Agree with most of that bubbs, a large part of his problem though is the players around him. Noble relies heavily on movement from others and last night he got none. His game is very much give and go, give and go then play an incisive pass, too often there was no one to give it to and when there was they mis controlled it.bubbles1966 wrote: The issue with Noble is more "what is his role?" What exactly are we expecting from him on the pitch?
Overall last night, he did alright. He worked hard, threw himself into (and won) several tackles. He only got caught in possession or gave it away 5 or 6 times in total, which is a small proportion of his time in possession
But all this getting on the ball seemed to be in the middle third or on top of our centre backs. None of it led to anything much.
Letting him shoot from set plays when Taylor is on the pitch is....a bit bemusing - though his delivery for Tomkins header was sweet.
I'd much rather see him in possession 30 yards from their goal, than ours. This deep lying stuff is cods.
Whether it was playing at home that was the problem but everyone wanted to duck the responsibility it seemed and just drop a 2 yard sideways pass or wait for someone else to make something happen.
The blend seemed wrong in the middle to me. At blackpool we had 3 young guys who had all grown up playing pass and move and it worked. Since Nolan has come back (not having a go at him he brings other benefits) the middle seems to have stodged up a bit as pass and move isn't his game. Last night we were neither one thing or the other and it is time to decide on a method and go full bore that direction. In the run in I expect Sam will rely on players like Nolan and Taylor in which case it is pointless having ball players around them we may as well go full on lump it and play for set pieces.
If we go up this team is going to need a fortune spent on it or we are coming straight back down though.