Fans’ Panel’s John Smith thinks it’s time for a change in formation

Before Saturday’s game I was feeling surprisingly optimistic, believing there still could be a party at Hillsborough despite the departure of Ben Pearson.
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While it was disappointing to see him leave in the manner he did, seeing players coming and going will always be part and parcel of following a football team.

Pearson was a player with undoubted talent who I think would have been playing Premier League football years ago if not for his horrendous disciplinary record.

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There is a saying that if you cannot use the elevator you can still reach the top by taking the stairs slowly one step at a time, and as good as he was Pearson was not productive in scoring goals, with now being the time to try a different approach and see if his replacements could do any better on that score.

Alan Browne’s wasted at full-back in John Smith’s opinionAlan Browne’s wasted at full-back in John Smith’s opinion
Alan Browne’s wasted at full-back in John Smith’s opinion

In recent weeks we had created very little in terms of attacking opportunities and, to be honest, in terms of excitement watching the first half was on a par with assembling flat-pack furniture,

Neither side had an attack of any note until Wednesday took the lead on the stroke of half time with a simple goal from a very poorly defended set-piece.

This immediately dented my pre-match optimism but in the second half we were by far the better side, managing to create three or four half-chances which were either saved or went wide.

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Statistics for this game showed that in terms of possession and chances created we deserved at least a draw from this dour encounter.

However, statistics show you a lot but not everything with the only vital one from this game unfortunately being in the ‘goals for’ column of the home side.

With only one solitary league goal scored in five games since the new year it is surely time for Alex Neil to switch from his more defensive-minded formations, maybe starting by pushing Alan Browne back into midfield as in my opinion he is wasted at full-back.