10 men we dug deep and won the game. Yesterday I felt our passing was frankly god awful, I lost count of the times we gave the ball away and even when we went to clear our lines we did not get that right either. We never really looked like we would score and Chair and Willock looked lost, when Grey came on we looked a bit more of a threat. Should we fail to make the play offs a poor away performance against Blackburn will not be the reason it will be our poor form during February. Having said all of that, I have enjoyed this season so much, we go into every match thinking we can win, we have been in the mix for best part of the season and still have everything to play for unlike a lot of the mid table teams. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 11:53 - Feb 27 with 3026 views | LazyFan | When we played it last, it looked okay. But in this game we saw the problem, if the oppo does high press then we may have to boot it up the field. At this point, if we have no hold-up person, it comes straight back at us and we can never build any attacks. We need hold up forward, this was clear and it seems Warbs now has learned this too. | ![](/images/avatars/1596.gif) |
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False 9 on 13:02 - Feb 27 with 2938 views | ParkRoyalR |
False 9 on 11:53 - Feb 27 by LazyFan | When we played it last, it looked okay. But in this game we saw the problem, if the oppo does high press then we may have to boot it up the field. At this point, if we have no hold-up person, it comes straight back at us and we can never build any attacks. We need hold up forward, this was clear and it seems Warbs now has learned this too. |
In fairness its the majority of the fans who've just learned this / worked it out. Warburton has known this since day 1, which is why Dykes is his no 1 striker and he's losing patience/confidence in his no 2 and no 3 strikers as we've seen by his selections in the last two games. My preference now that McCallum is back is that we play him and Moses as WB's and use Adomah as our No 2 striker (1st Sub) as we can see by his performances this year he can play a full-on last 30 minutes if we are chasing a goal. Perhaps bring on Austin for last 10 if still chasing a goal with Adomah supplying the front two from the right and Willock from the left. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 21:01 - Feb 27 with 2741 views | baz_qpr | Too many players playing in unfamiliar positions need to get back to basics 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1 best team. Hendrick or Johanson not both. Willock in the 10 or Willock and Chair. Dykes up front if fit, if Not Charlie at Home Gray away | ![](/images/avatars/1533.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 02:15 - Feb 28 with 2659 views | superhoopdownunder | I was surprised we stuck with the same team (aside from Dickie) as the players must have been tired after the Blackpool game. Would have been a good opportunity to give Amos, Ball and Thomas more game time. Playing Chair and Willock up front is not the best option and they didn't look happy. In terms of strikers, yes the main three are either out of form or injured. I think Kelman and Bonne are still out on loan. Is there anyone else as an option - Sinclair Armstrong? I know Warburton scoffed at this as a suggestion a few weeks ago. A bit of power and pace would have helped us on Saturday. I would play Hendrick ahead of Johansen - Johansen has been poor in recent times. Having the extra time between games suits us so hopefully we can have a better March. [Post edited 28 Feb 2022 2:19]
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False 9 on 10:02 - Feb 28 with 2546 views | Burnleyhoop |
False 9 on 02:15 - Feb 28 by superhoopdownunder | I was surprised we stuck with the same team (aside from Dickie) as the players must have been tired after the Blackpool game. Would have been a good opportunity to give Amos, Ball and Thomas more game time. Playing Chair and Willock up front is not the best option and they didn't look happy. In terms of strikers, yes the main three are either out of form or injured. I think Kelman and Bonne are still out on loan. Is there anyone else as an option - Sinclair Armstrong? I know Warburton scoffed at this as a suggestion a few weeks ago. A bit of power and pace would have helped us on Saturday. I would play Hendrick ahead of Johansen - Johansen has been poor in recent times. Having the extra time between games suits us so hopefully we can have a better March. [Post edited 28 Feb 2022 2:19]
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The reason Chair and Willock looked unhappy was that despite making runs into channels and dropping short for a pass, the midfield just kept giving the ball back to the central defenders, often having just received it from them. There was a distinct lack of belief and confidence in the midfielders to turn and look what options they had available, or make a line breaking penetrative run which would have opened up the midfield and given the wing backs and forwards a chance to get involved. Way, way too safe and passive. That is not how this team got into the play off spots, but if we continue with it, we will be out of them in a fortnight. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
False 9 on 10:04 - Feb 28 with 2525 views | daveB |
False 9 on 10:30 - Feb 27 by BrianMcCarthy | That's how I saw it too. I thought the main reason that we lost yesterday was not so much the system as the poor passing in the midfield area. We struggled to keep the ball for more than two or three passes on far, far too many occasions. When you do that, it then raises the question of whether it's a good idea to have two players as effective and creative in positions where they become ineffective due to poor service. |
They pressed us really well but we could have been a lot better. With Hendrick and Field both playing I found it bizarre that Johanssen was playing so deep as well, he needed to push right up and support the front 2 who were really isolated in the second half. | ![](/images/avatars/1922.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
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