Alex Cooke looks at how the two sides might shape up for the home leg of Saturday’s play-off match. Under manager Uwe Rosler, Brentford have become a compact team who play controlled, calm, progressive football. They like to squeeze play into a narrow band in which their impressively defined shape makes them stifling to play against and efficient, if a
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Paolo Di Canio kept to a 442, but Swindon’s new boss likes an extra man in the middle, Alex Cooke looks at the reasons for the shift. Kevin MacDonald has made the move to 4141 for one simple reason: possession. He wants to play passing football, he wants to play winning football, and he needs to get the best out
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Alex Cooke looks at the tactics used against Walsall and how far Kevin MacDonald has to go to change how Town play. “I didn’t play well, I don’t know why – I just didn’t.” At first Simon Ferry’s post-Walsall protestations sound odd. After all, it was obvious to most people in the County Ground that his new right wing position,
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He’s wild, he’s exuberant, and he’s fantastic entertainment, but Paolo Di Canio is a more studied manager than his pitch-side persona reveals, says Alex Cooke. “The media portrayal of Paolo Di Canio is very different to the manager I’ve come across. The one I have experienced is very meticulous in his planning, very knowledgeable about every level of football from
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The Washbag 