Unbeaten With Gruev, Farke

I think Gruev is as bang average as they come and is nowhere near prem level. Id barely have him over Roca in the prem tbh. I like him but he's a stepping stone imo.

Fair points. Just as a counter, Farke has said that Rothwell and Tanaka are ballers, Gruev and Ampadu more defensive minded. Our record away from home with Rothwell and Tanaka is not great. Rothwell in my view always seems to look more effective coming on and upping the tempo when the pace of the game has slowed down. It's not the same doing it from kick off.

I appreciate Gruev is not everyone's cup of tea, he's not mine particularly... but i do understand why Farke does what he does. The Portsmouth manager name-checked Gruev as the player causing them problems in the first half and they made half time changes to deal with it. He had a shocker at Sheffield united, but I thought Gruev was the least of our problems at Portsmouth. We all love him but Tanaka was missing in action (not for the first time recently) and needs to show he isn't a flat track bully in upcoming games.

comment by milkyboy (U12731)
posted 44 minutes ago
Fair points. Just as a counter, Farke has said that Rothwell and Tanaka are ballers, Gruev and Ampadu more defensive minded. Our record away from home with Rothwell and Tanaka is not great. Rothwell in my view always seems to look more effective coming on and upping the tempo when the pace of the game has slowed down. It's not the same doing it from kick off.

I appreciate Gruev is not everyone's cup of tea, he's not mine particularly... but i do understand why Farke does what he does. The Portsmouth manager name-checked Gruev as the player causing them problems in the first half and they made half time changes to deal with it. He had a shocker at Sheffield united, but I thought Gruev was the least of our problems at Portsmouth. We all love him but Tanaka was missing in action (not for the first time recently) and needs to show he isn't a flat track bully in upcoming games.
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I did say maybe it’s time to try Gruev and Rothwell. Tanaka has played more of a third centre back in some games. I also don’t think he works as well with Rothwell. West Brom took them apart in the first half last week.

I think Gruev is a highly ineffective player.

The number of times he loses possession, runs awkwardly back whilst we concede a goal or dangerous chance is far too frequent.

He slows up attacks and almost always passes backwards 5 yards and then positions himself in such a way where he's impossible to pass to, really bizarre.

I think Rothwell has really grown into his role here, really progressive, almost everything from him is going forwards and his delivery from set pieces makes Gruev look like he's got two left feet.

Like everyone else, I really like Tanaka.....but whenever he is chasing back, especially around our box, I'm expecting him to conceded a free kick, is really clumsy in those situations.

I actually watched the whole 90 minutes again last night and boy were we unlucky despite Portsmouth superbly closing us down like no other opposition has against us..there energy levels bar the last 5 minutes or so were as good as us and fair play to them but apart from their goal and a speculative shot from 20 yards that grazed the outside of the post plus another half volley effort on the edge of the box that Meslier saved well but you'd expect him to Portsmouth x g was 0.66 while ours was 2.33 and we all saw the stonewall pen that wasn't given also.... We really should not have lost that game yesterday despite not being at our sharpest but it was one of those days you get and it was Poitsmouth's day so good luck to them.

I was quite critical of Farke not changing things sooner and I was mistaken by thinking Pompey made a couple of subs just after half time as they made one change on 54 mins and scored on 61 mins but they had made tactical changes after half time and looked like scoring first even though Piroe inexplicably missed his chance on 50 mins and I made a comment around the 57th minute on the MDT I thought their goal was
coming if Farke didn't get Aeronson off and put Rothwell on to give us more control of the game and a few minutes later they scored.

I understand why Farke picked Gruev and watching the game again he was actually one of our better players but he was let down by Aaronson who just was not able to win any duels and was easily bullied and his contribution to the side was virtually zero and also Tanaka surprisingly had an off day too but I still think had Farke brought on Rotrhwell say the same time Pompey made their change and played Tanake in Aaronsons position to see if that improved Tanaka's performance as we are usually so much better with him on the pitch and swapping him with BA I would have been very surprised if we hadn't at least drawn that game but it's all ifs and maybes and we must concentrate now on the Millwall match.

I will not be surprised if Farke watches yesterday's game again and sees that Gruev played okay and picks him for Millwall but he absolutely must not start Aaronson who has been a weak link in our side for a number of games now and whether he picks Rothwell to start alongside Gruev and push Tanake into Aaronson's position which I would like to see or keeps Rothwell for later and starts Joseph to compliment Piroe I think both options will be good enough to beat Millwall and QPR on Saturday too.

Tanaka's performance on Sunday was hugely worrying. Yes he's been great for most of the season but a lot of the time he's been under very little pressure. He folded spectacularly against Portsmouth, let's hope it's a lesson he quickly learns.

Sorry but Joseph just isn't a starter yet in this league.

comment by White as Snow (U22893)
posted 19 minutes ago
Tanaka's performance on Sunday was hugely worrying. Yes he's been great for most of the season but a lot of the time he's been under very little pressure. He folded spectacularly against Portsmouth, let's hope it's a lesson he quickly learns.

Sorry but Joseph just isn't a starter yet in this league.
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In Tanaka's defence, he's played a lot of minutes and barely gets rested. Rothwell rotates with Gruev which keeps him fresh.

Agreed. Maybe why it’s time to try Gruev and Rothwell.

I don’t get this “Gruev only passes back” “he loses possession”. Thats not the Gruev I’ve been watching and he’s made some excellent last ditch tackles as well as clearing a certain goal off the line recently.

Maybe play all three of them and drop Aaronson? Tanaka or Rothwell at 10.