I thought the short passing worked pretty well, considering the team are adapting to it. Wootton and Ward both did fine, as did Gilbey dropping back to the edge of the box. Certainly better than playing long to Agard, losing the ball, and then inviting pressure straight back on ourselves.

Yes, this. We were meant to be doing that with Neilson, adding some height and strength to the skill but he went much too far. Now it looks like we are just going straight back to the other extreme.
It happens with so many things in life: things go from one wrong extreme to the other without stopping where they should somewhere in the middle.

So what is the point of Gilbey dropping back to the edge of the box to take the ball off the feet of a defender? Surely the defenders are capable of bringing the ball forward a few yards and passing thus moving our team further down the field? If all you do is pass it across the back going nowhere ala Robboball you are likely to lose the ball and concede but the one thing that won’t happen is we will score!

I thought the philosophy was 666 and move the ball quickly and productively.?

Must admit I was surprised to see McGrandles at No 10 but thought he had a good game.

He's taking it off the goalkeeper, not the defenders. I think there are three advantages of Gilbey (or Upson, whoever) dropping to the edge of the box to pick the ball up:

a) It coaxes the other opposition forward and therefore creates space behind them once we pass through their first line of players.
b) It allows the centre-halves to receive the ball on the touchline and the full-backs to push forward, so there are more options for the next pass.
c) If Gilbey has space to turn and drive forward through his own half, we have a player who is comfortable on the ball acting as the playmaker, rather than a lumbering centre-half (who would also be dribbling out of position).

I agree that is has to be quicker though, and so does Dan. I was watching on iFollow and could hear most of what the benches were saying. He was constantly telling players to speed it up (and coaching McGrandles through the game at No.10).

Point a) surely by putting one more player that deeply means we now have four players behind the ball meaning 11 players of the opposition only have 7 players to mark thus meaning there is less space?

Point b) not sure our centre halves being on the touch lines is a good idea, if they can’t play simple passes from their correct positions I fail to see how they will do it in an attacking role not to mention they will be out of position if we lose the ball. I have only seen one game under Dan and I have to say I didn’t notice either centre halves being on the touch line to receive a pass, may have missed it?

He generally does. Has been my player of the season, it terms of consistency.