THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

I dont think there is much wrong with keeping the ball in most circumstances but if a player does it all the time then opposition players and managers soon spot it. It becomes the epitome of the lower league mantra 'he doesnt want it'

It means that teams can set patterns of play whereby a player who always passes it sideways or backwards under any pressure at all can be made to play it sideways or backwards but exactly where you want it. Back when I played which I think in the current pyramid would be 5 steps below L2, we used to work on that sort of thing so you can bet your kidneys that L2 teams work extensively on it.

Agree with this apart from him looking like an upgrade on Watson, I don't think he's looked close to one but then again, I rated Watson highly. I'd replace Watson with Norman every day of the week.

If we had a fully fit squad, I'd actually expect to see Norman benched and us with a back 5 of Tomlinson, O'Hora, Tucker, Lewi, Harvie

He came here with a lot of excitement and I believe he had the stat of most fouled player in the league, eluding to him being good at taking on his man but we have just not seen that side of him here yet. I found him incredibly frustrating on Tuesday, with wayward passes, followed by him mucking around near their corner flag in the dying minutes when we were pushing for the winner.

I think there is a very good player in there, we're just not seeing it fully yet.

I wonder if part of the issue is that he's naturally a full-back? Thought he was decent at wing-back though, good crosser of the ball and had some pace about him, but also was able to put in a defensive shift. However, I'm yet to be convinced by him on the right of a back three, it's a very different role. Same issue as Poole had when he was here iirc

I agree with this, it looks like Williamson wants to play with wide CBs that can overlap and join the attack, I imagine Tucker's injury has forced Norman into the back three and it's not somewhere I think he's particularly effective. For me he lost his man for Salford's first goal, he gave away the penalty (harshly I know) for their second and gave the ball away for Grimsby's, so not a great last two games. How long is tucker out for.

It was all a bit vague as to how long Tucker is likely to be absent.
I don't think it's any time soon that he'll be back - yes I know that's vague too.

(Did anyone ever expect 'Bring Back Jack' posts? )

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment