Having watched last nights game on the box I was so very disappointed that we failed to show our true qualities. Imo we allowed Sheffield Wednesday to drag us down to their level. The things we do well include passing to feet, movement with and without the ball and playing with width. All aspects you need to deploy in abundance against a big, direct physical side. However, we did so only sporadically during the game⦠Whyâ¦? Their CB Rob Jones is 6â7â for the love of godâ¦!! No prizes for guessing where he prefers to see the ball, and Iâd put my house on the fact that itâs not around by his feet. With this in mind can someone please tell me why we continued to plough long balls and throw ins right onto his big mump head time and time againâ¦? He must have thought all his Christmases had come at onceâ¦!! When youâre playing against a big physical side the ultimate plan must be making the pitch as big as possible, in an attempt to drag these big lumps out of position. Playing with genuine width and trying to whip balls in round the back of these lumbering giants, whilst also attempting to engineer good positions to thread balls through in between their CBâs and the CBâs and FBâs has got to be a better approach that simply smashing the ball long to BWP whoâs giving away almost one whole foot in heightâ¦!! My biggest concern is that the management and more importantly the players appeared completely oblivious of the fact that their attempts to play Sheffield Wednesday at their own game was tantamount to shooting themselves in the foot and clearly WAS NOT WORKINGâ¦!! The players should have the intelligence to see what was happening before their very eyes and adjusted their approach accordingly. Having said all this I would have taken 14 points from a possible 18 had you offered it to me at the start of the season. Iâm not one for pointing the finger at individuals, but there were a few who didnât do themselves any favours last night, so maybe it's time to utilise the depth and quality of our squad. In a nut shell⦠Itâs a decent start; however, lessons must be learned from yesterday evenings game if we are to move forwardâ¦!! Oh and by the way⦠I predicted a draw (2:2) and that Clinton Morrison would score⦠Iâm sorry that I was right (well almost anyway ).
Being honest franco, I don't think it's that bad. Plus, might nit have been evident on the box, but CP and Matthews constantly kept yelling for them to keep it on the ground and stop pumping balls in the box.
I suspected this may have been the case Super. This is why in my thread I laid the blame predominantly at the feet of the players.
Franco, I think the biggest mistake last night was over confidence, after the first 20 minutes we were so comprehensively outplaying them that the team (and management) just assumed if we kept going in the same way we would win; even after they equalized. For me the biggest concern was the lack of subs that could change the game, and for this i blame the 5 sub policy which restricts the options you have on the bench so instead of having 2 different midfielders on the bench who add something different we only had Pritchard (why he didn't come on for the final 10 minutes to add some fresh dynamism I have no idea) and Andy Hughes who must have been bought in because he can sit on the bench and cover the back 4 and midfield if necessary but you wouldn't bring him on to change a game. 14 points out of 18 is still a good return and whilst you cant win the league in August its always nice to get off to a good start, my only concern about the current squad (After watching last nights game in particular) is the lack of a target man to come on and be a bit more physical with these sorts of sides - I must have spent the last 20 minutes wondering why with BWP and Hayes (then Euell) up against a monster CB we were chucking balls into the box from all angles unless we were hoping a Wednesday defender was going to head it in for us!
I disagree SCA... Imo we became inpatient, and that's why all too often we went long. Imo we should have stuck to playing our football as that way we would've stood a far greater chance of netting a second and maybe even a third. For example... Man U have complete beleif in their style of play. They will play for 95 mins in that vain knowing that it's their best chance at obtaining victory. If the defining moment comes in injury time, as is often the case then so be it. They stick with doing the things that they know they are good at and very rarely do they deviate. Sheffield Wednesday were made for us and the way we like to play. Yet we did not play to our strengths, instead deciding to play to theirs.
Reflecting on last nights performance I can only worry at the difference in performance between the first 35 minutes and the remainder of the match. Why did we revert to long ball, why did we give up on passing when it had been succesful in the first half. Hamer for all that he was strong elsewhere may have been an influence here, not distributing the ball to foot but entering into a kicking contest with the Wednesday keeper see in who could get the ball further. BWP had to win the ball every time rather than rely on ball to feet and given his height against a tall Wednesday defence, the fact that he got the ball at all was down to sheer cussedness on his part. The referee didn't help, failing to penalise several of Wednesday's more blatant fouls - the pull back was just outrageous, but we shot ourselves in the foot and shouldn't blame others. Lets hope we get it right on Saturday.
I agree there. Pritchard should have been brought on, and bringing Ol' Euelly on must have really worried Wednesday. Alonso and Bover? I know we had a few injuries (Green and Benno) but looking at our bench last night, in spite of our depth, there was no-one that could turn a game. Wednesday started with Lowe and Morrison on the bench. To be fair though, even if we had had a bench of Paolo Di Canio, Darren Bent and Andy Hunt, Powell wouldn't have known how to use them bless him.
I porper agree with you frank, an i would have to say 'south coast' dat i cant see the over confidence thingy either its always the same when the cameras a rollin it nerves. perhaps we could have thought more about puttin it at people feet by the high balls have put us in a blindin start so far this season. a blip was expected at some point and lets hope dat's just wot it is, a small blip. Lets see how it goes against exiter on sat, i'll be there and will judge it den.
I think we have to also take in to consideration the formation change from Sheff Weds. To their credit, that worked as it allowed them to match us in the middle with Prutton and Semedo just sitting and attempting to break up play. Or in Semedo's case, trip BWP and Hayes over and over, and over again. Disappointing performance- but still unbeaten. If our biggest faults this season are drawing twice at home to two promotion rivals, then I still think we are set for a successful year...
It is a good start, but it should be a perfect start. We coped with the physical threat of Colchester and Nott County without any problems. We should have finished off Scunthorpe and Wednesday. Why didn't we continue to stretch them wide? Why did the players continue to persist in lumping it over the top for BWP to chase? Why wasn't the inept Stephens taken off around the hour mark? If we can solve these problems, then a good win against Exeter will be forthcoming.
