Dougie Freedman begins hunt for defenders

Dougie Freedman has made defensive signings a pressing priority in the January transfer window after seeing his side hit for five at Leicester City.

Wanderers were outclassed in an eight-goal thriller at the King Power Stadium where, despite having twice taken the lead, they were eventually comprehensively beaten by the Championship leaders.

Andre Moritz scored either side of a Jermaine Beckford goal for the Whites – but in the end, second-half strikes from Lloyd Dyer and Gary Taylor-Fletcher emphasised a class gap between the two teams.

“I’ve got no complaints about the defeat,” Freedman told The Bolton News. “But I was disappointed with our defensive duties.

“The players going forward were very good but we didn’t take care of our defensive duties and we gave away sloppy goals.

“In the second half we huffed and puffed but they have so much quality going forward, so much legs, we felt we had to defend better.

“We have got to try to bring in a couple more defenders who are more resilient and give ourselves a chance.”

Wanderers had given as good as they got in the first half but always looked vulnerable down the flanks, where Foxes wide men Anthony Knockaert and Lloyd Dyer excelled.

Freedman tried to change the shape of his side by taking off Rob Hall for Darren Pratley at half time – but admits the change did not bring about the desired effect.

“It was not just about the change but over the 90 minutes I think that is what let us down,” he said.

“They caused us problems down the left hand side, as they did the whole game, so I just thought we needed to be a bit more solid without taking away too much creativity.

“I just wanted to make sure we didn’t give away three goals again because the longer the game went the next goal was going to be crucial."

Source

Listened to an interview with Steve McLaren who seems to have turned Derby around overnight (which is a surprise since he was so ineffective at Forest)
He said that all he did was to sort the defence out. Same players mind.
Derby play with a traditional flat back four and from what I've seen, all McLaren has done is to get the CBs to hold the line and stay in touch - really basic stuff like the explanation of Arsenal's offside trap in "The Full Monty" - but it's worked.
That approach limits the opportunities for FBs to push forward - in fact it seems as if McLaren has instructed them to stay back (although I'm sure there must be exceptions)

Anyhow, I reckon that Dougie doesn't have that option playing the system he does - which I think is dictated to him by the players he has to some extent. So it will be interesting to see if in buying or loaning a reliable LB and shuffling Baptiste across, Dougie takes the flat back four option and dispenses with a holding midfielder.
It could be a masterstroke if he's brave enough as with just one addition, he could have the option to go for a more forward-thinking front 6.

it sounded good until you said if Dougie is brave enough, not a chance with him! He will never play a 442 formation because in his opinion it is old fashioned.

Norpig wrote:it sounded good until you said if Dougie is brave enough, not a chance with him! He will never play a 442 formation because in his opinion it is old fashioned.

Well he does have a reputation for being defensive minded - but despite that, we've been poor defensively all season. Even when we went on that winning run last season, it was all hands to the pumps for long periods in most of the games and it was nerve-shreddingly tense far too often.

I still think that Dougie's tactics have been dictated (at least in part) by the players we have though.
If he was to sort out a solid back 4, at least he'd have the option to change things around further forward. Whether he does or not is another matter altogether, but it would be new territory so I wouldn't write it off just yet.

The other thing is that in changing it around, why go for 442? Out and out strikers are becoming less fashionable these days - in fact Fat Sam dispensed with them altogether for a while at West Ham although I personally felt it was a step too far.
Still there is an argument for having 6 runners instead albeit not my preference.
I would like to see a strong tackler in midfield but that apart I reckon we could do wonders if we found the right combination of midfielders given licence to attack en masse. That would allow ball players like Moritz, Eagles and Mavies (and hopefully Holden some day) to really express themselves.

wanderlust wrote:

Norpig wrote:it sounded good until you said if Dougie is brave enough, not a chance with him! He will never play a 442 formation because in his opinion it is old fashioned.

Well he does have a reputation for being defensive minded - but despite that, we've been poor defensively all season. Even when we went on that winning run last season, it was all hands to the pumps for long periods in most of the games and it was nerve-shreddingly tense far too often.

I still think that Dougie's tactics have been dictated (at least in part) by the players we have though.
If he was to sort out a solid back 4, at least he'd have the option to change things around further forward. Whether he does or not is another matter altogether, but it would be new territory so I wouldn't write it off just yet.

The other thing is that in changing it around, why go for 442? Out and out strikers are becoming less fashionable these days - in fact Fat Sam dispensed with them altogether for a while at West Ham although I personally felt it was a step too far.
Still there is an argument for having 6 runners instead albeit not my preference.
I would like to see a strong tackler in midfield but that apart I reckon we could do wonders if we found the right combination of midfielders given licence to attack en masse. That would allow ball players like Moritz, Eagles and Mavies (and hopefully Holden some day) to really express themselves.

i agree entirely but it will never happen under this Manager

You're probably right - just pointing out that this manager hasn't had the option before so he may surprise us yet. Not putting the house on it though.

Mcnaughton played for Cardiff yesterday so I doubt he will be coming back.