Very important win. More lessons learnt. Sunderland lose at home, Oxford lose, we have improved our chances in spite of playing poorly.
What a relief that was. First half started brightly, especially down our right. Donacien was playing like a RB, Burns like a winger and Chaplin made it a three man overload in that area that saw us get in some decent positions. Piggott was garbage, getting most of the things he tried wrong, Norwood was quiet but opposing players know he's on the pitch and he's always competitive. It was good to see Evans back, who managed the midfield well and his free kick early in the first period was a lovey whipped and bending ball across the six yard line that really deserved a goal with the quality of it. Carroll was guilty of some wayward passes, just behind the man instead of in front that slowed attacking moves down. Second half began with Gillingham attacking us more. I was surprised when Burns came back onto the pitch after the break but not when he sat down and got subbed a few minutes after the restart, looks like a groin injury. We were getting pegged back, Edmundson made several mistakes that put us under unnecessary pressure, a sticky patch for him but maybe he's trying too hard whilst wearing the armband. Woolf is playing consistently well now, a calming influence in the middle and Donacien was solid too. Edwards came on for Burns, initially playing in his position but then McKenna switched to a 4-4-2 and brought Kyle over to the left to offer some protection for Thompson, Chaplin playing wide right. We then had an almost perfect counter attack opportunity, Edwards winning the ball back early, passing to Piggott and with Chaplin racing free of the defence we were one fairly simple pass away from a one on one with the goalie. Piggott's ball was too far in front and the 'keeper collected...totally wasted. Chaplin did get his chance though, a ball from Edmundson was played into Connor's feet and he somehow managed to get a shot off. Bonne was then brought on for Piggott and shortly after Chaplin was replaced with Bakinson. We looked to go to a 3-5-2 at this point, Edwards going back on the right and Bakinson joining Evans and Carroll in the middle. We saw the game out with some time wasting and some keeping the ball in the corner moments. It wasn't a great game, Walton, Evans, Chaplin and Woolf were good. Carroll needs to pass the ball in front of players and we need to stop playing as many square balls because today they were intercepted a fair few times.
He looked a little better in the short amount of time he had Edwards on his side to bounce the ball off. He makes some good runs forward but the likes of Carroll don't play him in.
I liked what I saw of Thompson at Hillsborough. Must win at Doncaster and then as I’ve said all along, to deserve a play off spot we have to take points off Sheffield Wednesday or MK Dons. We didn’t against Sheffield Wednesday so that MK Dons fixture is a must win backed by a huge army of Town fans. Shame about Oxford but if we win enough matches we will catch the sides above us. It matters what we do each matchday, not so much others. Today we got closer to Sunderland, Plymouth, Wycombe and Wigan.
3 points but piss poor football, front players running around trying to lose their markers but stay onside waiting for balls into the box that never come, sideways and backwards meaningless football that achieves nothing but bores the pants of everyone,simple passes of no more than a few yards going astray, zero creativity in midfield resulting in mindless back passing and only 1 shot on target in the first half, perhaps its best if we dont fluke promotion because this lot with a few exceptions are bloody awful.
Dreadful game,worst we’ve played since KMc started,but….we still rode our luck and collected three points!
I share yr optimism Hampy, but too many changes in starting line up and key players absent gave us a poor overal performance, 3 hard earned valuable points and an honest marker of where we are. Tbh top 6 is probably out of reach, but never say never. The Piggot Norwood experiment failed, and Celina, Bonne and wen avalaible Aluko must start. Is Morsy back next game ffs?
3 players who I think could've made a big difference to the team yesterday Downes, Coulson and Fraser ...obviously we're missing Morsey also. For me I think we've got decent enough strikers but don't think playing strikers as wide forwards is the best decision (especially as we have an abundance of wide forwards), for me the strikers pretty much all season have lacked service. The strikers are getting in the right positions the ball is just not getting to them. We really lack a player can link the midfield 2 to the strikers and the wide players, need a player with a bit of guile who can keep the ball, drop back into midfield but arrive late in the box but mainly someone who can unpick the defence....a Fraser type player we've got alot of 10s who can still unlock a defence but they're mainly luxury players who IMO are best suited to attacking space and a full back not through the middle, they might produce the odd piece of outstanding passing (ala Celina and Aluko) but not consistently and they tend to run into rabbit holes playing centrally and lost the ball frequently. IMO it's an area we really need to strengthen, apart from Morsey we've got no drive or guile from midfield and the distance between the midfield and forwards has been an issue all season. Prepared to obviously give Thompson a chance but he hasn't looked as good as Coulson so far, although I'm not sure Edmunson is suited to the left of a back 3, I wonder whether they might be a time when Edmunson and Woolfenden swap places although would be a risk with Woolfenden showing really good form at the moment. If we're going to play this formation moving forwards we need a left sided CB who can push up and support the wing back.
To be fair to KM he is keen to rotate players according to who the opposition is. Clearly the Gills under Harris were tougher & more disciplined. I expect we will see Bonne, Aluko and Celina starting Tuesday. But midfield as you say ITFC remains a problem.
I hate to say it and be negative, but a better side is tackling Edmundson before he can make that pass. He’s got the turning circle of a 747. Where were the players making space for an easy pass? Where is the entire midfield? Watching Plymouth yesterday and their passing is miles and miles ahead of us. Playing out from the back is not going to be a differentiator for us at this level unless we improve ten fold.
Morsy by a mile is our most important player. Agree with you about the others too. Chaplin has to start. Our biggest problem is still the imbalance with the defence. If we send Burgess in and push Donacien wide we can play Burns in his natural position and unlock a lot more of our potential. Walton Donacien Burgess Woolfy Edmundson Thompson Morsy Aluko Chaplin Burns Bonne Celina
