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Rev's
Views: 779
Saturday's defeat sums up my issues with Rev's perfectly. We train all week and start with 352. Unfortunately Jasper gets injured (Assaulted) and Rev's brings on Phoenix, who has played as a wing back many times whilst with Fleetwood. But, our manager decides not to trust him, and reverts to type i.e 4231, and in doing so upsets the entire system, with Freestone having to fill in at RB. Why train all week in a system, only to bin it after a few minutes?? We had the players on the bench to continue with 352. It's almost as if he is looking for an excuse to revert to his favourite system. This 4231 hasn't worked since October, as teams have countered it, and we don't have a real No.9 to play it effectively. I imagine Saturday will bring 4231 again, as he will use the excuse he doesn't have a RB. This squad is way better than it is currently performing, but Rev's is holding them back with his system, and style of play. Against Peterborough we pressed higher up the pitch, and won the ball back in dangerous areas, as opposed to when we play 4231, when we sit far too deep. No one is claiming we should be a top 2 team, but we could be so much more given the right formation and coaching. These Coaches all have pro licenses, yet they don't seem able to see what's wrong. I believe BGR would be a consistent 20 goal a season player, if played in the right system i.e 2 up front.
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6 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 650
Do you.really think that someone:
Who has played professional football for a couple of decades under various managers,
Who has done all his badges,
Who has managed quite a lot of games and works with this squad daily
Who is supported by someone like Banfield, who worked under Arsene Wenger
knows less than us about what is wrong and how to fix it.
Edited by BALDOCKBORO at 12:35:57 on 3rd February 2026
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4 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 384
In this case here I’d say yes . We had trained all week for that system, a system that had given us by far our most positive performance a few days earlier against Peterborough. But I feel that instead of playing a more attacking option at wing back ( Chem would have been my choice ) it’s like there was a fear of being too attacking and reverted to a more defensive set up playing Freestone completely out of position.
A lot of times when people comment on selection, tactics i really do think - of course the manager and coaches who work with the players week in week out know better . But this time I think he / they were wrong.
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3 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 599
I would tend to agree, but anyone who has watched us over the last 3 months knew that moving back to 4231, with a left sided centre back playing right back, wasn't going to work - particularly with the attacking power Barnsley have (or had anyway)
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2 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 599
Whereas playing lightweight young Pheonix at WB or FB was a better option? No chance.
FWIW I Don't think Revell got it right, but I accept he knows more than me and couldn't think of an obvious better option.
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Re: Rev's
Views: 588
Phoenix played WB last season at Fleetwood, and it's not as if he's made of matchsticks, even Revell has said his defensive contributions have improved a lot since joining.
We also had three very talented defenders on the pitch - how defensive do we need to be when we already struggle to score? Taking a very small risk like that to maintain the shape that saw a massive improvement in our overall play was worth it IMO, particularly when we ended up being wide open with 4 defenders anyway. If we're not willing to take risks, then we'll continue to see hardly any chances or excitement.
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2 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 458
Wing back in league 2 is very different. Jasper had already had two very difficult moments in that first 6-7 mins. So Imagine how many Phoenix would have had. It was a shit thing to happen. Had Phoenix gone there and had a mare you'd all be saying why the fuck didn't we go to a 4 and send LF over there
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5 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 378
I don't think we would. At no point did it cross my mind that we might play Freestone on the right. And there would have still been the option to move to a 4 if it wasn't working. But changing the system along with the sub felt wrong straight away (albeit I could understand the thinking once I got over the state of shock and bemusement). Everything just felt flat and there seemed to be a lot of confusion between the players on the pitch - no wonder we conceded from errors.
However, I do think the high defensive line probably exposed the players/system rather than the other way round. We also didn't compete in the midfield or pick up the runners, giving the defence a lot more to do
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1 person
Re: Rev's
Views: 583
He plays all the right tactics, but not necessarily in the right order.
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4 people
Re: Rev's
Views: 725
Nothing wrong with Rev's tactics. We have just been unlucky that the opposition has better ones.
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