This was up there with the worst performances weâve produced since we moved to the KC Stadium in December 2002. Macclesfield are a poor football side. They defended heroically against our occasional threat and had a pacy front man who took his two goals beautifully but otherwise, were a side we shouldâve brushed aside quite easily. The only comfort was the fact that weâre unlikely to ever see this 11 line up again. City: Basso; East, Dawson, Chester, Hobbs; Devitt, Pusic, Harper, McKenna; Fryatt, Simpson. Subs: Cracknell, Atkinson, Barmby, Bradley, Emerton. Despite the midfield pair looking pretty similar and a bit negative (though the only senior midfielders available) we looked on paper to have enough to win comfortably. Instead, we lost comfortably. You could count the number of good chances on two fingers. Fryatt went through on Veiga but waited too long and saw his shot smothered before Simpson rolled the rebound wide of the empty net, while Barmby flicked a header wide from a Devitt cross; just failing to get enough on the ball. Other than that, you couldnât even argue that we were unlucky. Devitt might have won a penalty but the referee deemed a robust challenge in the box to be fair and waved his arms frantically after Devitt fell from what looked like a push. Signal was clear though: no penalty. Defensively, we were ripped apart way too easily for both goals. Sinclair made a run between centre half and full back (right for the first goal, left for the second), we played a hopeless offside trap and he ran in and slotted underneath the helpless Basso. Defenders had a lot of the ball but with Devitt the only one of the front four capable of making a run, options were limited. Dawson had a good second half and pretty much played on the left wing. He looked the only on likely to open them up at times. East is athletic and honest but still naïve. He had to be pointed into attacking positions by McKenna too often and kept coming inside with the ball when Macclesfield had 9 behind the ball. Midfield helped us dominate possession but we lacked imagination, as youâd expect. McKenna was amongst our best players, he kept the game ticking over and got into good crossing positions. His deliveries would have been fine if we hadnât such a diddy forward line. Harper did what he does, heâs available for a pass and he plays it 5 yards sideways. It wasnât exciting and on a night like tonight, it wasnât what was required. He did play a tremendous cross field pass to East early in the second half and was obviously so shocked, he went to pieces for 5 minutes. Devitt was probably our best player even though his usual limitations were on show. His movement was great, he was sharp and lively and looked the only person who really wanted to hurt them. Thereâs rarely an end product though. He had a shot deflected over and put a good cross on Barmbyâs head but that was it from 4 or 5 corners, several set pieces and lots of good positions in open play. Lack of end product is going to stop him fulfilling his potential. Pusic was a spectator for 40 minutes, produced a good run and pass for Fryatt to slide a soft shot into a defender and headed over shortly before he was replaced by Barmby. Heâs got a knack for getting to the far post when the ball is coming from the right which might lead to him scoring some goals. There wasnât much else. It was a surprise that Atkinson or Emerton didnât get a run out for 10 or 15 minutes because we were floundering. No idea what NPâs thought process was there? Fryatt looks completely shorn of confidence. Itâs remarkable. There were few good chances tonight but he had one excellent one and then 3 or 4 half chances where he either turned down a shot or shot weakly. He did drop off to pick up the ball in the second half and did at least get himself into some decent positions but his form is frightening, even with the season so young. Simpson on the other hand was just anonymous. Iâd love to see how many kilometres he covered tonight compared to how many times he touched the ball. Missed a golden chance and was booed by the ferocious crowd of 4826 fans (76 from Macclesfield. I counted, thatâs how boring it was.) The result isnât of great importance. A cup the FA deems worthy of us playing in with 6 players on international duty isnât worth bothering with. The performance was worrying though. Particularly as the centre halves where our first (only) choices while Simpson may be last man standing up front for Saturday. Credit to the City fans for applauding off Emile Sinclair by the way, he produced a damn site more than any of our lot. Have I ever mentioned that I really hate Macclesfield? Still, at least it was only 2-0 this time.
Completely agree mate. 1. Should have given Emerton and/or Atkinson a chance; 2. Harper was crap, bar his usual decent long ball that apparently compensates for the 20 failed short-passes; 3. I counted 75 Macclesfield fans, but I'll take your word for it.
Didn't we sign an opposition winger years ago because he tore us to shreds yet did next to nothing for us? Ryan Williams ring a bell?
IT WAS THAT BAD THERE IS NO WORDS TO SAY ANYMORE. FORGET IT AND MOVE ON. ONE THINGS FOR SURE NOBODY WHO PLAYED LAST NIGHT CAN COMPLAIN IF THEY WERE DROPPED. DANNY EAST APART THEY WERE POOR. NO DRIVE - NO PASSION - NO DESIRE and NO INTEREST. WASTE OF TIME. City were not the only championship club to bite the Dust......Barnsley - Coventry - Derby and league leaders Ipswich Town all went out to league 2 clubs. But NP team on paper were more than good enough to win the game. They were not good enough on the night due to there lack of desire & interest. The crowd figure 4892 (a kc low record) also showed the apathy for the game and the players maybe took that onboard. Whilst cup shocks happen like this result the manner of it is Inexcusable. But we move on now to Ipswich Town. Who knows what will happen there. Great Report Theo.
If anyone ever wants more proof that stats don't tell a true story of the game - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/14368520.stm I've never seen the stats look so one sided in favour of a team that lost 2-0.
I think we all know what will happen at Ipswich don't we Tickler....anyway roast the old chestnut - 'we can concentrate on the League now'
Those stats raise alarm bells for me with our strikers and defenders. We had on and off target 20 shots - scored none Macclesfield had on and off target 3 shots and scored 2??? ****ing hell however you dress that up it's not pretty?
Theo, I salute you for making the effort to write this report on the back of such a woeful performance. You do this for pleasure and do this for free. You truly have black and amber blood.
So two passes were slotted through from midfield for the goals yet no mention of why they werent cut out? Hmm i wonder what would have been said if TC was playing in the CM??
